Personal.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 91, 17 December 1913, Page 5

Personal.

Cr W. Rogers was granted leave of

absence from this morning’s meeting of the County Council. He wrote asking for leave on account of illness.

Mrs F. W. Wilkie returned by last night’s mail train from Taihape, alter a short bolday spent with her people.

The death lias occurred at Sydney at the age of 85, of the Rev. Alexander Benjamin Davis, who for many years was Rabbi and Chief Minister of the Great Synagogue, Sydney, from which he retired in 1905.

Sir James Carroll, it is reported, does not intend to seek re-election for Gisborne after the present Parliament has come to an end.

The Hon. J. A. Millar arrived in Dunedin last night and is to go to Queenstown on Thursday. Mr Millar informed a reporter that he intended to consult his doctor in Dunedin, and it depended.on the advice he received whether he would resign from his Parliamentary duties or not.

Mr Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty,, will spend the week-end in Paris (states a London cablegram). Thence he will go on a private visit to Germany for three weeks.

Mr J. F. Barnett, the well-known composer, has just celebrated the completion of his seventy-sixth year. He is still very active, and has only recently put the finishing touches to a cantata on the subject of eKats’ “Eve of St. Agnes.” On the subject of the public taste in music, Mr Barnett told a Morning Post interviewer that there is still much to be desired, although he is not one of those who deplore' the tendency of this particular age or who declare that the English are not a musical nation.

Mr Axel Newton, son of Mr W. J. Newton, of Stratford, who was formerly well-known in musical circles in Stratford, and who is now organist at Chalmers Church, Timaru, gave an organ recital recently in the church. Speaking of the performance, the “Timaru Herald” says“Mr Newton presided at the organ, and his solo playing and accompaniments were carried out in a thoroughly accomplished manner. Mr Newton’s musical talents are wellknown, but his delicate and sympathetic rendering of Lemare’s “Andantino” in D flat, his execution of the varied and intricate movements from Greig’s “Peer Gynt,” and his masterly treatment of Lemmon’s robust “Triumphal March,” enhanced his reputation. “Adoremus” (Ravinia) and “Cradle Song” (Betting), were also excellently rendered by Mr Newton.”