PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 218, 23 December 1910, Page 4

PERSONAL.

The Duke and Duchess of Connaughk visited Las Palmas, reports a London message.

Mr. Asquith has been presented wii£ the freedom of the city of Edinburgh., and in his speech in reply he urged, cities to grapple with social question* Lord Rosebery was present at the cert* mony.

Dr. Kenneth McKenzie, son of the Hon. T. McKenzie, has passed the examination for Dr. McKenzie has been, appointed demonstrator of practical sMgery and anatomy at the Edinburgh Univwsity,. It is officially stated (says a Londom cable); that Sir.. F.. H. May, K.C.M.G., Colonial Secretary; at Hongkong, sueseeds. Sir Everard in Thurm as Gover-. nor of Fijj,. who has resigned on account of ill-healtlu.

' Mn. H. A. Parker, the well-known ten* nfe- player, returned from Sydney on Wednesday, jjtr. Parker will be a competitor at the New Zealand championship tennis tournament to be held at Blenheim next week.

The following local, candidates woresuccessful in passing the first section of the law professional examination^ — Messrs. R. P. Quilliam, P. Greatbach, and I. P. Grant. Mr. Truby King passed the final section of the examination.

Captain Sealby, well known in New Zealand, formerly of the White Star Line, and in charge of the Republic whem she was sun'k in collision with the Floiin January, 1909, is now studying law in the University of Michigan,, where 'he was recently elected vice-presi-dent of the junior class. Prince Leopold of Battenburg, who is travelling to Australia for health reasons, arrived last week. He is accompanied by Dr. Orillroy. Prince' Leopold intends staying with Lord Dudley, at Government House, Melbourne, and will leave for Home again in the middle of next month, via China and Japan.

News has been received in Te Aroha by cable that Mr. Frank Jefferson, eldest son of Mr. J. M. Jefferson, has been appointed lieutenant-engineer of the Canadian cruiser Niobe, one of the first ships of the new Canadian navy. LieutenantJefferson was a student in St. John's College and the Grammar School, Auckland. . 1

Mr. G. S. Mathias, late manager of the Union Bank of Australia at Ashburton, died in Christcliurch on Wednesday. He had been in failing health for some time past, and had undergone two serious operations. Mr. Mathias was the sixth son of the late Ven. Archdeacon Mathias, and he leaves a widow and three sons. The deceased was a deservedly popular man both in social and business circles, and Ms loss will be deeply felt. The death is announced of Mrs. E. S. Coombes, aged 87, one of the early settlers of Auckland. The deceased arrived in Auckland with her parents, Captain and Mrs. Pulhan, in 1848, and two yea« later was married to Mr. Walter Coombes. Mrs. Coombes' kindness of heart endeared 'her to m/ray of the pioneer settlers, most of whom have predeceased her. She leaves one son (Mr. F. H. Coombes) and two daughters (Mrs. W; A. Graham and Mrs. J. A. Pond), and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mr. John Hodge, Labor member for the * Graftpn division of Lancashire, who is travelling for rest and health, reached Wellington from Sydney on Wednesday} and was welcomed by a number of prominent trades unionists, among them Mr. D. McLaren, M3\, Mr. Carey, president of the Wellington Trades and Labor Council, and ,Mr. R. Breen, of Dunednv Mr. Hodge will go to Rotorua on Friday, and intends returning to Wellington. Then he proceeds via Bluff to Hobart, and will catch a steamer thence to England about the beginning of February.

In its cable announcement that Mr. Barry Yelverton, dairy farmer, of Featherston (Wairarapa), claims to succeed to the title of the late Viscount Avonmore, the "Standard of Empire" mentions that the sixth Viscount Avonmore, an Irish Peer, died in a Dublin nursing home on September 5 last. He married in 1890 the daughter of Mr. G. Evans, formerly of Toronto. The first Lord Avonmore was "Mr. Barry Yelverton, a distinguished lawyer, orator, and statesman, who in 11782 became Attorney-Gen-eral of Ireland, and in 1784 Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. The late Lord Avonmore was born in 1859, when the famous Yelverton marriage case was still before the law courts. The fourth viscount married Mrs. Forbes in 1858, and in 1881 an Irish jury held that he had previously married Miss Theresa Longworth. In ISG4, however, the House of Lords declared that the 1858 marriage was the valid one. Lord Avonmore left a daughter who was born in 1892, and it was supposed that the peerage would become extinct.