PERSONAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 197, 9 January 1913, Page 5

PERSONAL.

The Emperor Francis Josef gave an audience to Sir George Keid at Shoenbrun. A cablegram from London announces the death of Mr. Fred Hitch, the Victoria Cross hero at Korke's Drift. The death is reported from Khartoum of Zohbeir Pasha, notable for his connection with General Gordon's mission. Sir Sydney Olivier, ex-Governor of Jamaica, has been appointed Permanent Secretary of Agriculture for Britain.

Dean Harper, the fourteenth son-of the late Bishop Harper, who has been Dean of Christchurch since 1901, has resigned on the grounds of ill-health. Mr. J .M. Franklin, the well-known Waimate footballer, has been' transferred from the Manaia to the Palmerston North staff of the Bank of New Zealand. An Ottawa ea.ble states that the Hon. G. E. Foster, Canadian Minister for Trade, will sail for Australia on February 2. to discuss the question of reciprocity. Mr. W. H. Skinner, Commissioner of Crown Lands at Blenheim, who has been revisiting his old home, returns this morning. His wife will be staying a little longer in the district.

On Tuesday night the staff of the New Plymouth Post and Telegraph Office met in full strength to say farewell to Mr. A. P; Dryden on the occasion of hia leaving here to take up the position of Chief Postmaster of the Wellington district, to which he has been recently promoted. At the same time a presentation of plate was made to Mr, Dryden by Mr. Gee, Acting-Chief Postmaster, on behalf of the staff, who referred in eulogistic terms to Mr. Dryden's past services to tihe Department, and expressed the belief that his, transfer to the new position would prove of advantage to the Wellington district. Testimony was also borne by the Chief Clerk and the executive officers of the various branches of the local office to the good work done by Mr. Dryden while Chief Postmaster at New Plymouth,, and to the respect felt by the officers of the staff for his personality and abilities, .and a general wish was expressed for the welfare and happiness of Mr. and Mrs. Dryden in their new home. Mr. Dryden suitably re-. plied in a telling speech, and hearty cheers having been given in his honour, the assembly dispersed. Mr. Dryden left by yesterday's express to take up his duties in Wellington. According to a London correspondent everyone at-Oxford is glad to see how thoroughly the Prince of Wales is enjoying the life of an ordinary 'undergraduate and entering into so many different forms of sport. He rides regularly, generally in the company of Major C'adogan, and that of other undergraduates, in Nuneham Park, and, no doubt, it will not be long before he is seen, like his father and his grandfather, in the hunting field; but for the present 'his time seems so ful'.y occupied that he may postpone a close acquaintance with hunting until a somewhat later date. Considering his light weight, he is quite a good football player, and at soccer he has played five times for the second eleven of Madgalen and three times for the first eleven. But it is at long-distance running that he \is more likely to make his mark than Vit anything else, and after his experience on the Dartmouth hills he has no trouble at all in holding a good place with the beagles whenever he has been out with them. "I'n fact." one of the Oxford coaches said, "if he continued to show his present form and were ever able to find time to train, we might not have to look much further for a first-rate English representative in Berlin."

The following dipping from the Hebden Bridge Times, a Yorkshire paper, under date November 22, will interest many old residents of New Plymouth: Mrs." Smith used to live in Devon street West, between Morley street and Cutfield Road. To-morrow, November 23, will be the natal anniversary of Hebden Bridge's respected oldest inhabitant. Mr. Thomas Smith, of Calder Bank, and we•• have pleasure in coupling with this note our hearty congratulations to the venerable lady on the attainment of her 07th birthday. We are pleased to add that, while Mrs. Smith's sight and hearing are somewhat impaired, her other faculties arc wonderfully good for one of her great age. It is typical of Mrs. Smith's grit and energy that she has this year paid her customary visit to Blackpool, practically unaided. Thus she lias maintained her record as probably the oldest railway passenger of the present day. This fact is particularly interesting in view of the fact ' that' Mrs. Smith has a lively recollection of the earliest railway traffic in these parts, and was one of the/ first local passengers to the seaside. These, however, are' comparatively commonplace events in the life of one who as one of New Zealand's early settlers went ,thro„iV!ih the exciting episodes of the Maori War, has made a dozen long journej's across the water, has lived in the reign of six monarchs, and has seen the /transformation of her native place, Ask to see the new low bust, long skirted models in "Warner's" Rust proof Corsets. Every pair guaranteed- Socal drapers.