PERSONAL

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 77, 4 March 1882, Page 390

PERSONAL

— Miss Beale has returned to Auckland. —We hear that Mr W. Wilkinson has sold the Thames Advertiser to a company for £2500. —The Parnell anti-types of Damon and Pythias have fallen out. Cause as usual— lovely woman. The Eev. Mr Walsh returned to Auckland by the s.s. Hero. — The Eev. Runeiman has resumed duty at St. Stephen's, Ponsonby. —When and wherefore did the Eev. Mr Hitchcocks leave St. Thomas's ? — Laurence Calder led Miss Emma Ann Norah Pegler to the hymenal alter on the 18th ult. — Harry Christopher was married at St. Patrick's Cathedral last week to Maria GJ-orclon. — Eev. Father Downey was a passenger by the &.S. Wellington from Eussell on Saturday last. —We were glad to see Mr Crowther about again on Monday, and hope he will soon be able to discard his crutches. — Miss McGregor, of Whangarei Heads, is on a •visit to Waipu. She was greatly missed at the Parna ball. — How docs Mr P. Gf. Ewington feel after that red-hot poker business on Thursday night in the Masonic Hall ? — Miss Ellen Bagley changed her legal namo to Fitze last week. The new name fits her better than the old one. — Jem Mace, the redoubtable pugilist, is doing a series of "statuesque illustrations" in the South. — Mr and Mrs Digby Tonks returned from the South by the Eotomahana on Monday, after their honeymoon. — E. K. Tyler preached an eloquent little sermon on charity at the annual meeting of the Ladies' Benevolent Society. — " The gay young curate" will be back shortly, and the girls of St. Thomas' are brushing away their tears. — Bret Harte is accused by Greorge T. Lanigan, of the New York Tribune, of cribbing from his " Out of the World" in " A Collection of Fables." — A correspondent sends us the tremendously portentous information that Mr D. McLean, of the High School, is exceedingly fond of pudding. — The body of Te Poihipi, the Taupo chief, was dressed in Gfood Templar regalia, while lying in state. . — Mr Joseph Syme, of the Melbourne A//e, was a passenger to Auckland by the s.s. Eotomohana, and proceeded to the Lakes.

— -Eev. B. T. Dudley, of St. Sepulchre's, who has been on a visit to his father, Archdeacon Dudley, in Canterbury, returned to his flock on Monday last.

— Professor Edward Eomahsvitch Zinimermann, of Moscow, is on a scientific tour through the colonies. He ought to carry a font of consonants along with him.

— Mr J. A. Fairfax, "who has returned from a visit to the Lakes, "with Mra A. C. J. Fairfax, and the Misses Fairfax, denies the statement that he is connected -with the Sydney Morning Herald.

— Dr Hector arrived in Auckland by the O-lenelg from Tauranga, having travelled overland from Wellington, to attend the meeting of the Senate of the New Zealand University.

— Mr John G-uest, late of Beeralston, Devonshire, "was married on the 22nd ult., by the Rev. T. Hodgson, to Mary McLeod, of Whangarei Heads.

— There is a man at the North Shore "who goes every day to his office, smears his fingers "with ink, and boasts of the large amount of work he has done.

— The Hon. P. Lalor, Speaker of the Victorian Assembly, has visited Waikato and Whangarei, and speaks in high terms of the kindness and courtesy he experienced during his journeys.

— Councillor Offer is on the warpath again. He intends moving for a commission of enquiry into the efficiency or otherwise of the City Works Department. There's nothing like leather.

— MrPanter, proprietor of the Waverly Hotel, is a great loser by the late fire in one respect. He had a splendid black beard, the envy of many, and it has been most unmercifully singed by the flames.

— Professors Von Haast, Salmond, McGregor, and Sale, Eev. W. Habens, and Mr Tancred arrived by the Rotomahana from the South. Auckland has never before had such a galaxy of intellectual stars.

— Mr F. Lumsden Millar, son of the late Captain J. Millar, was married on the 22nd ult. to Miss Marion F. Clendon, daughter of the late James R. Clendon, Esq., Resident Magistrate for Russell, and other northern districts.

— Miss Grace Bicena Fairburn, eldest daughter of John Fairburn, Esq., of Otahuhu, was married in November last, at Scherwin, Mecklenberg, to Captain -Lieutenant Wachenchusen, of the Imperial Gerrfian. navy.

— Mr Howden was; suffering from a severe headache when he went to St. Thomas' meeting on Monday night. He came away quite well. He considered it the best free entertainment he had ever attended in his life.

— Mr E. M. Edgcumbe writes from Hamilton informing us that he has not been in Tauranga since the Bth February, that he has had nothing. to do with the literary matter in the Bay o/* Plenty Times, and he will not assume the editorial responsibility until March Ist.

— Mr Thompson came into note as a cornetist while he was a member of Madame Annar Bishop's company. He accompanied the United States Minstrels through the Colony about five years ago and his cornet obligato to the quartette " Hark the Drum" -was one of the attractions of the show.

— In some mysterious way the paragraph regarding Mr J. A. Beale in our last issue got mixed up. Mr Beale has removed from Cambridge to Auckland to practice his profession as a solicitor at No. 7, South British.

■ — Petty Officer Bill Potts has accompanied the Thames carbine shootists to Nelson. The gallant William will perform duties akin to those of nursery governess and spiritual adviser to the Quartzopolis Wimbledonians. — The following were the prize winners at the firing under the axispices of the Auckland Eifle Association : — W. Eose, ring and £2 10s ; J. W, Leigh, £2 ss ; Buchanan, £2 ; C. Watson, £1 15s ; W. B. White, £1 10s ; W. Eobinson, £1 5s.

• — Mrs Stannier, who was for a long time the leading vocalist in St. Paul's choir, and who accompanied her husband to England several months ago, is acquiring considerable renown as a vocalist in the old country. She has been taking lessons from some of the best masters.

— Dr Pliilson has received a complimentary testimonial from the Union Company because of the manner in which he carried out the quarantine regulations. What about our smiling friend Brophy ? Is he to be overlooked ? We ■would draw the attention of the Government to this great oversight. ■ — It is reported that Mr Harrison, the talented leader-writer of the Neiv Zealand Herald staff, is about to sever his connection with that paper and make a ti'ip to the old country. We hope he has come into a legacy. But did anyone ever hear of a newspaper man coming into a legacy ?

— Mr Albert J. Allom, clerk of the District and other Thames Courts, has compiled and published a handy little brochiore, a copy of which he has kindly sent us, 'entitled, " An alphabetical digest of the Licensing Act, 1881, compiled for the use of the Licensing Committees and their clerks." The brochure is published at the office of the Thames Advertiser, and appears to be in every way adapted for the intended purpose.

— Who is " Greneral Way" who was a passenger by the Grlenelg from Tauranga, the other day ? His name does not appear in the army list of 1882. Can he be the Captain Way who has lately been devoting his military talents to manoeuvring certain parties of excursionists to the Lake country ? If so, this is another remarkable instance of rapid promotion in the Colonial forces. Perhaps we shall next hear of Way being promoted to the Order of the Hot Bath. — A certain young man, who left Auckland for "fresh fields and pastures new" by a sailing vessel last week, departed none too soon. It would appear that one of the numerous creditors, who had been victimised to the extent of £5 for jewellery, heard of his projected trip, and determined on an interview. He obtained the assistance of a police-officer and went on board the vessel. The unfortunate debtor protested that he had enclosed the amount in an envelope that morning ; in vain, however, for the jeweller drew his attention to the fact that that morning's letters had already been delivered. The ultimate result was that the £o were handed over, and our friend sailed away. We hear other creditors arc still lamenting.

— Mr Alex. Bayne, who is at present in Auckland, and whose name has been brought into prominent notice in connection with the diamond rock drill, is a favourable specimen of the successful Scotch Colonist. Mr Bayne has, by industry, perseverance, and shrewd business abilities amassed a fortune in the Bendigo district of Victoria, and has been Mayor of Sandhurst, while he at present fills the honorary position of President of the School of Mines and Industries, Bendigo. Some years ago, he returned to his native Scotland, with a view to living there in retirement, but he found that, with his acquired tastes he could not go back to the old beaten track of humdrum existence in Scotland. Though in the neighbourhood of Glasgow he had what Bailie Nicoll Jarvie calls " a' the comforts of the Sautmarkot," he yearned for the freer and wider life of the Colonies, and accordingly returned very speedily to his Antipodean home. Mr Bayne, we understand, has relatives in New Zealand, and it is just possible that the result of his present visit may be to induce him to choose Auckland as his abode in his " sunset of life." The energy and originality of his mind are testified by his action in reference to the diamond drill, he having advocated its employment in goldrnining operations at a time when its merits were far from being at all recognised either by scientific or practical men. ' He had a firm faith in the soundness of the invention and he kept "pegging away" at the Victorian Government and the goldmining companies until several of the machines were introduced, with most gratifying results. If he should now succeed in convincing some of our leading Aucklanders of the great practical gain which the adoption of the diamond drill would ensure in the working of the goldfields of this provincial district, his visit will be a memorable one for this city and for the Colony. It should be added that Mr Bayne has sat as a member of the Victorian Assembly.