OUR LONDON LETTER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8375, 8 March 1907, Page 3

OUR LONDON LETTER.

(From Our Own Correspondent:) LONDON, January 25, 1907. Miss Irene Ainsley, who hails from Auckland, and is the protege of Madame Melba, of whom I have given lengthy accounts in former letters, will be one of the singers at the Premier Grand National Scottish Concert, "A Nicht Wi'Burns." The concert, which is under the direction of the Scottish Clans' Association, in aid of Scottish charities, will be held at the Royal Albert Hall on the 26th instant. Among the other artistes are Miss Amy Castles, Miss Janet Duff, Madame Ella Russell, and Messrs John Coates, J. F. Kinniburgh, Anderson Nicol, W. A. Peterkin, and James Scott Skinner, the "Strathspey King." The Times of January 24th has the following announcement under the "Deaths" column:—"On the 15th January, suddenly, at San Remo, Italy, in his 80th year, the Rev. H airy Woodford St. Hill, formerly of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, and Canon of St. John's Cathedral, Napier." The following poem, written' by the High Commissioner for New Zealand, appeared in the Westminster Gazette of January 2nd last (the allusion is, of course, to the great fall of snow to which I referred at some length in my last letter): — LONDON DOES PENANCE. Weaver of darkness I held on my way Towered, a pillar of cloud in the day, Pillar of fire in the night time. Sunshine I turned into blood at high noon, Turned into shade- day's luminous " boon, Shone but at nightfall—my bright time. Ever I preyed upon colour and light, Ever I warred against purity bright, Staining, corroding, devouring. Nature I blighted from tree top to root, Grey walls I blackened with poisonous soot, Laughing at cleansing and scouring. Then came my penance. Adown at my feet, I was'wrapped, shrinking, in Purity's sheet, ' Clothed with a wonder of whiteness. Snow-white perforce I stood, sullenly fair, Virgin, one hour, to the marvelling air, / Shivering, frozen in brightness. —W.P.R. Mrs Martha S. Myers, of Auckland, may well be placed among the New Zealanders who have distinguished themselves over here, r A prize story by her appeared in the "Rapid," one of C. Arthur Pearson's publications. A full section in the introductory paragraphs is devoted to it, and I give it verbatim:—"Mrs Myers was one of the successful authors in a competition for colonial women writers organised by the Lyceum Club, the leading club for women in London. The judges included Miss' Beatrice Harraden, Mrs Flora Annie Steel, Mrs Annie S. Swan, and other well-known literary ladies. Mrs Myers' prize story is not only interesting on its merits as a clever character study, but also because it is written by a colonial writer. The 'Rapid' has always done its best to encourage the Imperial sentiment, and in proportion to its circulation, has unquestionably the largest sale of any magazine in the colonies. So 1 it is peculiarly appropriate that Mrs Myers' storj should appear in its pages." ' Lady Plunket's four children, in charge of Miss Almond, arrived by the Corinthic, which was expected on Thursday, 17th instant, but whicr was delayed by the fog, and did not . discharge her passengers till the Sunday following. I learn that Ladj Plunket, who was expected by th< same boat, is coming by the Orient ■ mail steamer, Orontes, which wil leave Adelaide on the 17th instant. ] . am told she will be . accompanied bj her daughters, and the Hon. Kathleer ' Plunket, and Captain/Braithwaite • t A.D.C. . *.' Mr Gilruth, Chief Government Veterinarian, has called at the Hig] - Commissioner's Office. He is nov . gone to visit his relatives in Scot land. The Hon. W. P. Reeves will pre side at the first annual meetir.g o v *tne New Zealand Association at Vic toria Street, on the 30th instanl One of the resolutions to be die ' ■• cussed is that of the admission o ladies to membership. Mr J 1 Augustine, private secretary to th High Commissioner, has been electe on the committee of the Associatioi .which has now a membership o two hundred. Major H. Sladden, another vetera: of the New Zealand war of 1 86< died at Sunderland, at the age of 81 ' The major was a native of Kent, an • joined, as a private, the 68th Durha: Light Infantry, now the Ist Durhai Light Infantry, on May 13th, 184 ' at the age of 19, and in 1854 he ws sent to the Crimea. The 68th we] sent out to India in connection wil the mutiny, but did not arrive unl the neck of the revolt had be< broken. In 1862 they went to Ne Zealand, and went through the Mao War, returning home in 1866, ar leaving again for India in 187 Major Sladden has been awarded silver medal and £ls for di • tinguished conduct in the field a) the Cross of the Legion of Honoi and the Turkish medal. He was pi moted to the honorary rank of maj in 1882. Sir Rodney Stuart Riddell, Ban of Ardnamurch'an, who was a gre; grandsfß of the famous Admir Rodney, has just died at Bath in I 69th year. He was paymast of the 70th foot, now " the 2nd Ea Surrey. He also saw service in t Afghan War of 1883, and in t Soudan Expedition. This is anoth veteran of the New Zealand War. Mr Arthur Stanley Heale, of tl New Zealand , University, is noted having passed in chemistry a: physics at the first professional e animations of the Conjoint Exami irig Board of the Royal College . Physicians and Surgeons of Englar Other successes are Mr Fritz Kahle berg, of Otago University, now Guy's, and Mr J. W. J. Mitchell M haffey, now at the London Hospiti who have both passed the second pi fessional examination in anatomy a physiology held by the Royal Colle of Physicians and Surgeons.