PERSONAL NOTES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3641, 30 September 1912, Page 5

PERSONAL NOTES.

Dr. Cox, of Timaru, is at present spending a holiday with his brother, Mr Cox, of Gisborne. Mr G. Bridges, Registrar of Lands, arrives in Gisborne from Auckland this morning. Mr H. Hill, Inspector of Schools, arrived from Napier on Saturday morning.

The Borough Engineer (Mr A. J. Paterson) returned to Gisborne from Wellington on Saturday. Captain Hart and Mrs Hart left Gisborne for Sydney on Saturday, where Capt. Hart will await orders. The Agent-General in London tendered on Friday a farewell luncheon to Sir Wra. Hall-Jones.

The death is announced of Mr Ross, a, member of the N.S. Wales Legislative Council. A London P.A. cable announces that the estate of the late Mr H. 0. Wills, of tobacco fame, has been sworn at £5,424»i856. A London P.A. cable states that Sir David Burnett has boon chosen as Lord Mayor-elect of London. The “Hawke’s Bay Tribune” says: A private cable announces the death of Mr W. G. Beckett, at Toowoomba Sanatorium, Queensland. Mi’ Beckett vas the eldest son of Mr 0. G. Beckett, intimately known in newspaper circles. Mr Beckett promised to be an able member of the legal profession, he had much natural ability, and was a fine athlete.

Mr Victor Booth, representing the Associate Board of the Royal Academy and College of Music, who was formerly of Oamaru, and now occupied, an honorable position in the musical world of London, was entertained by the Manawatu Professional Musicians' Association on Saturday (says a P.A. wire). Mr C. W. Naylor presided, and in proposing Mr Booth’s health referred to the distinction of his career, reflecting credit on New Zealand music and to the remarkable gift he possessed of setting pupils to be examined at their ease. Mr Booth, in reply, dealt most interestingly with the greatest need in New Zealand music teaching, which was phrasing and expression. Pupils, he said, often played as though they were reciting Shakespeare. The first thing he was taught at the Academy was to learn to listen to his own playing and the playing of others and to analyse musical phrases and their meaning. To do this they should study composition and then they would know- where the musical phrase began and ended, and what the composer meant to convey, for music had to be regarded, not as a mechanical production of sounds, but as a language of emotion. At the same gathering the president toasted Mr D. Hoben, who had been conducting the “Manawatu Daily Times” for the past five years and is now giving up his lease, and those present referred to the assistance he had been to music through his paper and the loss his departure would’ be to the district. Mr Hoben has also been presented hv the staff of the “Manawatu Daily Times” with a dressing case. — P.A!