Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 364, 30 April 1903, Page 2

Personalities.

L&DY BUBDETT-COUTTS.

THE SPEAKER. WnJKR. GULLY is getting on. He g|2c|p has entered his sixty-eighth J jgffj£ year, but he is still full of life and vigour, and looking forward to lengthened service as President of the House of Commons. In the last hundred yeara there have been only eight Speakers and none of them has filled the chair without adding to its authority and dignity. When the present Viscount Peel retired seven years ago from a position which he had adorned for eleven years there was a kind providence watching over the House, and so it elected an untried and comparatively unknown member in his place, who has since more than justified the predictions of those who knew him best. When Mr. Gully seeks the seclusion of the House of Lords, which will be many years hence, for his robust physique is matched by the imperturability of his temper, his successor will almost certainly be Mr. J. W. Lowther, the present Deputy Speaker, who has relinquished promotion to Cabinet rank in order to attain this proud post. A GREAT IRISH LANDLORD. Lord De Freyne, about whom one is daily hearing so much in connection with the Irish League, is an extensive owner of property in county Roscommon. It sounds Irißh to say that since he is French he must be Irish, but it is a fact nevertheless, for the name is peculiar to the south and west of Ireland. The two branches of the family spell their names differently, Lord De Freyne's surname being French, and Lord Ffrench'B doubling the initial letter, so that there should be no mistake. The family was originally French in nationality as well as in name, and at one time enjoyed the inconvenient patronymic of De Fraxinis, which would not be at all the sort of name adaptable to modern every day useß. Lord De Freyne married Lady Louisa Dundas, sister of the Marquis of Zetland, and secondly a Miss Lamb. ROYALTY AND THE ROD. The King is not an enthusiastic fisherman, though as a youth he fished in the Highlands, and when as Prince of Wales he rented Ab?rgeldie on the Dae he used to fish for salmon now and then. The King on one occasion caught a 211b. on the Floors Castle water on the Tweed. The Queen is a keen disciple of Izaac Walton, as is also Princess Victoria, and they often fish together when in

Scotland. Her Majesty has kilted salmon in Ireland, and so deadly is the Alexandra fly, named after her, that its nse"*lfi,prohibited on many waters. The Prince of Wales is perhaps the keenest and best angler our Royal Family .has produced, and will spend long:, days on Deeside enjoying the sport. Then the Princess Louise, Duchess ef Argyll, and the Dachesß of Fife are devoted to angling. When in Canada Princess Louise had grand sport with the salmon. The Duchess of Fife has had many good days' sport on the Dee, near Mar Lodge, and spends much of her time with her children in the enjoyment of her favourite sport while the Duke is deerstalking. Those specimens of Young England, Prince Edward and Prince of Wales, are both keen on fishing.

MB. BALFOUB AS MUSICIAN. The musical world is rejoicing that at last we have a Prime Minister who is an enthusiastic musician. Hitherto British Premiers have seldom gone beyond an appreciation of ' Bule Britannia.' But Mr. Balfour has been to Bayreuth, likes Wagner, ' with limitations,* and is so devoted to his old schoolfellow, Sir Hubert Parry, as to organise a concert of his . works in Carlton Gardens. Moreover one is interested to learn that Mr. Balfour can 'pick out an air' at the pianoforte. But if Mr. Balfour cares for music he does not seem to have a passion for matrimony. It is notable that not only Mr. Balfour, but many of the leading men of to-day will have to * pick out an heir' j for, as the ladies' newspapers sadly note, the higher we «o the lower is the marriage rate. Mr. Balfour is the first bachelor Premier since Pitt. With him are Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner to represent celibracy in war and statesmanship, while the Bishop of London waves the banner of baehelordom in the Church.

Now approaching the age of ninety, Lad; Burdett-Coutts is one of the moat' remarkable woman of the day. Her life hittory has been an exceptional one. She inherited a vast fortune from her grandfather, Thomas Courts, the banker; and her benefactions—religions, industrial and charitable—are known everywhere. Marriage came to her late in life; only two months before her sixty-seventh birthday. Lady Burdett-Coutts has received signal honours from her country and her Sovereign. This venerable lady is the only woman who has been, through her own merits, raised to the peerage, and who has received the freedom of the City of London. 'During her long life she has seen many stately pageants—the coronations of William IV. and Queen Victoria; the funeral of the Iron Duke; the thanksgiving for the recovery of the then Prince of Wales; the Jubilees of 1887 and 1897, the Bad procession of the late Sovereign's funeral, and the Coronation of King Edward VII. Her house in Stratton-st. is one of the landmarks of London, and the decorations of its facade are famed for their exceeding beauty. In old days the Baroness received many markß of warm friendship from Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck, who was often her guest in Stratton-st, and at Holly Lodge, Highgate. TWICE MABBIED. Count Hatzfeldt, the retiring German Ambassador, had a curious experience with regard to his wif|; he married her not only once, but twice. She was a daughter of Mr. Charles Moulton, and when he first met her—it was in Parisshe was one of the most charming and popular women of Europe. After living together for years, in 1886 she obtained a divorce from him—in Germany there is no great difficulty in obtaining a divorce, it must be remembered. Whereupon he gave her a "somewhat unusual proof of amiability; for, far from resenting ibis proceeding on her part, much as he regretted it, he remained her devoted admirer and faithful friend, even when he ceased to be her husband. He was always on the alert to render her a service, and whenever they met he lavished on her kindly attentions. And he had his reward ; for, after waiting two years, she again became his wife, although whether she would ever have done so had she not known that she thus removed the sole obstacle to the marriage of her daughter with Piince Hohenlohe is, perhaps, an open question.