Personalities,

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 426, 14 July 1904, Page 2

Personalities,

ALEXANDER I. ■HILE travelling in Poland, and when about midway between the towns of Kovna and Wilna, on the banks of the River Wilia, Alexander I. of Russia had ridden forward in advance of his attendants, when his attention was attracted by some persons ; who appeared to be dragging something from the water, and, on nearing the spot, he found it to be the body of a mafi, apparently lifeless. Prompted by humanity alone, and with what little assistance could be rendered by the ignorant peasants, the Emperor had the body laid on a sloping bank and at onoe proceeded to apply the then known means of restoration. On the arrival of his suite, the members added their exertions to those of his Majesty, and continued for over three hours, when the doctor in attendance declared tbat life was quite extinct, and that it was useless to proceed further. Fatigued as he was with the long-continued exertion, the Emperor entreated them to persevere in a last effort in rubbing while the doctor made a fresh attempt to bleed him, with the iesult that blood made its appearance accompanied with a slight groan. Their efforts were at once redoubled and finally crowned with complete success. The emotions of his Imperial Majesty cannot sufficiently be described, and, in the plenitude of his joy, ho exclaimed, 'Good God, this is the brightest day of my life,' and the tears which dimmed his eyes indicated that the words came from his heart. The solicitude of the Emperor did not end here, as, in addition to a gift of money, the future welfare of the man and his family was provided for. The Royal Humane Society, at its meeting on the 15 th of April, 1806, unanimously agreed that in recognition of the noble and persevering efforts thus put forth the gold medal of the society be presented to his Imperial Majesty, who was graciously pleased to accept the award. SOME RED LETTER DAYS. The red-letter day of Sir THomas Lipton's life has yet to come. It will be when Shamrock IV.—or V. or Vl.—' lifts the cup.' But he has experienced one or two proud moments already. When the King announced to him his intention of making him a baronet, for isstanca; and again when, in presence of royalty, he opened the first * People's Dining Palace' in the City Roadi J. B Eobiason, multi-millionaire, of Paik Lane and Kimberley, regards his discovery of diamonds in South Africa as the red-letter day of his life. It happened in the year 1867. A Griqua had come into his camp with a ' pretty stone,' which young Robinson—he was only twenty-two then—recognised at once. In great excitement, but without breathing a word to any one, he journeyed to the locality whare the native had found it, and set his men to work searching for others like it. The Kaffirs soon brought in plenty, and as fast as they came in Robinson dropped them (the diamonds, not the Kaffirs) in a hole he had dog in the ground, and snt 1 on ths top of She hoard on a chair manu- | faeVtiTfed out of packisg cases. When I' enough had hem accumulated, his partner carried them in a baize belt, which he never took xZ night or day, toXondon; find it was in that primitive fashion that the first consignment of African diamonds reached Hatton G&rden. Mr J.. Lawaoa Johnston, the inventor and sole original proprietor of Borral, oace made a million sterling at one deal. It was in August, 1896, He was sitting in his office. A stranger entered with the startling question: ' Do you want to sell you; business ?' • Tea, at a price,'was the reply. 1 And that price is——' «.£2,000,000.' 'AH right, I'll take it,' agrred the stranger, who was none other thsn Mr Ernest Terah Hooiey. And take it he did, afterwards re-sellisg it to a company at a huge profit. It was a real red-letter day for Henry Bessemer when in 1355, he discovered that air blown into and through fluid iron converted the metal into steel, The British Association was then sitting at Cheltenham, and the experimenter hastened there to lay before the members the result of his experiments. Within thirty-days no fewer than seventeen of the leading ironmasters of the North had adopted his system, and the young inventor had received ,£27.000 in royalties. These afterwards increased until they amounted to c -/nsiderably over a million sterling, while the price of steel was gradually reduoed from £so to £SO a a ton to £5 or £6. The most famous deed accomplished by Mr James Gordon Bennett, the founder and millionaire proprietor of the 'N» to Yosk Herald,' was sending his repoiU-, Henry M. Stanley, in search of Dr Livingstone. This he did in the summer of 1871 - At that time Livingstone had been ' lost' for between six and seven years ia the then utterly unknown interior of Africa. But Mr Bennett thought differently. His reward came on July 26 th, 1872, when he was able to announce in his paper the safety of the eminent explorer. He also published at the same time a letter of thanks from the doctor. This letter was next day reproduced in the ' Times,' and 2 736 other papers, and the name of James Gordon Bennett was at once in everybody's month, It was literally a case of going to bed unknown, and waking to find himself famous. Sir Faudel Phillips counts as the redletter da? of his life a certain date in Jane, 1897: the year of his lord-mayoralty. Sir Thomas Lipton—ha was plain Mr Lipton then—was lunching at the Mansion House, and, noticing that his host looked lees cheerful than usual, inquired the reasca. Sir Faudel replied that the money for the Princess of Wales's dinner fund "for the poor of London wae coming in very slowly, and he feared the affair was going to be a fiasco. Mr Lipton at once asked how much was wanted, and on being told that the sum mentioned by Her Royal Highness was £30,000. of which only .£5,000 had so far been subscribed, he quietly remarked : ' Ob, well, don't trouble about that I'll give you my cheque for the balance' And there and then the Napoleon of the Provision World wrote out and signed a cheque for £25,000 on a blank half Bheet of notepaper, and the fund waß closed ere they rose from the table. Sir Frederick Abel invented cordite, and thereby became a millionaire. But it is not in connection with that discovery that he principally prides himself. The proudest day of hi 6 eventful and busy life was, in his opinion, that upon whioh ha was chosen by the King (then Prince of Walee) to be secretary and director of the Imperial Institute. Similarly, Baron Avebury (Sir John Lubbocfe) has had heaps of honours thrust thick upon him; but the day that for him stands out from all others is May 25th, 1871, for on that date his Bank Holidays Act became the law of the land. Lord Armßtton? was from his very earliest days an enthusiastic angler, whioh is why, perbfep?, ka always maintained tbat a certain fishing-basket he invented was a greater improvement in its way

than the Armstrong gun. The rod-letter day of his life, however, was undoubtedly that on whioh he offered his patent for the weapon aforesaid—a patent worth not less than .£50,000 to the Biitiah Government, free, gratis, and for nothing. Needlesß to say, the Government accepted it gladly, conferred a knighhood on the , inventor, appointed him Chief Engineer of Rifled Ordnance to the War Office at a salary of £2,000 a year, and arranged thifc a proportion of the guns required should be manufactured at Elswiok. This was in 1858 July 31st, 1858, was Baron Rothschild's red-letter day, for oa-that date he was at last permitted to take his s aat as a member of the Mouse of Commons. The scene was a striking one, although it had in a sense been ' cut and dried' beforehand.