ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 17, 27 October 1900, Page 3

ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

THEEE is no end to the printing of records. Civilisation requires it, civilisation piles them up, and civilisation staggers under the burden. For example, there is a lumber room of records, musts, and dusts in the Parliamentary Buildings. Every document therein has a double carefully bound with the Appendices, Jpurnals, and Hansards. Every document ia therefore useless, yet the pile has been regarded with affectionate veneration for years. Nobody wanted them, and they were of no use to anybody. At last they were crammed carefully one by one, and it was borne in on everybody that they do nothing but cumber the ground. Happily the order has gone forth for their destruction. Why cannot this clearance be made oftener ? * * • It is said that good Fortune awaits the people of Wadestown in having the Eev. P. of that ilk assigned to them as curate ; also that a favouring Gale is wafting home to Wellington the capable manager of Jobnstone and Co.'s business, who has been laid aside by ill-health for many months, and has had a prolonged trip to Australia. * * * Dr Boss is the latest newcomer to Masterton. As a late arrival from the regions our Premier 'is desirous of annexing, interest in " the new doctor " is particularly keen. He was for several years Government medical officer for Tonga, so of course he is a topical subject for discussion at afternoon teas. * * * It did not take many weeks of Wellington zephyrs to satisfy Mr Mason, the officer in charge of the Telegraph department, that the climate of Cook Strait would not suit him, and so he is off back to Christchurch. Mr Mason has been so long associated with Canterbury light-ning-jerking that he was an established institution in the Cathedral City, the business people of which will be glad to welcome him back. Mr Harrington, who will replace him here, has the reputation of being a popular and capable officer. * # • Wellington people are naturally proud of the musical achievements of Miss Katie Conneil, the gold medallist of the Convent School, who is about to go to England to continue the cultivation of her vocal powers. . Strictly speaking Miss Connel is not a Wellingtonian. She hails from Taranaki, where her father is a wellknown citizen. But the Convent, whose excellent music-teaching system has done so much to develope her voice, may fairly claim a share of the honour that attaches to one of the most promising young vocalists the colony has yet produced. Miss Connells voice is a rich soprano of remarkable power and flexibility, and when she is in England the people of New Zealand will have the same interest in her progress as the Victorians have shown in their Madame Melba and Amy Castles or the Tasmanians in their Amy Sherwin and Ada Crossley. And why should not another colonial look forward to as pieat a career as these those sister colonials have achieved ?

That the Wellington business' people know how to recognise good service is shown by steps now being taken to send a suitable presentation to -Mr T. W. Donne, late railway traffic manager here — steps which there was not time to take before his removal to Auckland. First as station master and afterwards as traffic manager, Mr Donne was one of the most courteous and obliging officers of a service that is noted for its attention to the needs; of the public. . , • * * V, - Mr John Danks, a well-known manjn this city, and one who succeeded^ his father in watching over the interests of benevolent bodies, left on Saturday. -last for a trip to Australia. He will stay awhile in Melbourne, where his uncle, Mr John Danks is a mighty man in business and religious circles. The latter is head of the ironfounding business bearing 'bis name, which has branches in Sydney and "Wednesbury (England). .Although .the head of this firm is 72 years of age he still has the enterprise and energy to make the offer to the Victorian Government to start a rifle manufactory if , the Government will give the firm a good order to begin with. The offer is now under consideration. i k • • V * The origin and rise of the Melbourne firm of Danks Bros, is onfef of the most interesting in colonial industrial history. The three brothers', John, Samuel, Thomas, were the sons Jof . a gas-tube maker in England. They,, came ou£ to Melbourne in the fifties, and just after starting business there the city that was to be called " Marvellous " began to talk about gas lighting. Whilst the question was still in the air, the Danks Bros, sent Home (on spec.) a large order to the father's factory for piping. Just after the material came to hand, Melbourne decided on having its gas — and fortune came for the Danks's enterprise. In '71 John became sole proprietor, Sa,muel having come over to Wellington and established the well-known business which has to-day come down to his only son (John), and Thomas set up a business for himself in Christchurch, which he still lives to control. • # * *- Messrs 0. T. J. Alpers and E. F. Irvine, who are not unknown in these parts, received the commission to write the book on New Zealand for the 25-volume encyclopaedia upon the progress of the Anglo-Saxon race during the nineteenth century, which W. and E. Chambers (Scotland) and the Bradley-Garrettson Co. (Canada; combination are bringing out. The Commonwealth of Australia will be covered in one volume, and New Zealand gets another volume of 580 pages, which is to be sold separate from the big work in this colony only. Mr Irvine (who was editor of the Australian Magazine, a Sydney literary venture, now defunct) was at one time a teacher in Wellington College. He is the author of " Bubbles, His Book," an entertaining story for colonial children. • # m A Wellington trooper, writing to his chums of the Fourth Contingent's part in the Crocodile Pools affair, says :—": — " The Monowai boys were the first to cross over on foot, then No. 2 Division (Wellington) on horseback, followed by Wellington's Nos. 1 and 3. They told us afterwards that our grand old commander, Major Davies, got very excited when we were charging the second kopje, and cried out that he would not hold himself responsible for our mishaps, because we had not been ordered to go over on foot. The Major also said that if such a handful of us took that kopje we could take Hell. Well — we took that kopje ! What about our chances against Old Oom Paul Nick ?"

Hubert Mitchell has just taken his pen and pencil from the reporters' room of the Oamaru Mail to that of the Canterbury Times (sports department). H.M. was on the Mail for quite a number of years, and makes yet one more addition to the already long list of acquisitions to the press ranks of the Cathedral City. • • • If the House has not been dull in that part of its club precincts called Bellamy's, the fact/is largely due to the member for Auckland, whose sense of hospitality haa developed greatly, and that is saying much, with the exercise it has had during • , the session. Eeport has it that Mr .Witheford's ambition once was to fight and land the speckled trout. That may be true or it may not ; it is now at least certain that Mr Witheford's ambition is now spreckled. It began by feeling frisky on the cbas^ ; when it got to the first land it poured out champagne, and said, " How are ye ?" At the next land it called for some more, and "there was more " fizz," but when it reached Auckland the wine began to flow without a break. It is going on, like the brook, for ever, and it passes under the smoke of boxes of cigars, swirls against whole continents of dinner tables, and washes over innumerable suppers. For all this the Lance's authority is the report of a speech delivered by an effusive guest at one of the myriad entertainments of Mr Witheford's contriving. The only remark it offers is that the career appears to have advanced on a line of consistently progressive development, and that its present characteristics are much admired. The gallery, when Mr Witheford and his inseparable panacea appeared in the precincts, said " "We are always glad to see you here, sir." There is, in fact, no more popular Parliamentarian. • • * "Who is the most progressive Parliamentarian in the House, is a horse of anpther colour. There are many claimants i of the honour. Some are very swift, especially Mr Wilford when he talks, but it may be doubted whether the Parliamentary race is ever to the swift. Mr Ward has certainly gone far as well as fast, (faster than the racing reporter can follow), but he has other qualities for his great speed to carry, and besides the question is of the men who have not yet come to greatness. If determination vere the sole quality, Mr Pirani would be first, with the irrepressible member for Eiccarton a very good second, and if familiarity with detail were the only thing needful, these two would race away from their horses. One of them is, however, unable to look at any political picture without imagining it to be ruined by the figure of the Premier, and the other sees in everything a proof of his own wisdom which predicted it, and placed the prediction on record. It is said that the only reason why Mr Pirani does not come to the top is that he won't let the Premier alone, and that the only thing that keeps Mr G. W. Russell from being Premier himself is his kindly but unaccountable refusal to depose Mr Seddon. * * w Another pair of candidates for greatness is from Canterbury. Mr Ell and Mr Lauren son are both earnest young men, studious both, and as honest as the day. But if they were not also as transparent, their progress to greatness would be more rapid. The first, moreover, is possessed of a faith big enough to move mountains, but as yet lacks the practical discernment which teaches that there are some mountains whose removal no one ever thinks of assigning to faith. His friend often sits silent, looking ready to be provoked into saying anything, and when honourable members, from the Premier downwards, take him at his looks, he says it.

Were oratory, strenuous and undiluted, to be the proof of greatness, then, Mr Collins would be permanently great,, for his flow of speech is interminable. His honesty and his courage are both equal, and had he torn fewer passions to tatters upon an unbelieving floor, his greatness would have been of a higher order. The thing which wants curbing in him is impulse, for uncurbed impulse is a horse which rides over the judgment roughshod. • • v The fault of Mr Jack Hutcheson is that he is not sufficiently pleased with himself. Nature made him a plain Scot, and his brother Scots fashioned his speech' on the simple, homely, telling lines on which the Doric runs. But he has, unhappily, allowed the world to persuade him that an admixture of Yankee whitewash improves the colour and humourises the gait of his speech. Hence the world laughs at him and at the piratical affectations with which he helps his speech to conquer. Let him get back to Jack Hutchison, and He will go far, for he has determination, industry, and courage enough. Of ingenuity he has too much, for if you put the beggar suspicion on that horse he will ride to the devil. Possessing both hdr'se and beggar, Mr Hutcheson is handicapped in the race for greatness. One more figure in the procession that filed away from the legislative balls during the last few days, and the Lancb has done for this week. It is the member for the Bay of Plenty. Mr Herries is young and stalwart, with a frank face, one of those faces which the greatest of our humourists characterised as a letter of credit from the hand of Nature, which is sure to be welcomed by all to whom it may be presented. He has a breezy, decided manner, cheerful withal to the edge of smiling and often broadly over it. He strikes blows shrewdly and his courage is high; he marks, learns, and inwardly digests, and in him modesty and patience, contend for mastery. The conflict is aided by the absence of all guile ; in the place vacated by the latter is ' merit', and in all he does there is the mighty virtue tact. A Conservative, is he ? If he conserve this combination some years you may look to see him Premier of the colony. It is true, moreover, that the Conservative of to-day is often the Radical of to-morrow, especially when he is young, honest, frank, and brave. • • • Everybody knows that General lan Hamilton is a great warrior, but very few people are aware that he is a poet who has reached the dignity of a book. Here is a little thing he wrote before going to the war, entitled "Ambition's Avowal" : — At life's fresh dawning, Where the roads sever, I pressed on, scorning All but endeavour. Love seemed sheer folly, — I was so clever. Now melancholy Claims me for ever — Youth returns never ! # # * V Invercargill has just welcomed back from a business-educational tour Mr John Kingsland, son of a father of the same name, and a prosperous confectioner. Time waa when only medical men went Home to enlarge their minds, but, nowadays, one reads of all classes of young men being sent to England, Scotland, and Europe to gain business experience. Young Kingsland worked in the commissiariat department of the famous Hotel Cecil (London) for some months, after " doing " England and Scotland generally — picking up wrinkles in the way of art trifles. One of Wellington's leading confectioners (Mr J. Godber) is at present " doing " the Old Country as a means of improving his business.

Few things are more pathetic than the story of poor old Kruger's breakdown on leaving Delagoa Bay. The last of the old trekkers, he is in many respects a grand old figure. Men talk much of his faults, which are not more numerous than his virtues. The virtues are simple and many, the faults are for the most part the outcome of his narrow environment. Abraham Lincoln, who had the same virtues, became so enlightened by the opportunities of education which his country offered that his faults disappeared Oom Paul having no such opportunities, his faults became so intensified, that to this day he maintains that the world is flat. Captain Slocum is the authority for this, and he has told the story amusingly in the narrative of his extraordinary single-handed cruise round the world. What wonder that he became the prey of the designing scoundrels about him ? Other faults than mere obstinacy and ignorance are laid to his charge it is true. But it should be remembered that the evidence of these is the evidence partly of the enemy, and partly of disappointed friends, in a time of war, when passion is in the ascendant and rumour passes for truth. That he wrecked his country is certain. But that he loved it with a love given to few men to feel is attested by that pitiful scene on the Dutch warship. In the hour of his trouble no manly soul ■will throw a stone at the broken-down old man. When he comes to be judged, let him be judged by the enlightened rules which he himself never had an opportunity of learning. # • • Oom Paul was not the only Boer arrogant enough to think the English could be driven into the sea. Had he not tried to do it he might have discovered that the English were better worth cultivating than fighting. And that is the pity of it. As he was ill advised enough to try, the best thing to be said of him is that he made a marvellous fight against one of the strongest empires in the world. A high-niinded people will say it, when the tension of the war feeling is over. Boberts, it was said, shook hands with Oonje. That has been denied hotly, but it is reasonable to suppose that he would have certainly shaken hands with Oom Paul. # • * Mr William Bird, who has been appointed by the Education Department to organise its new system of technical instruction in native schools, is a son-in-law of Mr Morrison, M.H.E. for Caversham. He came to Wellington as first assistant at Mount Cook Boys' School, and for the last year has been headmaster at Karori. Also, he has some local celebrity as a musician, as one of the trombonists to the Orchestral Society. There is something of the irony of circumstances in his appointment to such an office, seeing that only quite lately his worthy father-in-law ■was in his place in the House one of the carpers at technical education, particularly as exemplified at the Wellington Technical School, the best equipped and most successfully conducted institution of the kind in the colony. # • • A school boy at Nelson who " played the wag" when the big abattoir was opened, has been bowled out in rather a "unique manner. Of course, he had an excuse for the dominie as to his absence from school. No fear, he hadn't been up at the slaughter-house spree — not he ; he had been kept at home to do some "work. But it happened that at the public function groups of the distinguished visitors were taken, and everyone else that could shove himself in got within range of the camera. The pictures were published, in a Southern weekly, and there, on the skirts of one of the parties of visitors, is the smiling face of the indignant young gentleman who wasn't there. He has since smelt strap oil, and is now less angry, but more sorrowful. • * • A very good story used to be told by Mr Gladstone about his habit of studying the types of faces that passed him in the street, and the consequences thereof. On one occasion a certain University Professor somewhere South of the Line, who shall be nameless here, met the G.O.M. in Edinburgh, and, seeing that he was regarding him steadily, went forward and held out his hand, saying, " Ah, Mr Gladstone, you have nearly forgotten me, I see. Had I not spoken, I don't think you would have recognised me." Mr Gladstone protested that he remembered him perfectly well, but that he had not seen him until he held out his hand. "But," said the puzzled professor, "you were staring me almost out of countenance." " No, no," interrupted the G.0.M., " you are mistaken ; I was looking at the face of a man who, I am perfectly certain, is simply eaten up with conceit." And Mr Gladstone wondered (until one of his friends to whom he told the story explained) why the man was dv m bfoundered.

Many things have been said of General Baden-Powell, all to the credit of that brilliant officer. Of all these none show him in so fine a light as his answer to the two Lyttelton children who wrote him a little joint letter after Mafeking. Down he sat the moment he got it. Orderlies waited without, staff officers within, and everywhere there was clank of arms. But he wrote his answer there and then, thanked his little correspondents like a courteous gentleman ; gave them his best wishes, and hoped he might some day see them in their beautiful country. Once more we see that greatness is great in all things— -■great as- well as small. • • * The incident reminds one of the story of Marshal MacMahon, who in riding in triumph at the head of his army into Milan after Magenta, was stopped by a bevy of children, one of whom presented him with a large bouquet of flowers. He took the child up at once, placed her on the saddle before him, and rode through the frenzied populace, past the lines of waving balconies, crowded windows and cheering housetops, with his grey head bent over the little white figure and shining face ; the soldiery of France in measured tramp behind him, drums beating and colours flying, in all the pomp and circumstance of glorious war. It is just the kind of thing Baden-Powell would have done.

The outcry about the poor crossing keeper who was killed at Sydenham (Christchurch) the other day is creditable to the kindliness of many dispositions. But its accompanying demand for some specific legislative provision for prevention of such fatalities is of the brainless order. The poor fellow was standing between two lines of rails, on each of which a train was approaching him. These trains were going different ways, and the man in the middle only knew about one of them. Consequently, when it came near him, he stepped on to the other line and was caught by the other train. Had he remained between the rails nothing would have happened. But how are we to frame a law which will make men remember the right thing at the right moment always, i.e., assuming that crossing sweepers are supposed to know their daily trains from A to Z, and '■ from dewy morn till past the midnight mists." But then crossing sweepers are not all fit to be Traffic Managers, and if they were they might not all remember everything. A regulation that no crossing sweeper shall ever stand anywhere but at the outside of his crossing, near to one of his gates, would certainly be beneficial. But even then something would have to be left to the " human equation." For example, a pointsman has been known to turn the points the wrong way when an express

What is more he actually did it, with the worse half of the warlike circumstance, and with none of the pomp. There was no pomp in Mafeking, but there were many little children. These were as much to Baden-Powell as his other infantry in khaki. Here is what a recent writer says of it : — And while one is writing of Mafeking can one omit to make xeference to the first of its heroes., who not only inspired and sustained all by his courage and resourcefulness, but when he saw an} of the little ones who seemed to want comforting, would take them up in his arms and show that he had something of the gentleness of a woman, in addition to his splendid soldierly qualities ; reminding one of the lines in Wordswoith's " Character of the Happy Wai nor " — who, though thus endued as with a sense A nd faculty for storm and turbulence, Is yet a mid whom master bias lean*. To hometelt pleasures and to gentle scenes * # * " Masterton's gain spells loss to Hastings, for Mr W. H. L. Galwey, who was for over thirteen years manager of the Hastings branch of the Bank of New South Wales, has been transferred to the hub of the Wairarapa. The Lance, being outside the sphere of influence, congratulates a popular cricketer and go! fist upon his promotion.

was thundering down at sixty miles an hour. In that case the "human equation " squared the account, for a porter who saw that the pointsman had mechanically blundered was in time to reverse the points and send the express on to safety on the main line instead of to glory in the siding. But how can you prevent the human equation occasionally going wrong ? Let us not abate our faith in laws and regulations one jot, but let us remember at the same time that they can not guarantee absolute safety. • * * Another accident that has been much discussed during the week is the one by which a fine young man lost his life very painfully at the Makohine viaduct. It appears that he was making his way hand over hand towards a rope, along a wet steel girder. The metal being slippery the climber lost his hold and fell 75 feet. Had he, like his comrades, stuck to the ladder, he would have been alive to-day. By a freak he did not stick to the ladder, and you cannot legislate against freaks any more than you can against earthquakes.