ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 70, 2 November 1901, Page 3

ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

MR. CHAS E MAUDSLEY, son of one of our best-known city men, and himself known throughout the province as a genial traveller, returned to town by the Last San Francisco boat, attei an enjoyable sixmonths' pieasuie tour or the United States and Canada. The trip was compiehensnt:, embracing visits to San Francisco, Salt LaJce City, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Washington, New York, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and Boston, then up* to Montreal, through the Lake ot a Thousand Isles, on to Toronto, then back to Vancouver, across to Portland, and so on to San Francisco again Ah. Maudsley was in Buffalo a tew dajs befoie President McKinley was shot, and whilst in the Temple of Music (close to the scone of the assassination^ whilst listening to one of the Exhibition concerts, he saw a face m the audience that seemed familiar. That face belonged to Mr Thomas Ballingei, whom the young Wellmgtonlan thought to be far away on Lambton Quay' Yet another strange coincidence befell Mr. Maudsley whilst he was attending a concert m San Francisco, foi he there found himself seated near a young lady whom he had known years ago in Wellington It was Miss Magjnnity, now living with her eldest brothei in the Golden State Surely the world grows smaller every year l Mr. Maudsley was in Washington when the news of the shooting of the President came through, and he says the people were furious in their grief, and is of opinion that had Czolgosz done the deed in Washington instead of at Buffalo he would ha\e been tom to pieces. At Detroit, for some unknown reason, the New Zealandet who wa.s generally treated with the greatest hospitality, found a veiv stiong auti-Bntish feeling prc\alent He Msited the fashionable seaside report of Atlantic City in the height of the season There were then 3 30 000 peonle in the cit\ , and fully 100.000 of these weie to be seen on the beach every day. He came away from the States with an impulsion that the countrs and its people were 'great," but was glad that he had New Zealand to retire to as the business life is worked in Yankeeland ,it surh hi eh pressure that a man becomes old befoie his time Wellington was visitc-d last week b\ one ot the biggest sawmill proprietors of the col on v in the person of Mr Roboit Gibbons of the Thames, who is also (he uncle of Mr Jack Gibbons the well-known chief leporter of the 'Evening Post " Mr Gibbons, the lumberman, not the pressman, is one of our people who will mo^t seveielv feel the weight of the Federal tariff, as he had woiked up a ver\ important and lucrative connection with Australia in the white "iiip industry Some idea of this phase of his business can be gathered from the fact that he has under charter ten square-rigged vessel* for the Australian trade, and his mills last year turned out eight million feet of white pine the bulk of which was intended for the. making of butter boxes He has sawmills running at the Thames. Kamara Hokianga and the Bay of Islands One of the mills has a daily output of 22 000 ft in a shift of eight hour« and his wa?es bill last year tottod o* er ClO oro

Mr. Gibbons, who is a man.-y -sided man, as well as keen at business, was intimately connected with one of the colony"s 'historic associations It was he who purchased from the Government of the day, away back in the early fitties, the hrst of the colony's steamers. Tins vessel was one with a history and was the sixty-ton Clyde, which was a blockade-runner dunng the North v. South American war The New Zealand Government acquired the Clyde, and ran her during the Maori trouble, after which she passed into Mr. Gibbons's hands and he ran her between the Thames and Auckland, himself passing an examination in order to take charge. The Gibbons family have Inen lumbeimen fiom time immemorial, and even "Jack" o 'that ilk cannot resist chewing his pencil of wood when news is slack John Gibbons'', grandfather came from Ne« foundl and and settled in the North where he established sawmills and he was one of the founders of the Bank of New Zealand * * • The Rev F Bennett who so ably advocated the cause of the Victoria School for Maon Gals at Government House last Saturday afternoon is an interesting half-caste with a rich, melodious voice that adds glamour to his poetic phias.es He belonged to the tribe winch was scatteied b\ the great Tarawera eruptions of a decade and a half ago The bright-looking boy was found wandering about relationless by Bishop Suter and his good lady, who took so strong a fanev to him that they praeticalh adopted him He was taken to Nelson given the best of education, and hi ought vi) m the Anglican Church, of winch lie is now so bright an ornament Mi Bennett is familiar with the traditions and history of the Maori race he is an enthusiastic member of the Young Maori Party and an ardent tempeianco advocate having the wellbeing of his lace at heart ♦ • * Sergeant Norman Leslie of the Wellington Guauls, who was piesented the other night with the handsome gold medal given by the Government annually for the best rifle shot in the North Island, is well known m shooting athletic and trades union circle* He has been a nfle shot since he was a cadet m the Oama.ru Public School Coips. later on joining the Oamaiu Rifles "When but I! 1 he iepresented that coips at the Chnstchuieh Championship meeting in 1887 and the following \ear fiied at the Oamaiu meeting Ten \eais later Norman represented the Wellington Gu«uds at the Auckland Championship meeting Though he never shot brilhanth "at the big meetings he always eleaied expenses His first effoit m Wellington foi the piov incial belt was to shoot within thiee points of the crack Aithut Ballmgei s scoie Thiee reasons Jin Xoiman won the Seelev Cup and medal —a local competition tioph\ — and now he has won Noith Island fame He has foi \eais been dn enthusiastic and prominent member of the Sports Committee of the Eight Houis Union ,md is an executive omcei of the Operative Bootmakers 1 Fedeiation Mr William Booth although he h.i^ letired from the madding ciowd^ and lives the life of a faimei m the Wanarapa, simply permeates city life Nor onl\ does the harbour claim a good deal of his attention but theie aie numerous mdustiial concerns with which he is intiinateh connected as a laige shaieholder and as a directoi And now the Sawnnllers' Conference claimed his closest attention bv making him chairman With Mi Booth it seems to be true that ' the more he has to do the more he can do " But he has long promised himself that he will get away from the rush and turmoil of Wellington's busy life, so he has decided to leave, almost immediateh foi a hohdav launt in the Old Country We wish him bon voyage.

Mr Hugh Gully, who has been missing fiom the precincts of our law courts during the past twelve months, returned to town bv the Talune Isst week, looking more haJe and hearty than ever The members of the staff of the legal firm of Messrs Bell, Gully Bell, and Myers were all delighted to find that the tour had rejuvenated the popular lawyer, and when he once more stepped in«ide the Supreme Court library hearty greetings again show <?d him that here was a Gully which indeed had been missed fiom the landscape During his tour Mr. Gully "did" Egypt, England, and the Continent of Europe, but comes back convinced that Maoriland is still the Incomparable' * * *■ It is not given to every married couple to celebrate their silver wedding, therefore the Rev Charles Dallaston and his wife are to be congratulated upon reaching the twenty-fifth yearstone in the matrimonial journey of life Mr and Mrs Dallaston are both natives of Ipsw ich (Suffolk) and w ere married just before Mr. Dallastou came out to the colony to take charge of the Oxford Terrace Baptist Church, at Christchurch, taking up tiie work in the beginning of 1877. Mr. Dallaston had the privilege of studying under the great Spurgeon, in London, and alw ays speaks affectionately of the famous preacher as having been a father to the Spurgeon College students. For fifteen years Mr. and Mrs. Dallaston exercised fatherly and motherly care over the Oxford Terrace flock, broken only bv a trip to the Old Country by the pastor, before coming to the Vivianstreet Church, where Mr. Dallaston took charge just a month over a decade ago The well-beloved couple leceived a whole sheaf of telegraphed congratulations upon their ' silvern" day last Theatrical folks in Wellington have been interested in the visit of Joe Slater, a well-known Sydney-sider. Joe and his fashionable how -do handshake is "all right" with the vaudevilhans, and the enterprising young man is known to all the vanotv" people who "sing a bit " He is the publisher of the O.K. Songbook the Imperial Songster and the Tivoh Album, which are "classics" for parodies and patters as well as popular ditties to "the boys" of the cities of Australia Joe is combining business with his pleasure trip over here, as he thinks his publications should catch on with New Zealanders as they have done with Australians. * * * Ha\e you seen the address my old colleagues of the Council gave me p " ExCouncillor Anderson, who so long represented Thorndon as a City Father, was pleaded with the thoughtfulness of his colleagues and when his admners among the ratepayers of the ward conspned to give him a surprise in the shape of a presentation chair he was delighted He says now that he does not onw Mi Ait ken his mayoral chair for he lnniM'lt h.isaThoindon seat w hich the people ha\e given him for life May Thoindon's Good old George," who did so much for the improvement of the noithem end of the city live long to comfoitabh enjo\ Ins municipal U-iocht-co\ ered seat * * * M.ulaine De Bassou who is said to be a relatne of Christian De Wet. and a Boeiess " is giving lectures m the South Island on her expeuences a.s a nuise We aie told that at Ashburton Madame's somewhat broken English combined with an echo in a nearly empt\ hall prevented her being heard clearly " She must be a woman of more than average courage, for she informed her audience that her father and five brothers weie fighting for the Boer<; She had nursed with the Bnti/sh Red Cross folks herself and with her on the ■staff of the Johannesburg Hospital was a grand-daughter of ' Oom Paul " nursing Tommy Atkins

The Re\ R. S Gray, who conducted the anniversary services at the Vivianstreet Baptist Church last week, is a talented elocutionist, and is a treat to listen to. Elocutionists are all too rare in our pulpits, and Mr. Gray therefore easily scores among gentlemen of the cloth. He shakes the echoes of Sleepy Hollow occasionally with his forensic efforts, and at social gatherings he gives recitations which are a treat to listen to It appears that before taking to the pulpit Mr. Gray had won more than local fame at Home on the platform as a contributor at recitals. # • ♦ New Zealand has frequently boasted of the part its sons have played in the South African war game. But that was the game of playing soldiers, after all. Now comes word that a New Zealander is actually making soldiers in the Old Land. Sergeant Arthur Hall, who is recruiting in England for Brabant's Horse, is a Wellingtonian, being the second son of the manager of our City Tramways Arthur was brought up among horses in the Otaki district, where his father ran one of the bestknown breeding runs in the colony. There is still no keener judge of horseflesh than Mr. Archibald Hall, and as a Brabaiiter his son Arthur will be 'all there. * • • The two "daddies" of the police force in the colony are Sergeant Tom O'Grady. of Oamaru, and Sergeant-Major Ramsay located for many years in Wellington, but now in charge of Palmerston North The O'Gradv, who has had enough of the public service, and has applied for his pension, joined in August, 1861, and the burly Palmerstonian joined in the following year. Both representatives of the Peace Preservation Patriots are in the pink of health, and fine =pfH"imens of the old-time colonial Robert » ♦ • Air. Booker T. Washington, whom United States President Roosevelt entei tamed at White House the other day (vide last week's cable news), axi action that has been severely criticised and — copied, is a notable negro. He was born into slavery, and, on his emancipation, cultivated his marvellous gift of oratory to such an extent that he is now one of the most fluent and polished orators, white or black, in the United States He is the principal and founder of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute of Alabama, in the "black belt" of coloured people In the black bolt the negroes number three to one of the white population. This coloured president is greatly in request as a lecturer President McKmley, in No- \ ember, 1898. did him the honour to visir the Institute over which he preeides and Piesident Cleveland has also been pioud to know him Altogether, m spite of his colour, Booker T. Washington is a leading man whose opinions are valued by the people of both races in Amotica — except, of course, "way down South " wheie colour prejudice is still strong among the whites. » « • Although General Sir Redvers Buller has. bv opening his mouth, "put his toot in it " ho is a. man in whom the Tommies place implicit faith. "Tommy" would rather belong to Buller's column than to any other operating in Africa. Sir Rochors' convo\ had ten waggons of canteen ' ♦ • • Ambrose Pratt, the painter of word pictures of things Australian, and larrikins m particular, which no one who knows a larrikin believes, is giving London public some more fairy tales dealing with the same subject. Ambrose is unkind to make capital out of his fellowcolonists. Also, he should be suppressed, as withholding immigration. The man who believes that to go to Australia is to leave his bones on the wilds of Woolloomooloo will certainly not brave the perils of the City of the Harbour

Sir George Dibbs, of bank, gaol, and 'Damn Chicago" mmoij, ib fotated b> Australian papers to ha\e tried haul to get into a contingent for the tiont When told that he wa.s too old, and a married man, he said I'\o got six strapping daughteis take them. I'd sooner see them take, the line than that old Kruger should come out on top " Nineteen-.\ ear-old Rithaid Cecil who furnished us with one of the cabled sensations l<»st week by mairymg a stockbroker's daughter in defiance of an 111innction taken out In his mothei Lady Francis Cecil, was thus lesponsible ioi the f-econd wedding in In.s ff mil v < l few weeks Only a little while beioie his sister, Miss Violet Cecil mar, ie, Captain Oswald Ames, of the 2nd LiteGuards, who has the distinction ot being the tallest officer m the British \rmv He led the piocession at the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria m 1897. * * * New- Zealand war veteian MajoiGeneral Hamlev. C B celebrated Ks 81st blrthda^ a few weeks ago Ho received his first commission in 18#> and was at once ordered to Sydney where he remained till 184/ °" , the outbreak of natne hostilities in .New Zealand lie was ordered to this colony remaining here till the Imperial tioops were withdrawn in 1870 Ten years later he completed hie service retains ,r the age of sixty, aftei foitv-two years' service He is now the oldest club secretary in London and is a loyalist to the backbone. * * * \ lcd-hot saw foi (V-olgosz, the assasb m of Mr McKinW That is the punishment which was actually advocated by Robert B Peaic\ ciU judge of the Princeton Court and this is the characteristic manner in which lie concluded a forcible letter to the pies>s -- "The punishment upon the assassin should be this First to make a box Hist the length and width of the assassin and make it out of three-inch, wellseasoned oak timber put togethoi with 40-D nails, and then saw the bo\ in two with a red-hot cioss-cut saw ninmne at the rate of one stroke a minute and bv the time the box is in two pieces, and if Czolgosz does not thinkthat hell has bioke loose in old Geoigia T will set up the cider and srinsei calces " From a judge' * • * A journalist, who iuiis to thiee columns in a leading London daih tuinishes some personal particulars about King F,dward. Befoie proceeding to the Continent each year for his periodical reduction, His Majesty weighs seventeen and a half stone. Ordinarily the royal waistcoat measures fifty niches wider the aims, the loyal collai nineteen and a half inches, and no clothier keeps the King's size in "slops As His Majesty's height is ">ft fun the effect of reasonable slimness is obtained bv the art of the royal tailors. * * * Nine months ago the L\NCh infoiined its leader that Dentist Heibeit Rawson had gone for a jaunt on his bike in foreign parts. On Saturda\ afternoon Mi. and Mrs Raw sou were seen driving out to Seatoun m exactK the same way as they were wont to doe\ei\ Satuidav of last year. And in the interim the R.iwson famih have been abroad, and ha\e seen all the sights of England, Scotland, Wales Pans Canada, a portion of the United States (America) and had come acioss Australia' The Wellington quintet spent se\ en weeks in touiinq: Great Butain a,ud Wales on their bicycles, and dunng the whole or that time had only two and a half wet days.

Their loute was from London up tluough the heait of the country to Edinbmgh and the Trossachs. I hoy took the boat acro&s Loch Katiine, and down Loth Lomond, seeing many histonc siglits en loute, o.i to Glasgow, o\ei tlie Bolder to Cai lisle, acioss Cumheiland, visiting the Lakes of the Poets, down the West Coast, through ('hostei , into Wales, visiting there the hist hduaid's castles of Cainaivon, Conway, ,md Haileeh. wondeiful old places m the c\cs of the Antipodeans It was when near Hailech, in the Royal Hote \isitois 1 book, at Dolgellv (pronounced Dolo-ethlev) that the paitv fiom undoineatli came across tins ([uaint bit ot verse — Tf i-\ei jou go to Dolgethlev, Don't" sta\ at the Royal Hotel You'll get nothing to put m bethlev, And no one to answer the bell' * * * Mr Raw son found the Cyclists' Touimg Club of England and Scotland of areat benefit to him and his pait\ As he was a member of the New Zealand Touring Club, lie was made an honoiaiy member of the Home Club, which his family also joined, and this membciship o-ave them a decided advantage dining The tour The Old Countiv's roads weie good, but the whole of the count ry traveled was as undulating as Tasman Sea during a heavy swell Theie weienot more than two-mile stretches of level loads. The counties of Derby. Warwick and Hereford presented the prettiest scenery, but in no part of Kngland or Scotland did the scenery appeal to the colonials so foiciblv as that of then own land 'Wheie the Old CountiA .rno^ \ou four miles of piettv scenes

.said the Welhngtoman, New Zealand cjji give a hundred miles of it, and giandei at that." Mr. Rawson brings back some good stones. One ol those wa& told lnm by a cliaractoi," who was skipper of the boat in which the Raw sons crossed Loch Katnne Talking about the scenery, the New Zolandei declared that the loch could not come up to the charms of the New Zealand Sounds A-\e," said the skipnei pointing out the land of the Macduffs and the country-side made famous b\ Sir Waltci Scott. 'but ye ha\ cna' got 001 associations'" Then the captain told of a verbal patriotic bout lie once had with an American, who declaied that Loch Katrine was a meie nool compared with the lakes in his glonous country "Aye," replied the skipper but we have some uncommon deep lakes higher up l " "Not deeper than ours. I reckon " retorted the man from U.S.A. # # * Then the skipper got this tale on to the American Up in the high countiv there was a lake winch never vet had been sounded. People said it was bottomless. Two Australian tourists went up to this lake to have a dip. One undie^sed quicker than the other, and, with a header, dow n he went Seconds giew into minutes, and he did not reappear. The other dressed himself, and hurried clown to the inn to cable to Ins friend's fi lends that his mate had been drowned. But there was a cablegram waiting for him It was from his fuend and read' — ''Arrived Australia, <-end mv clothes'" "Wall," confessed the Yankee, "that lake of vour'n licks ci eation —shake for you beat me'"