All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 89, 15 March 1902, Page 3

All Sorts of People

IKE HYAMS the populai httle tireasuiei of the Wellington Cricket Association got back from Syduej last week alter seeing the Fouith Test Match He i* as full ot gossip as a phonogiaph is ol talk, and \ou have onl\ to gne him a start any tune when he is oft dut> and you can comfortably sit back and listen. Here is a sample anecdote which Ike leelecl olt to the .bo ys at the. "Basin" on Satuiday afternoon Naturally enough, after landing m Sydney , he spent a httle leisuie m looking up old friends, and amongst the number was Mr. Wm. h Woods, who used to earn on the well-known chemist's shop at the foot of Cuba-stieet and whose great ' peppermint cure" uas one of the best advertised nostiuins of the da\ m this colony Mi Woods b> the way u.sed to be vice-president of the Midland Cricket Club * «■ * Well Mr. Woods ha.s amplj ie>ahsed the foice of the truism that advertising pays," toi Mi Hjains found that the demand foi his peppermint cuie is now so enormous that he is running a large factor\ in S\ dne\ foi the sole purpose of mamufaetuung it in sufficient quantities to keep pace with the public wants. He has exploited e\ er> colom with it ex cop t Queensland and means to break giound m Bananalaud \ei\ shortly. When Ike called. Mr Woods was not at the moment disengaged and the young lady tvpewntei who occupied the outer office, lelieved the tedium of waiting by a few leference-s to the absorbing topic of the hour — cricket Then, finding that Mr Hyams was from New Zealand, she proceeded to offer opinions and comments and ideas about Wellington cricket that fairh lifted Isaac off his chair He thought he knew a little bit about cricket on the Basm himself but this oung lady in Sydney, who was lending a hand to boom Wood's Great Peppermint Cure seemed to have just left the pavilion or else to be m constant communication with it on Mai corn's wireless svstean "How did you manage to learn so much about Wellington encket?" at last Mr Hymns found opportumt\ to get in edgeways, after waiting for tho chance "Oh quite* easily" anvworod that wellinformed young lady with a light laugrh as she shot a witching glance at the little man from Cook Strait wo eet the Free Lance evorv w och '" Senior CounciLloi John Smith jun — ci junior, h\ the wax although he is snxtv-two veais of ago foi Ins sire is still hale and lieaitj — lolt b\ the Wanimoo on Satin da^ last foi hi^- fiist tup outside the colon\ John Smith besides being semoi councilloi m the Wellington Cit\ Council, is also one of our oldest identities. He was bom m Npt\-castlo-on-Tvue, and was onl\ tlnoe veai^ of age when his parents landed at Nelson in 1843 People now talk of the good old days as if the early colonists lived in olo\ or and had nothing to worn- them John Smith's fathei in those good old days was glad to get work in draining swamps at the munificent pay of Is Bd a day out of which he had to support a wife and family It was the ruling wage at that time. * ♦ * In 1847 the family shifted to Wellington, where Father Smith set up tlw blacksmith's forge that subsequently greiw into the foundry that the Smith

Bros, sold out ot last jeai to Luke and Co We had a talk with Mr Smith the other da\ about those fai-oft boyish da\s Wellington hteralh lived on the Beach' then said beacli being Lambton Quay The Kumototo Pah extended horn where Lindsays shop now stands right back to the Wellington Club and there some hundied Maons h\ ed in then w hares with then canoe's drawn up on w hat is now the footpath at Linden s Woidsworth^stieet was tlien onh a puilmg stream There waft a largei pah, enclosed b\ a stockade a.t Pipitea Pomt — that is fioni the site of the Railway Hotel to the steps leading up to Motuioa-street Tlie laigebt pali of all — al&o enclosed bj a stockade — was the one at To Aio extending from the site ot Di Pollen's house in Couiteaiay Place half-way towaids Toij-stieet. Its melon plantations u.sed to tempt the Poneke \oungsteis of those daj s and mam a nocturnal laid wats made, and manj a >oung shavei was caught and spanked by the Maoii brave*. At times says Mi. Smith, there would be tiom 4(10 to 500 na.ti\ee> theire and an\ tiling from "50 to 100 canoes on the him. sanch beach Like all the Wellington \outh of that peuod >oung SmitJi led a kind of amphibious life. The donume who used to teach the \ ouug idea how to shoot m the ouginal Scotch chinch on the Qua I*,1 * , was wont to go asleep m Ins chaii on hot summei days, and tlie entue school would instantly steal out on baiefooted tip-toes, and go for a swim ou the adjacent beach Wellington had then no bare, foi bidding lull-sides. With the exception of Mount Victoria, it w a& tiimbered almost to the water's edge John Smith in those" da\s, w a,s demoted to yachting swimming, and rowing (he was coxswain of the old Independent" newspaper club's ciew that won tlie Sha.w-Sa\ llle silvei cup). Indue time', lie joined his father in business and, with the exception of six months at Gabnel's Gully when the Otago diggings bioke out in 18()1, and occasional trips to various parts of the colon\ . he and ln»s elder brother Robert stuck to the old man" and the foundr\ and from 187") canned it on themselves * * * Mr Smith ha*, been identified vvjth the Manchester Unit} of Oddfellows over since he was eighteen It is fort"\four \ears since h<* was initiated, and he lia>s filled all the lodge offices several times, and been Piovincial Grand Master thiee times He has served the public fifteen 'sears in tlie C ltv Council, and he is also on the Board of Hospital Trustees He got* Home by tho P and O boat from Sydne's and means to haw* a orxxl look luuucl the Old Countr> Stiaugoh enough n hat ]io hankei~s atteir mo^t is a London fog — he ha.s heaid so much about it — and if it does not keeip him waiting too long lie means to see' one before he gets back He hopes to leach Cook Strait again by the end of Novembei and thorp is just a chance that he ma) come back via Canada a.nd the States # * * Piennei Lewis of Tasmania is e\ identh not stiuck with the moral e*pidemic that has been lagingm tlie Federal Parliament but he is much nnpiessed with the fact ttliat a great deal of good hard cash is going out with Tatteisall Whein one thinks of it Tasmania. i^ not more sinful than any other State or even this exemplary colom Somebody caDed Tasmania ' The Land of Sleep-a-lot." Naturally the denizens of that island "can never be like us" as far as advance and advertisement of virtue goes, but it is absolutely surprising that tlie Premier of a country in the Progressive Pacific can openly show a marked desire to keep going an institution that we in the land of the 1 tote" and temperance woaild collectively shudder at.

Mr. George Hyde of Opaki, the w inner ot the New Zealand Rifle Championship at Trentham, is a distinctly personable-looking man, with a keen, giey, shooting" eye. He is about oft 2m ot fine, up-standing manhood, and, although no soldier, has quite a military air. On Friday last, in the Central Drillshed, when the lengthy champion went to receive his cheque for £39 10s f loin the hands of Mrs. Seddon, and when that lady put the belt, with all its braveiv of twenty-six silver clasps, on the hero of the minute, and pinned its accompanying gold medal on his breast, such a roar went up as must ha^ c done the shootist's heart good * * * George Hyde commenced shooting sweii years ago when he joined the Pahiatua Rifle Club He does 1101 drink and he is a non-«moker (although the wicked Tientha.m reportei of the 'Post" credited him with this sin) is a stead\ -going married man and went into the game with a fixed intention of making his mark During his first veai's shooting he went to the Tiertham meetins making merely a fair average, and a £10 note. At the Oamaru meeting, six years ago, he made a like sum, and then found that his business as manager of the furniture department of the Wairaiapa Farmers' Association at Masterton required aJI his attention. He, t'heiefoie gave up all thoughts of rifle championships for the time being ■* * * It is only lecenth that he took up the nfle again and he was a particularly dark hoise" when he went to Trentham to shoot through the 1902 Defence Forces Rifle Association meeting. Mr. Hyde's uncle', a keen-looking but bent old gentleman, who tells the Lance he is au old «hot himself, and who was one of the first to congratulate Harry Hawthorn, the man who made but four points less than Hyde for the Belt, gives it as his opinion that both the champion and second man are the finest and most consistent shots lie has seen in a career tl>at is apparently over seventy veai's long ■V * * Harry Hawthorn, of the Karori Rifle 'Club who hung so closely to the champion's heels throughout the meeting is a Treasury official, who would really rather not be congratulated on ln<? fine performance Harry didn't object to the pinning on of his silver star b\ the Premier's wife, or the -^eseivtation of the Carbine Cup, on Friday afternoon but he furtively pocketed the st-ar afteuwaids together with his £30 cheque made in prizes, befoie anyone could see either Mi . Hawthorn joined the City Rifles ten years ago became a good shot and a sergeant, and, later transferied to the Civil Service Rifles, and became a bettei shot and a colour-sergeant He took fouith place, and a medal, m tlie district championship match, seven years ago, at Trentham, and was picked to go to Bislev with the New Zealand team in 1897 He brought from Bislev a reputation, experience, and £38 n prize money, and was the only New Zealandei to get among the competitors for the Queen's Pi lze. Carter, the Australian was, the only other colonial out of fifty at the great meeting to get among the favoured few. Harry w r as among the fiist hundred in the "grand aggregate" at Bislev, and gained the special bronze medal and firing among the winners of the Kolaipore Cup, he made the highest score but one, Chief Petty Officer Williams of Wellington beating him . * * * Them, the Civil Service examinations cropped up, and, like Hyde, he abandoned the rifle and volunteering He did no shooting for years until this season, but his light-blue eye has not lost its cunning and he will try hard for that Belt next year. He does not look on the wine when it is red or any other colour, is a married man with a family, and he also has an objection to the ore-

matiioii of the fragrant weed. Harry recently passed the final stage of hib senior Civil Seivice examinations, and has more tame now to put bulls-eyes on the target. * * * You may find him, at any time he is not at his particular branch of the "Circumlocution Office," lying on the broad or has waastcoat, in his own Newtown backyard, making sundry "beads" on adjacent specks with his trusty LeeMetf ord, to "get his eye in" for matches. Mr Hawthorn intends plugging away at his specks, and, of course, like all tibe top-notche>rs." has his eye on that Belt. As lie does not follow the lead of a great num fine shots who ''go to pieces" in a crisis, his chances for wresting the co^ cted honour from the champion, H\ de, seem reasonably good. *■ • ♦ "Si" Webster, otherwise Gunner Josiah D. Webster, on the reserve of the Auckland Artilleiy, is one of "the oldest hands" at these colonial prize-firing meetings, and has been within an aoe of winning the championship more than once He made his first try for the belt as far back as 1882, and has attended about eighteen meetings in all. In 1886, at Wanganui, he was runnerup for the Carbine Championship, and next year, at Christohurch, he came out third in the grand aggregates At Napier, in 1891, he was second for the Rifle Championship, and ought to have won it. hands down. Why he didn't is a mystery to "Si" stall * * ■* We met him on the Quay the other day, and he fought that battle o'er again. 'I was leading for the Belt by five clear points," said Josiah, "when we went down to fire the Grand Aggregate Match, Charlie Kruse, of Wanganui. being next to me. He got the possible at 500 yards (35), and I put on 30, which made us level . At 600 yards, my sighter was an inner, and then followed four perfectly unaccountable misses. I had to come down 50 yards in elevation before I found the target again with a bull, and I left that range with 14. We then went on to the 700 yards range, and I rang on 34 out of a possible 35. But those four consecutive misses at 600 yards mystified me then, and muzzle me yet. The final stage was ten shots at 700 yards, out of which I made 37. In spite of my 600 yards fiasco, Kruse had to win the Belt with his last shot. He just beat me bv tw r o points." * * • ' Si" reckons that one of his best performances was winning the first prize of £20 in the Wanganui Citizens' Match, of 1886, when he made 95 out of a possible 105 with the old Snider carbine, an arm that mosrt of the crack shots now-a-days would turn up their noses at. He doesn't like these new-fangled rapidity matches — thinks they are too flukey — and ought not to count for the Belt, which should be won by straight-out marksmanship * * * Suddenly a tall figure went striding b\ and Josiah dropped the thread of conversation to remark. "Why, bless me, there's^ Loveday. He used to teach in the Sunday School that I went to on the Thames ever so many years ago. I met him again in that famous march on Parihaka, when he was in charge of tihe Commissariat. He doesn't change much " Meanwhile, the well-known figure of Major Loveday was plodding on its way, and Gunner Webster went off in the same direction to pay his respects to his old Sunday school teacher. * • • L J Lohr did not make that little tnp to Dunedin for naught the other day. He got back to Melbourne witlh a cargo of dogs, Aylesbury ducks, and mixed fowls. And he started his careier a^ a Boniface at Andersons Inlet only this month. Just now he is up to his eves in a determined effort to quench the thirst of the Great Australian PubHe.

ML A Sam Smith of New South Wales and loading man m the Sydney Seamen's I T mon, who is <it piesent in Wellington talking to hiemen ,\n<\ sailors climbed fiom wharf lahoin ci m the C'lt-s ot the Be uitiful Haibom to the di/>/>\ height ot chairman ot chiettois ot the now defunct Sydney Daih Post " Said Post." it will be lemembeied staited with <i flounsh of trumpets and eight page*,. Mid died m its first veai Sam lwus saad mam things m the cau-e of laboui on the otliei side and elsewheie He is collecting hints from piomment New Zealamders, o* course "Tom Mann will be able to toll him something about labour conditions and wharf laboui eis in New ZeaJand Sam is vice-piesident ot the, Sacluov Cit\ Council Health Committee, and has been Muffing la.thea clo-seiLr into possible plague recently Natuialh he will ta'k about NewZealand when he gets back to New South Wales and he cannot help ob-s-er\me, that we are the pink and pattern toi all the Australian State* * » * It \ou happen to he luck\ enough to meet Miss Lilian McCartTn . Wilson Bairett's beautiful leading lad\ you will probably be as chairmed with hei as a conversationalist a.s you ha^e been b\ her fine acting I lo\e New Zealand," Miss MoCaitln told the Lwce in the course of a cliat the other c^ for the people I meet here seem to me "J \ cry like those of my ow n c ountrv — England " When Miss McCartln steamed into Port Chalmers, fresh fiom the drought-smitten Commonwealth Dunedm's sunoundings seamed to her heavenly '' Cuiioush enough Mi-s MeCa,rth\ is not enamoured of Auckland but ifechaimed with Chnstchuich and actually gives the nalm among Nero Zealand cities to Wellington \\lucli reminds us that Councillor E\an<- did th.c \erv same thing when he returned a week 01 so since from a visit to muchlauded Auckland Therefoie Wellington thou Cinderella among Maonland cities look un and put on tin best mb and tucker 1 *■ ■+ * This \oung Thespian stai -lie is but twenty-two and unmarried — knows .something about beautiful towns foa she is a flower from the gaiden town oi England"— Cheltenham She is of Irish descent, and theie i& a strain also of Spanish blood in her veuis The father of the beauteous Lilla.h was ■ scholarly scmare-set Irish gentleman ,uid like, mo&t parents, he thought tha the stage w as no place for the a oungest hut one of his eight children Ho-n-ever the coming actress acted from mfanc\ m the playground of the Cheltenham Girls" High School and wassrage mana.gress and pla\ed "leads" with hei small bi other and sistei company rearbefoie she was discovered " • ♦ * In 1894, the Paddington Vestr\ , in London, roused out of the lethargy that had allowed the grave of Sarah Siddons to become dilapidated, organised a dramatic performance, in which Miss McCarthy made a great hit." The proceeds w ere devoted to the renovation of the great actress's monument and the talent displayed In the young amateur, Miss McCarthy so pleased Sir Heim Irvine; that he prophesied a splendid career for her • * * Her first professional engagement was made m 1895. When barely sixteen, she played Juliet to Sir Henry Irvmg'e son's Romeo. Lillah McCarthy is now only twenty-two, and yet, so great is her versatility that her repertoire embraces neaa lv the whole of Shakespeare's acting play&, as well as a good many modern comedies During the lat-tei part of 18°)") Mr Barrett saw Miss Me-

Caithy in A Wintei's Talc/ and lie a,t once asked her to pla.\ the leading pai t in The Sign of the Cioss," -Mid she hah been with ham <'\ei simt The Mc(aith> taniilv is niteic iting Mis MeCaithv's mothei \\ as the Mstei of that celebrated novelist Mrs Heuin Wood authoress of ftast Lmhic Lillaih'sown eaihei steps m h<'i professional cancer weie guided b} hei able hi other, who is also on the stage, and who i& a B A of London University Another hi other, with a similar degree, is a successful business man m Capetown, and all aie remarkably clever Miss McCaitln aissuics us .she owes her education to hei bi other, a& at school "she would latihei act than stick to books." She is ( \pert at calisthenics, and is one of the finest lady fencers on the isfaae sings dehghtfulh , paysi the' pia.no with much taste, and is equally at home with Fiench or Latin In comeisation. she talks with quite a seductive little lisp. Wirth et Cie have built up a eood main stvhsb costumes for Miss McCarthy with lesults that set off tlhe native grace of a charming woman # V- * i Fire Superintendent Hugo had bareh got the smoke of the "Jessie Osborne" fire out of his eves the other da^, when the Lance caught him in the act •of waiting for the next surprise party. There w as a rumour that the Jessie Osboint was, aw old fnend of the lynx-eyed Wellington fire-king, and it appears 'tis even '■o. Twentv-^even years ago, while an apprentice on the ship Burniah which was loadmo- rice in the West Indies, voune; Hugo strolled aboard the Je&sie Osboi ne to make the acquaintance of the officers of the ship that he and his bi aye fiiemen were destined to save in Wellington so long a ft oi w aids. * ■* * He has had some cuuous expenences during a long life spent a,s a maiinci, master majmer, hiemaji and master hicmaax has Supevmtendent Hugo. And a fate seen once bv him he foievei forgets A piopos in 1884, as a, master of a baique t lading between West AustiaJia and Hongkong, the future Superintendent bought a big lump of karri timber m Grope rland" for a cat-head. He kept at m its lough state until he got to Hongkong. Chinese carpenters don't want the universe, or the maximum, wage and the> are cheap, although their tools are not first-class. He found a man who would make Ms cat-head for lo dollars (£2 7s 6d) and the Chinaman bi ought several hundred-

weight of old tools and toui jeUcnv clups " and the> fixed the cat-head welh m." ■>- * • Beioie they had done so, howe\ei--tliev take then time in China — the boss" Chinaman wanted a draw." Mr Hugo ga\e him ten dollars, aaid the men dtil.A finished the job. Next day the C hinainan presented a lot of maiks on a hit of nee paper, that purported to bo a bill. How much?" Fifteen clollais " But }ou ha\en't knocked off the ten dollars I paid you on Wednesday." ''I nevei see you befoie you no payee me the dollar" It was a sub-contractor, and all Chinamen weio aJike to Mr Hugo. He swore to eaimark evorv Chinaman who worked for him subseyuenth So Chinamen looking foi a job aie lequeyfed to can*y Aisatmg cards with them when calling a the central fire office in Wellington * # * It seems that we weie rather premature in introducing the fascinating Countess Riaz to the Wellington public as the widow of Riaz Pasha, Egyptian noble and statesman. Our last issue had not been long in the hands of the public on Friday morning when a call to the telephone came from the Royal Oak, and a silvery voice, with a, dainty little foreign inflection in it floated oventhe wire, and struck upon our auditory nerves 'Is that the" editor of the Fhee Lvnce?" it saad. We owned i*p to the soft impeachment. And to whom had we the honour of addressing ourselves^" 'The Countess Riaz." was the answer. And are you aware," continued the voice with just a suspicion of delicate raillery in its refined cadence 'that Riaz Pasha is still alive 5 You remember of course that I am described as his w idow ?" * * ■* Here was a sui prise, indeed. And our informant, too. had been so very positive. We hastened to express our unfeigned satisfaction that tlie noble Riaz was still in the flesh And did Her Ladyship ■« ish us to strip off those widow's weeds with which we had metaphorically, and vet m peifect good faith, invested her? In sober English, should we make the necessary correction ° The silvery voice, with its pleasant inflection, once more tripped over the wire, and tapped upon our tympanum. "Oh, don't bother I was merely amused, you know." However, there is no bother in undoing an error, and we could not think of putting Riaz Pasha down among the dead men — even by a newspa.per paragraph — when he is still alive and well.