All Sports Of People

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 109, 2 August 1902, Page 3

All Sports Of People

MR \V S Short, who presided over the sittings of the Hutt Bridge Commission, is a nephew of Mr. Ben Short, one of the keenest life assurance men of the Australian Continent, and a director of the Australian Mutual Provident Society. Mr. Short's parents for some years had charge of the Wellington Home for the Aged Needy, Mrs. Short dying during her matronship. W. S. S. has spent many years on the clerical staff of the Lands Department, and is at present Chief Clerk of its very busy roads branch. A brainy man, with much natural ability, he could not stay for ever in the ruck of the civil service. * * Mr. Short studied as diligently as his own children —who are winners of scholarships —and recently passed examinations which have made him a fully fledged solicitor. Hence, his fitness to sit as a Commissioner to settle disputes between local bodies. Already, he has been highly successful in settling a five-sided dispute among local bodies on a matter of roads and bridges in South Canterbun he last week sat upon the division of interests over the Hutt budge and this week is arbitrating over a triangular duel up Eketahuna wav over the maintenance of a county road There is undoubtedly a future for chief clerk cum commissioner Wm. Short. * » » Mr. J. P. Palmer, Wellington's new Town Clerk, is energy personified, from the tips of his highly-glazed and neat footwear to the summit of his immaculate bell-topper. He is tall and straight and well favoured, and, reviewing all the best-dressed men at present in Wellington, he easily takes first place. Everybody now knows that he is a Londoner, and has been in the employ of the Sydney City Council for twenty years. The numbers 21 and 23 have been curiously associated with the most important events of both his own life and the life of his wife. He was born on the 21st December 1860, and was 21 when he landed in Australia. He married big wife in Sydney on the 21st day of the month, and she was 21 years of age at the time.)<■ ■* * •)<■ Mrs. Palmer is also one of 21 grandchildren. He himself is twice 21 years old. His wife was born on the 23rd of April, and it was on the 23rd day of the month that he landed in Sydney. He entered into the service of the Sydney City Council on the same day of the month, and first stepped ashore at Wellington on the 23rd July. Mr. Palmer telLs the Lance that never until aft^r each of these curious coincidences has the extraordinary recurrence of the number struck him. Many other notable events of his life have also taken nlace on one of the dates mentioned, and, singularly, no step has ever been a j false one if undertaken on those da^s j t Mr. Palmer speaks of the advantages i of the "lodger" vote in Sydney. To s illustrate what the extension of the £ franchise to the lodgers as well as C householders and ratepayers generally t meant to Sydney, the first municiDal v election under the new order of things I ousted fifteen men out of the Council' n The lodgers' voice is a very strong one a in Sydney, and would be proportionately strong in Wellington were it to be q heard. Our new Town Clerk has three b children the oldest of whom, of course - was born on the 21st. He is a skilful c

photographer, and an enthusiastic biklst One brothel -m-law is mavoi of a Sydney-side borough, and two otlioi brothers-in-law are municipal iepie?entatives in neai-by boroughs. He himself was Mayor of Granville for years, and altogether put in ten years' municipal service for that borough. He is not, he says, an advocate of the "new broom" methods in municipal affairs, and he intends to set a square jaw, and start as he will go on. He gaily fears that little w ill be heard of him for some time, as he does not wish to have the questioning finger of scorn pointing to him, and the Dubhc voice asking him what he, as a new chum, knows about Wellington. The man inspires confidence. He is fearles*. His face tells you so. He will not be found wanting, and if he has any luck he will probably put in his favourite number of 21 years as chief civic servant to thei city of Wellington * t * Mr. C. H. Meaden, from Melbourne, the "runner-up" for the Town Clerkship of Wellington, is, unlike Mr. Palmer, the successful applicant, a colonial bom and bred. In fact, until Mr. Meaden shipped for Wellington, he had never before braved the perils of the sea. He is an unassuming and somewhat diffident man, three years younger than Mr. Palmer, but certainly not so younelooking as that equally smart gentlemam. His municipal experience was gained as assistant and acting town clerk to the Borough Council of South Melbourne. It was through his ability and his lucid propositions in regard to the alteration in the system of loans to municipal bodies that he was offered, and accepted, the position of secretary to the Municipal Association of Victoria, an Association representing 206 municipalities. * * * He has held this position for five years, and he was appointed by a Royal Commission, together with Mr. J. T. Collins, a barrister, to draft a consolidating and amending Local Government Bill, which largely altered existing laws. The Bill consisted of 700 clauses, and may be deemed to be the work of Mr. Meaden's life. Curiously, Mr. Collins, with whom Mr. Meaden was associated so long, six months ago wa& runner-up for the position of Registrar to the Melbourne University, which was, like the Town Clerkship of Wellington, worth £800 a-year. • ♦ • The two friends will be able to condole with one another when Mr. Meaden returns. Mr. Meaden is looking into the question of raiting on unnnE roved values, and intends to enjoy imself during his short stay in New Zeailand. The loan proposals made by Mr. Meaden. mentioned above, reduced the annual -payments on account of loans in Victorian municipalities by £60,000. It is easily understood, therefore, that it was with regret that the Victorian Municipal Association looked on Mr. Meaden's departure, and that that body will be glad to know he was beaten in the race for the Wellington Town Clerkshi" bv the gentleman from Sydney. * * ■* The many friends of Fred. Midlane. the popular young WeJlingtonian, who left for Australia in February last, will be glad to hear that he is doing well on the other side of the Tasman Sea, having secuied an appointment on the staff of the Atlas Insurance Company, in Sydney. "Freddy" is an old Mount i Cook schoolboy, who ranidly came to the front as one of New Zealand's ] rerv best cricketers. When he left i Maoriland less than six months apo, i nanv competent judges regarded him 1 is the colony's best batsman. As he { ivas then barely in his nineteenth year, s ?reat things are expected from Freddy ' 3v the followers of cricket in this city, \ s'hose best wishes for his success he c »arried with him. a

He only reached Sydney shortly before the season closed, but was in time to see a test match, and also to find out that Australian wickets are terribly fast, his best score in the two matches played in Kangaroo-land being 13. It was thought here that his Rugby abilities would assist his next season's cricket prospects, but Freddy has a lot of work to contend with, and is wisely putting work before play. So he is "lying low" for next summer, and, in the meantime thoughtfully sends budgets of news to old friends here, written m a taking style that shows he can handle the pen ably as well as the willow. • ♦ ♦ Mr. William Murdoch, one of the candidates for the newly-created New town seat, at the coming general elections, is a little man who shows every signs of hard wear. Mr. Murdoch is a printer, but his trade seems to be buried up in the multitude of his duties to his fellow-man. From his youth up he would rather help the other fellow than himself, and he took to the study of law with that one object in view. As an example of his ability, he whispers to us that, after seven months study, he was but barely ''plucked" for his matriculation examination. Lawyers' offices did not suit Mr. Murdoch's health, and he took up the trade he now follows. * * * Of course, he is a trades unionist to the heart's core, for was he not secretary of the Tailors' Union for four years. and did he not resign with the handsome present of £10 last year ? At present, he is secretary of the Butcher's Union, and he has been a hard nut to crack in the Arbitration Court, and he will convince you if you are favoured with a chat, with him. He has held almost every office in the Aorangi Lodge. British Unity of Oddfellows, and is now a trustee of that order. He has also represented his society at the Friendly Societies' Conference. * * * Mr. Murdoch proudly boasts that he was Mr. Hoggs secretary when that able and tireless champion of the small settler first stood for the House. Another man Mr. Murdoch has assisted into the House, principally off his own bat, is Mr. George Fisher, and he says he was also secretary for Mr. Charles Wilson, in that gentleman's 1896 campaign. Mr. Murdoch claims that he advocated the advances to settlers policy in the Wairarapa 'Star," in 1888, the cutting up of large estates, and the land and income tax. • • . Mr. Murdoch also claims that he was the first man to frame an enforcement of an award form, amd he tells us the form as drafted by him is still in use. It was he, too, who pleaded with Judo-e Dennison that the worker of the Empire city was economically worse off than the worker elsewhere in New Zealand "But dont you think." remarked the judge "that he is compensated by residing m the Emnire City ?" "Probably. your Honor, but the Empire City does not pay the butcher and baker!" •• • • Messrs. Reid, Nathan, and Caselbere are a very sorry triumvirate of the Harbour Board. They have fallen into the dock, and feel very wet and miserable in consequence, whilst "Our George" and the other members of the Board look down upon them as men who have J fe^-i. Mr - CaseI °erg is uncle to Sri S. 81 * I^' and {t was but natural -nat the Masterton merchant should sympathise with and desire to pull in Jie same boat as his nephew, the city nerchant. Mr. Nicholas Reid, who s one of the principals of ii firm of W a nd G - Tnrn>U 7i. f l^ &>•' is a merchant, o that Wellington has witnessed the ST ll^ ° f^ ie Harb <> ur Board bv 'The Three Merchants." Had they •een soldiers, they would have gone Lown to fame as "The Three Left-ten-nte."

Frank Leon, who has entertaine many people at the Theatre Royal, is a ardent sportsman, and lover of Natur< A great deal of his Wellington tim was spent in roving over the hills 100 l ing for game. Equipped with gun an dog, and ferret, and much enthusiasmand the man who seeks game aroun our barren heights needs a large stoc of enthusiasm — he spent much of th brief daylight in looking for the trac of the hasty hare or the rapid rabbil Woe betide the four-legged thing whic came withing range of the Leonine cazt for his eye is quick, and his aim sur< To put it frankly, Leon is a crac shot. * * * One afternoon a couple of weeks aec Frank Leon and Ben Fuller were ou hunting on the sandhills overlookini Lyell Bay. They had been ploddinj on for hours and hours, when the do| became excited. He had smelt some thing, and traced it to a burrow. Th< ferret was introduced, and immediately a commotion intimated that the hunt ers had struck oil. Frank and Ben like the investigator of the burrow, be came terribly excited. The dog popnec his head out, winked his other eye at hi: boss, took a deep breath, and again disappeared, to re-appear hauling a mosl curious-looking object by a long neck It was a young penguin, which was brought into town and exhibited, wit! much ceremony, to the Gaiety Company. • » ♦ Many New Zealanders will regret te hear of the death of Mr. "Eddie" Simpson the well-known traveller foi Hardy's wines, who succumbed to Bright's disease, at Sydney, on July 9th. He had been ailing for about 12 months, but. his death came rather suddenly a couple of days after taking to bed. Of a jovial disposition, an excellent raconteur a first-class comic singer, and a fine business man, noor "Eddie," who was cut off at th© early a^e of thirty-eight, will be greatly missed by hundreds not only in New Zealand but throughout Australia. * * * The sittings of the Hutt Bridge Comsaon. last week, brought out some interesting old identities under the fierce light which beats upon a public inquiry. Old age had no monopoly of attraction, for the young and beauteous McGurk tiptoed into and out of the range of the Commission's vision. Mr. Graham accounted, in his identity, for the old of the Hutt and Petone district, and Mr. MoGurk for the rising generation during the tallying which they did vmoa. the Hutt bridge. Mr. Thos. Gore Graham is just bringing to a close a period of twenty-one years spent by ' him in the Hutt, as he intends taking up his residence in Palmerston North. He is now enjoying a well-earned retirement, having received a pension from Messrs. Kempthorne, Proseer, and Co., with which firm he served twenty one years on its clerical staff. Mr. Graham wasi for many years an elder of the Presbyterian Church, at Petone. * ♦ * Mr. John McGurk, who shared with Mir. Graham the work of keeping his spectacled eyes upon the people who crossed the bridge, is a native of the Hutt. After growing well into his early manhood there, he crossed the Tasman Sea, and spent some ten or eleven years in Sydney. Mr. McGurk returned to the home of his boyhood to spend last Christmastide, and has remained there. * • • Another old identity, who was called upon by the Hutt Borough Council to keep a tally of persons using its bridge, was Mr. Henry Damant. His age is as difficult to ' guess at as a woman's, but he confesses td having lived half a century of his life in the Hutt and Petone districts! Mr. Damant. who spent a holiday of three yeeks upon the Hutt bridge renewing lis acquaintance with his old friends .vhose business took them along that

thoroughfare, is the owner and opeiatoi of a cork factory in Petone when he gets down to serious business. He has an excellent memory, and reckons he can pi'ok a Huttite from a Petoneite at a glance. All those people whom he didn't recognise on the bridge as friends or acquaintances he put dow ns as strangers — and Welhngtonians. Away back in the seventies Mr Damant was inspector of works for the Hutt district, and was considered "a good boss" by the men on the road. * * * Mr Golder, the present inspector of works for the Hutt County Council, was one of the men who served under Mr. Darnant in the early days of the formation of roads through the Hutt by the Provincial Council. Mr. Golder— who, by the wav was bom in the Hutt \ alley some sixty-three years age-— served under Mr. Damant for about six years, and he (the golden-hued, Golder named) has worked in the district since 18/1— first under the Provincial Government, and then, and ever since, under the local body to which he has been so faithful a servant. If a stranger was to drop down into the Hutt County— which has a nretty extensive area— and were to knock at any door and inquire for John Golder, he would find that he was know n "even to the dog." The element of laughter was raised during the course of the examination of Mr. Sydney C. Barraud before the Commission', despite the fact that he holds' the dignified position of manager of the Lower Hutt branch of the .Bank of New Zealand. Mr. Barraud is a twenty-years-old resident in the money bank, resides directly opposite the Hutt bridge, and the lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep are familiar sound® in his ear. He has only to sit up in his bed, and he can see the cattle and sheep crossing the bridge. He was called before the Commission to give evidence as to this kind of traffic over the bridge, and it was when he remarked that the animals went over the river (two-by-two and more so) either very late at night or very early in the morning, that the laugh came in. He must keep jolly late and early hours! observed one of the country delegates. Mr. Barraud would not admit the soft impeachment. Rarely has the serenity of our Harbour Board's meetings been so ruffled as it was last Thursday. Of course, it was the dock which came down ut>on the quiet backwater of the BoardMessrs. David Nathan and Nicholas Reid, who had been hard hit m their defeat at the previous week's meeting — when Mr. Fisher brought his twenty-years-old safely into Port Nicholsonsought to re-open the whole question. Mr Nathan assailed the dockites with much heat, smiting them hip and thigh with a lava-like torrent of words. Mr Reid also "went for" those who had "gone back on their own opinions in quite a vigorous style. ♦ * * After he had spent himself in biting language upon the recalcitrant members of the Board, Mr. Nathan concluded his peroration with the following expression, which he "'threw off his chest with great gusto "Why, this thing is too absurd for words'" Whereupon, the ponderous Cable paid out the observation "Why waste them, then!" Mr. Naithan did not appreciate the interruption for he exclaimed, "I've got the ohair !" and smiled anything but sweetly at the ironfounder. Mr. Caselberg freely admitted that he had been floundering in the dock ever since the Board had turned a somersault upon it, and gave members some jovial badinage which they hardly knew whether to take seriously or in the spirit in w hich it was given.

In the vehemence of another appeal, later on in the meeting of the Boaid, Mr. Nathan led the way to an impromptu joke. "We may fool the public (with regard to the financial side of the dock scheme) but for the Lord's sake do not let us fool ourselves'" exclaimed Mr, Nathan. He went on to explain that he wa& kicking against the pricks held bv the majority of the Board, because he was looking into the future. ' You must remember," he added, looking at the elderly members of the Board, I'll be here in Wellington all my life — you will only be here for a few years '" Amid a shout of laughter, Mr. Caselbere. who evidently thought nephew David was discussine tenure of membership on the Board, added — "Oh, I'm only here until November I" » » * It is a lemarkable thing that the fiist of the members of the New Zealand rifle team which went to Bisley who got his name cabled out as having acoomplished anything special should have been W. H. (otherwise 1 , and more pooularly, know n as "Billy") Ballmgei. This fact is but another exemplification of the old axiom — "You never know r ." For, of all the members of the team, "Billy" was the one to whom nearly all critics — and certainly all the Auckland critics — took exception. "What has Bdlv Ballinger done to wan a place in the team?" asked the envious ones. "Why. look at his past, and he is certainly a good teams' man!" replied his Petone supporters. "Past be blowed'" retorted a Karori rival, "What has the past to do with shootists? We don't want to send Home has-beens'" * * * Where are Billy Ballinger's critics now? Brother Arthur — who went Home with the Bisley team in 1897, and who sticks even closer than a brother in a big belief in Billy — is chuckling today. And it really looks as if immediate reputation goes for little. Billy B. was practically "nowhere" in the finish at the Trentham meeting, udoii the form displayed at which the team now at Home was chosen. And vet he scores "possibles" and wins money at Bisley, whilst, up to the time of writing, abolutely nothing has been heard of the doings of Hyde, of Masterton, who won the championship at Trentham ! We find that Winslade, of Wanganm — another has-been — gets special mention ; yet, of all the first flighters of the Trentham meeting, Harry Hawthorne, who shot really well for the St. George Challenge Vase, is the only one in the list of mentions. It will be remembered that at the Trentham meeting Hawthorne — who is on the Treasury staff — was the runner-up for the championship, pushing Hyde very close for the coveted honour.

Mi . George Leslie is know n throughout the friendly societies of New Zealand perhaps better than any other "brother " The hard-headed and restless mathematician and P.P.G.M. was appointed Registiar of Friendly Societies the other day, and you may be sure that to Mr. Leslie the billet is easier than "falling off a log," seeing that it is a labour of love. Mr. Leslie says that lie looks upon his Oddfellowship as his religion, and we are not very sure that it is not a better religion than a great many brands strewn around under different names. Geoige Leslie is a fighter. If his quizzical, piercing eyes will let you look closely at his ruddy face you will notice that he has some of the brands of boyhood in the shape of a seal* on his left cheek and a white "criss cioss" on his nose. Mr. Leslie does not remember how many times he has had that organ broken and repaired. In his native village of Inverary, Aberdeenshne, George Leslie ramped ..urough his sums and then went out looking for devilment He was the most thrashed boy in all the parish school and then, as now, he suffered generally for taking the weak ones^ part. When they left off thrashing George, George left off thrashing other boys, and applied himself very closely to mathematics, and he "figured" in the drapery business at Glasgow after leaving school and before he ctame to New Zealand in 1864. He went into the soft goods line in Dunedin and in 1867 became an Oddfellow. Then the spirit of the Inverary past came mightily upon him, and he fought for financial reform, and rrot into hot water with many valued friends through) his opinions. He and Mr. Black calculated the series of monetary tables now in use by the friendly societies for benefit payments. Mr. Leslie was one of the two ->üblic valuers (the other being Mr. Black) appointed under the Act. In 1888, Mr. Leslie entered the Friendly Societies' Department to try and rectify the loss occasioned by the destruction of records by fire m the G.P.O. In 1889, he was appointed to the> actuarial branch of the Government Insurance Depaitment, and was shortly afterwards made assistant actuary, a position he has< filled with credit until recently. "That firebrand Leslie," as he has been called, is disposed to go very deeply into matters. He tells us how, on one occasion, when he was nominated for the grand mastership of his order, that a man was sent many hundreds of miles to the Dunedin meeting to vote against the "firebrand." The delegate, seeing Mr. Leslie, and hearing his views, became an ardent Leslieite, and, with tears in his eyes, begged his pardon for being forced by his lodge to

vote against him. The two have been fast friends ever since. During the summer-time when they are able to tear George away from his figures, you may find him trundling bowls up at Thorndon. They say he has a keen eye for the jack. He also helps to run the Terrace School.