All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 264, 22 July 1905, Page 3

All Sorts of People

-TWTryHEN Mr. Alfred. Hill, R.C.M.L., ' \ly was but a little lad he played, amongst other games, at circuses, but Little Alf. would never perform on the Roman rings, or rough-ride the goat round the back-yard. Oh, no; he was always the band! — represented by a battered old cornet. Father Charles 8011, musical enthusiast, saw there was 6tuft m the boy, and when lie attained years of indiscretion, he packed him oft to Leipsic, m company with brother Jactk (now of the Tourist Department). Time and the hour brought the young man back to Wellington, where he almost immediately justified his fatness ke&n perception by turning out the Maori cantata "Hmemoa," the first musical work of any note that took the Maori for its motif, and which sought to impart the atmosphere of this country. The result was a great success. * * * Since then, the young composer's opera, "Tapu," has been produced! by Mr. J. C. Williamson, and numbers of hiß songs have found a ready market. Quite recently has latest opera, "A Moorish Maid," ihas made a distinct "hit," and Alt's heart is glad. Speaking to a Lancer, he said : "The public were so enthusiastic right through. Our smallest house was on the first nightafter that we never looked' back. The Auckland people were kindness itself. I would like to say that I have never worked so pleasantly or so successfully with any other man as I have with Mr. Birch. It's simply this— he understands what I want, and gives it to me." The dates booked for the Wellington season of the "Moorish Maid" are from September 23rd. The clever pair have other work in view, and are about to commence another opera, the scene of which will be laid in Peru. About here the Lancer backed out of the room, and tripped) over a vocal chord that was edging its way into Mr. Hill's brain. John, Youlm Birch ((' Jacky B.") ' has said good-bye to the Auckland "Herald," to dig out news for the "New Zealand Times," and 1 in particular^ to write up "moosic and the drammer," for which work he has a penchant. There is not miuoh of "Jacky," but his classic profile is as clear-cut as the Kelburne Kiosk against the evening sky, but, apart from his profile — which was responsible for him securing the Anglican Synod as has first job — he has come into notoriety of late by writing the "book" of Alf. Hill's successful opera, "A Moorish Maid," a work that is said to leave a "moreish" taste in the mouth. • * * «^Mr. Birch was born at Jersey City, New York, but, as he shifted to England! when but a few weeks old, has impressions of tihe great republic are not too reliable. He grew and grew until it was time to have him "eddicated, so lie was packed off to Grent College, then to the Berkhamstead Grammar School, in Nottinghamshire and afterwards to Dulwich College. He studied 1 for the Indian Civil Service .and 1 actually passed the first examination, when he got uncivil and slid into commercial life as a clerk in the office of a Birmingham firm in London. (/ Then, he went to the World's Fair, at Chicago, in 1893, as secretary to are-

presentative of British exhibitors. He> stayed at Chicawgo a year, and then came along to New Zealand, arriving in Auckland on January Ist, 1895. He was four and a-haJf years clerking cm the goldfields at Wadhi and Kuaotunu, and when he went to Auckland, in 1899, his knowledge of mining affairs seeuured him a job on the staff of the "Herald." He produced an opera. Then he left Auckland. The caroumstajnoes are significant. had one or two little dramatic things produced in Auckland, so that when Alf. Hill came to tihe Queen City to conduct th© "Tapu" rehearsals wuth the Royal Comic Opera Company, he asked him casually if he wainted a "book." Alf said "Yes"" with a capital "Y." Alf came to settle in Auckland, a*nd the two became a team. The "book" was written and' re-written six times. Of twenty-four lyrics originally written, a dozen were discarded, and were re-written. The last lyric — a dainty trifle from which the opera takes its name — was really the suggestion of Mr. ELM, who wrote the song in an afternoon, and is one of the most charming numbers in the opera. « * • Mr. Flavell Hayward, of the Brescdans : — " When one looks at the smiling contentment of the New Zealand working man, and compares has lot with that of the poor of England's large cities, one wonders why the working man here ever growls. I have been in many countries, and have studied their laws with interest, but New Zealand is certainly the most democratic and advanced country I have visited." And of such is the kingdom of Seddon. ♦ ♦ ♦ Messrs. P. Hayman's recently-retired manager, Mr. Lachman, rememheons when two heads of commercaal houses visited Queenstown early in the seventies, and' treated' the whole township — then about three hundred persons — to a big picnic. They chartered th© old boat "Mountaineer," got all the shops and hotels to close up, loaded the boat with the best of everything, and steamed away to the head of the lake. That picnic cost about £150, hut what did they care in those days ? "I never used to go go up to Queenstown without booking about £400 worth of orders," said Mr. Lachman, "but we were very small pots to what they are in these days. Old Mr. Bendix Hallensteui, founder of the D.1.0., kept a store in Queenstown, and boarded his hands in has own place? Now it is Hallenstein Bros, and the D.1.C., big, prosperous firms, with branches everywhere. "Travellers of to-day don't have to ptft up with what they did in the old days. We used to have to travel all day by coach, in the depth of winter, open up that night, andi away again for another day's coaching through the snow and boggy road's to the next township. There were no tourists them, and consequently no railways, and poor grub — mutton, mutton, mutton, all the time. Ach! Those days!" Good old days? Well, not altogether. John D. Rockefeller, junr., teetotaller, non-smoker, Sunday-school teacher, and heir to more wealth than Croesus dreamed of, has withdrawn from the Standard Oil Trust, and taken to preaching on economic and social topics. Recently he gave out his idea of wealth. He apparently does not fully endorse the notion that a rich man must perform the camel and needle trick in order to get into a happy hereafter. Wealth is given, he says, for a useful purpose. Yes, but the trouble is that so many fellows, when they have managed to lay by a dollar oir two, regard themselves as absolutely the best possible "purpose" on which to lavish them.

J. E. Page, the retiring CityTreasurer, gets a year's leave an full pay — £500. It us not lmpirobable that the vacant billet will be advertised in Australia. In which case Mr. Charles Collins, who understands the maddening intricacy of the city accounts', and: who has ably seconded Mr. Page, will likely have the delightful task of fitting the new man to become _ his "boss." Perhaps, on the other hand,' Mr. Collins may be made City Treasurer, but it is, of course, hardly probable that a Welhnigtonian who knows something about the job should get it. * George Stillwell, the "judge of silk," who is the chief handkerchief manipulator of the world, says he's an old man, and his grandmother still lives in Paris, Kentucky, United! States of America. That is where George comes from. Kentucky produces blue grass, pretty women, fast horses, whisky, and "judges of silk." George called in the other day, and we still have a handkerchief. He's always been in the shiow line, having been bora to the purple, or whatever colour it is. He's been" circulating some, however. He was at Singapore once. This was after he had been in India. » * ■» The Maharajah Takari lovedl George like a brother, and insisted on giving him a diamond ring valuedi at £60. Then, because George showed him howto grow handkerchiefs out of any old thing, the Mahaa-ajah asked him to accept a little three-horse motor car. George has that car now. Well, about the ring. He reckons there is considerable sleightness of hand among the Malays, for somebody got away with his diamond, and left no sign. He reckons this to be the finest trick of conjuring he collided with away there. • • » He showed Lord Curzon a few things, too. and his greatness was very pleased. In Cochin China he dad his business without patter of any kind except coin. He tells tales about Indian conjurers, who dlo nothing very marvellous, and of Indian fakirs who do. For instance, at Allahabad he saw a whitewashed stick standing in the air. He found' on examination it was the arm of a fakir. He had held that limb up m the air for years, until it was about the size of a pea-Hstick, and, of course, quite helpless. The other arm, was in good going order. It held a tin for "pice." Natives who haven't got courage enough to go withered worship these dreadful fakirs. If the British Government made that man take his arm down, and live a respect^ able life, there would be another mutiny. » . * Mr. Stillwell was with the Sandow show through India, and has done every show town in Africa. We asked him which was the best show town in the world. Turning his dark-brown eyes on us, and noting our youth and) innocence, he said: "London!" We wept. Wellington is dishonoured! He reckons a g'ood-olass London audience is the most appreciative, "but ah tell you, siree, you might show the Lord's supper with the original cast in some towns, and they'd just naturally say: "Urn, not bad!'" * * * George reckons he would be a boon to drapers' assistants, because he can make billiard balls out of handkerchiefs instanter. Yes, sir! Way baok in his early youth he playedl Eliza's child in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." At the age of something teen he appeared at Paris (State 1 of Kentucky), and borrowed a silk hat. Nervous at his first appearance, he rubbed the hat the wronlg way ! Likewise the owner, for he stepped over to the platform, and chastised the buddine conjurer. There ware shrieks. Well, he reckoned' he'd light out from Paris, as it was naturally unsafe, and went three hundred' miles in a waggon.,

and did tricks on the way. In. 1893, at the World's Fair, he was a "real Japanese juggler from Tokio," and you bet he jest naturally chuckled some when a surgeon told him he could cure that slantness of eye with a small operation. X you call George a "Yank" he will steal your handkerchief. He's a Southerner, yes sir! * * Charles Willeby. the more than successful song writer (he wrote "The Fourleaved Shamrock," suing; by Miiispa Ad!a Crossley), of whom returning trippers speak so highly, was formerly Willoughby Hawthorne, of the local staff of one of the insurance companies. Willoughby, besides being a. fin© pianist, was a gorgeous swell, and was never on view unless gloriously bedecked' in the latest collar and' most fetching of ties. One night several of Wellington's talent had to go up to .the) residence of Mr. Hautrie West (formerly organist of St. Peter's), in Wat»on-«treet. In those days there was an eight-foot bank in front of Mr. West's, before the road was reached, and if the steps were missed — but of that later ! * * * Willoughby was there as the accompanist, dressed immaculately, and left with the others. The blindness of a man leaving a brilliantly-lighted room for the black night was in his eyes, and he missed the steps. A muffled yell told the others that the mighty one had fallen, and they rushed to the spot, to see Willoughby, alias Willeby, groaning upon the ground, his beautiful trousers torn at the knees, his collar burst, and his whole being a tattered wreck as compared with what it had been a few moments 'before. He was very badly shaken, bu>fc a strong nip of brandy at old' Evans's '^Brunswick" pulledl him together, after which he was sent home in a 'cab. • « , He subsequently married! Miss Mary Hume (sister of novelist Fergus Hume), and went to London, where he afterwards became amanuensis to the late . Sir Arthur Sullivan, the eminent composer. Sir Arthur evidently breathed inspiration into the mind o± WiMeby, or stimulated his latent talent. That there was good material there has songs testify. Miss Beatrice Grimshiaw, in the ''Daily Graphic" : — "The dainty draw-ing-room', with its pastel shades of silk and brocade, suddenly looked small when Mr. Seddon came in, for he has a way of making people and things look small in his presence. This is tfhe type of man to tame an unbroken-in young colony, to ride it with an armed heel and an iron hand, to sit oxut its kicks and its 1 buckjumpimgs unmoved, and finally to drive it forward in the raoer of nations to a place far ahead of anything that a less determined rider could! have reached." "Anned 1 heel" and "iron hand" are lovely. You can't insist on British editors waste-paper basketing wash of this description, more's the pri!tfy. It makes one feel pretty ill to read! m, and we desire other people to sihare the illness. * • * Sir Samuel Oaughey, of Australia — a few million acres of it-— gave £5000 towards raising a contingent of Boer worriers in the days lang syne. He was knighted a few months ago. Maybe for the above, and maybe because Samuel owns more sheep than anyone else on earth, andl enough Australian country to settle half Great Britain on. Samuel has been fifty-seven years gathering up his millions, and 1 made his start when, as a new-chum sheptherd^he gob a job on a station,' and was paid! in sheep, which were allowed to graze on 'the run. A few seasons put him right, amid 1 he hasn't looked back since. Unlike most Australian sheep kings, Samuel is an educated man.

The Racing Conference, which .commenced its sittings in the Stygian gloom of the Chamber of Commerce last week, having been unable to obtain a room in Parliament buildings for the purpose, is an interesting body of men. Somebody whispered 1 that a million pounds wouldn't buy the banking accounts of the twenty-eight delegates who sat on the opening day. We offered £750,000, but there were no takers. Of the twenty-eight delegates, twelve wore spectacles — mostly gold rimmed — two wore almost arid heads, seven were part.ally devoid of hirsute herbage, and all looked as if intellect luTked behind their massive brows. / * * vEverybody knows Sir George Clifford, leaseholders as well as any. Sir George has been president for ten years, and before he presided Captain Russell Russell — since translated to realms of knightly bliss — held the reins, and sat in the cthanr. Barrister Sir George's toot and knowledge are a help in any gathering. The thickset, ruddy man, who speaks with authority, is the great Geie Gee Stead, a unique figure in the racing world) of New Zealand, and the habitual winner of "dlajssie" events. He is a man who "plays th« game" off his own b<at. He's not taking advice about running his horses. / ■ * The white-haired, impressive-looking gentleman, with the be-nt figure, is the Hon. Sir George McLean, renowned in the Legislative Halls as well as celebrated on the greensward among the silk jackets. Sir George is the ancient one of the turf among the delegates, and Harold Johnston, of the local Johnstons, who looks singularly juvenile among the baldheads and spectacles, is the infant of the Conference. Harold is a polo player — but perhaps you know ? * * * / Sitting next to the veteran Sir SSeorge is the distinguished-looking Mr. C. Hood-Williams, who is also not as young as he was when Carbine won the Melbourne Cup. The hyphenated 1 one is secretary of the Lyttelton Harbour Board, and perhaps you remember when he owned the. good, old trier, "Sultan." Mr. Friedlantter is the gentleman with "specs" and a white cheveaux-de-frise lip ornament. He says a good deal, with a strong accent not made in this Empire at any rate. He is credited with knowing a great deal about racing laws. / vThe curly-haired, stout gentleman, who is sitting near the seat of authority, with a keen eye to see and a keen ear to hear, is responsible a good deal for the new racing rules now umder disoussion. This is Mr. Samuel, and he's a lawyer. Mr. Samuel is credited! with knowing which ewd of a horse wears a bridle, but he doesn't actively participate in the "sport of kings." His knowledlee of racing laws, however, is vast, and he appears to be. thinking at a pace that would make Cup time seem Hke the progress of a damaged cabborse in hobbles. It is mainly because "we of the' racing ■community consist largely of those who db not pay their debts" that a revision of racing rules Is necessary ,and' you can't help believing that the Racing Conference' is comprised of men who want clean sport. L \/The quiet little man, who doesn't sit at the table, is a Wellington sport, - Mr. Abbott {of Abbott and Oram). He is tjhe brother of that distinguished officer, Colonel Abbott, of Auckland, who has the longest South African service of any New Zealandex, amd who wasi such a dashing commander. If "Sport" Abbott is as good a sport as the Colonel of that ilk, he's a white man. The Tittle, curly-haired) man from Auckland', with the bright smile and the limber tongue, is Mr. Alison 1 , general manager of the Devonport Perry Gompany, and l M.H.R. Also sometimes a Parliamentary thorn. He is one of New Zealand's successful men, and has run .the gamut from shopkeeper to a mayoralty, a seat in Parliament, and a thumping big banting account. By the way, Mr. Alison started serious life as a/printer's apprentice, but he got out of type as soon as possible. f • • • \J The rad-faoed, good-natured looking gentleman in the check clothes, who rises to remark, with his hands in his pockets: "Why do racing men distrust their confreres?" is Bay of Plenty member Herries, who always smiles benevolently when aayinsc anything as who should say: "Well, that's wiat I think, chaps, but never mind me. Anything for peace!" But when Mr. Herries harries the Government! — but there, we're chattering about n Racine Conference. Mr. Bidwill. of the Wair-arapa, is a dark, aquiline gentleman, wiho will revise a horse race or the human race if he isn't careful. He Is going to get into Parliamen some day, pretty soon we expect. You nev-er knlow tall the numbers go uip. Just a word about the spectacled orator, Mr. Petrie, of Greymouth. Anythine Mr. Bidwill forgets to revise, he will see to.

Vlnteresting to know that bookworm F. W. Friankland, very well known ji Wellington, will have a "go" for the Manawatu seat at the general elections,. Lots of people have forgotten that he was Commissioner of the Government lafe Insurance Department fourteen years ago, and at that timei leaked out of New Zealand official life to stop a gap for the Atlas Insurance Company in dear old England. After he had been doing this for some time, he faded over the "pond," and was actuary of v^ne New York Life m its parent city for quite a while. Then, Mr. Frankland oame back to New Zealand two years ago, and has beeai mostly book-worming and living a retired lafe at Foxton since. He is a man who thinks so hard that he is in danger of running into tilings on the sade-walk from abstraction, but he's a deep student as becomes the son of the late Sir Edward Frankland, scientist and associate of Herbert Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley, and' Darwin,. When he was in New Zealand! in the earlier diays he was a member of the Philosophical Society and a philatelist — which is also a branch of philosophy. He bias the further honour of being an uncle to Mr. Toogood budding lawyer and treasurer for the "Wellington Savage Club. * • * "LordJ Ran" (Mr. C. H. Owens), who is at Picton, gossips initerestuigly of bears. Says he: — "A paragraph which appeared in a recent issue of the Free Lance, stating that Dr. Mackenzie proposes that the Acclimatisation Society should turn out brown bears, has attracted a lot of attention and some alarm in country districts. Dr. Mackenzie stated l that the bears are quite harmless, and are after honey every time, but' people say that -we have only his < word that they are harmless, for their amorous and hugging propensities are too well known. * * * "Country settlers think that, in districts where there is no honey, the beajrs will be lurking round l homesteadis after •honey kisses,' and that it will not be safe or prudent for a female to go out after cows, or to gather a bit of firewood', for fear of beanig caught, hugged, or kissed by a bear, thus causing much jealousy amongst husbands or sweei>hearts, and perhaps causing human or bear blood to be shed, and' the whole country-side to become a "bear garden,' especially when there is any bush or cover near a homestead. It will be as dangerous as meeting an entire stranger in a wood. * ♦ * "A copy of your paper containing the warning re bears found its way down, the Soundfe, and, being passed! round th© llock Cod Squatters' anidl Telorus Jacks' down there, created quite a

scare, though) they felt grateful for the warning notes from the Lance. The settlers feel sure that if the bears are set loose, they have cause to be doubly thankful to their energetic member, th© Hon. C. H. Mills, for having tracks made all over the Sounds, for when they hear or see the bears coming they will be able "to make tracks themselves' without the assistance of the ibon. member for Wairau, andl warn their neighbours that the bear is coining on one of his honey-gathering expeditions." * * * Radium Rutherford, the Montreal professor, formerly of' Havelock and the Nelson College, is round these parts looking up ids old school-mates' and friends. Professor Rutherford is a tall, well-fed, pink-oomplexionedl young man, who fills a large-sized! suit to a nicety ; so neatly, in faot, that there are doubts whether hei could pick up a grain, of radium from the floor without something going. He has proved himself a brilliant chemist, andl has done more than anyone els© on earth in the way of ascertaining the properties of the new and wondrous metal discovered! by M. and Mdme. Curie, the French scientists 1 . • * * The Nelson College old boys and exmasters welcomed Professor Rutherford at Grodlber's Rooms on Wednesday evening of last week, in a delightfully mr formal manner. Mr. J. W. Joynt occupied the chair, and) said a few words of eulogistic welcome. Thereafter the speeches were happily * nondescript, each one in turn cracking his own little joke about radium, which gave Mr. Rutherford a tired look. He left for Christohurch last Saturday "evening, where he will have speech with the learned Bickerton, and will deliver a lecture on radium. It is his present intention to leave New Zealand for Montreal at the end of the month.