All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume VI, Issue 274, 30 September 1905, Page 3

All Sorts of People

COMMANDER Ritter Yon Hofanel, of the Austrian warship Panther, is something besides being captain of an obsolete third-class cruiser. He was for four yeans A.D.O. to Emperor Franz Josef, and has made, has name as an explorer an wildest Africa, for which service he was specially decorated by the Emperor, and had medals thrown at him from numerous scientific bodies tnat speak the language of the Vaterland. His last mission was to take the JSmperor'si >respectfc. to King MeneiiK, he coal-black ruier of Abyssuno. There was a weary journey from the seaboard to the capital, some hve hundred miles inland. Menelik was very glad to see him, and treated him wrtn the greatest coon courtesy tor a fortnight, when the Commander opined that he would get back cross country to th« Panther, which was dome without mishap. The Commander is at fluent French and 1 English linguist, and became exceedingly popular during his short stay in W^eJjhngton. • •■ » \J*f. Findlay and the Hon. T. K. Macdonald, M.L.C., hare recently been appointed directors oi the "New Zealand Times" Company. They will add strengtn to the directorate. There are now three doctors watching over the destinies of the "Times," so that it ought to be in good hands, viz., Dir. Collins, Dr. Chappie, and' Dr. Findlay— to say nothing of Dr. Bannister. ALHihose who, in his single days, used £fcoiaughingly cai'l mm 'Charley s Aunt,' and all who knew him otherwise, will deeply regret to hear of the paOiiifudly sudden death of Mr. Charles Harry Amdt (formerly of Wellington), at Stratford, on Saturday last. "Charlie," when "a man about town," bustled for A. Beaver and Co. (Mr. Bearer was his uncle), wholesale jewellers, but, seeing great opportunities in Taranaki, he started a land and! estate agency at Stratford some four years ago, >. and did rery well. Over two years agio he returned to Wellington to claim Miss Rachael Moeller (diaughter of Mrs. MoeUer, of the Occidental Hotel) as his bride. S * * # V^/Mr. Arndt journeyed to Wellington with <his wife only about a fortnight ago, and then returned home, leaving his wife with her mother. The sequel of this was the birth of a son^-the second child — on the morning tthe father died. The coincidence is madle remarkable by the fact that on, the same day — Saturday last^Mrs. Arndt's sister, Mrs. Crawford (nee Miss Moeller), was married at OhrdstohiiTch to Mr. W Reid, eldest son of Mr. Nicholas Reid, of this city. A birth, deait!h, and marriage in the family on the same day. / • Deceased's mother and three sisters, who shifted their home from Dunedin to Wellington some eighteen mom-tins ago, residie at Macdonald Orescent, and are pretty well known in Wellington. Much sympathy will go out to them. One of Mr. Arndt's sisters is Miss Jennie Arndt, who is making iher way towards popularity as an eloouitkmdst. Deceased was a good sport., and many will remember him as the manaejer of the Tananaki representative football team which toured last season.

Mr. Clarenoe A. Wilton, for eight years mi the service of IVLessrs. Veatch •and Allan, has received thie usual presentation on quitting the Cuba-btireet firm to fly "on his own." Clarence is a pushing young man, who should] do well if brains, and energy couinifc for anythinig. * * » Terry is under "'The Shadow." He has shot a rtuan to death — a Chinamam. Pooir Chinaman, to be the victim of a man who believes hrniiself a Solomon Eagle, to cry aloiud his gospel of self-continence- for Empire. The stalwart, calm, handsome Englishman, with a kind word for all, a perfect "pause," an unexceptionable demeanour ; a sober man, abstinent in food, drink, and amusement; a wid'ely-iead, deeply thoughtful man, who, apparently of a pessimistic tendency, has exaggerated enormously the danger he foresaw in "a mongrel Empire." * • * \_/Quite illogical for Terry to shoot a Chinaman who is admitted to this country, and protected 1 by its laws. Terry's fight might have been more logically fought against our own people who permit it. On the day preceding the tragedy, he conversed with various people in the oailm, dispassionate manner that seemed his chnef obanm. He did' not get heated) on any occasion. He simply persisted — and smiled. On Saturday, he desired an acquaintance to distribute hie books among the police, because they were "fine, healthy, fullblooded felAows, who would appreciate his arguments for a pure, Anglo-Saxon Empire." * * * lie discoursed interestingly of his life £nd adventures, of bis fights with the Matabelee, and bis wanderings in many lands. He told how, when in the West Indies, while/ ©"a a» survey party, he was proceeding along the stony bottom of a creek, when he stepped! on "something that moved." It was a boa-constrictor, and was round his legs and body iastantly. He grasped its throat, and squeezed for what seemed to be hours, until the brute relaxed) its hold. His hands, he told us, were black and swollen with the great strain of choking the snake. * * * t/Tbe extraordinary attitude of mind that permitted) him to do a maai to death, return to hi® hotel with perfect coolness, and act subsequently with absolute sanity, is a matter for deep study. It is said) that Terry's landlady, on the morning after tihe snooting, felt instinctively that he was the man who had shot the 1 Chinaman, and thereupon presented his bill. He did not himself ask for it. On the same morning he spoke pleasantly of the weather, said "it was good to be alive" on such a day, and his demeanour Ls absolutely unchanged. He i& the cultured gentleman from Kent still — the courteous man, of the world, the dignified ex-soldier, the amiable phoilosophie'i . The sort of man, in fact, that you would be persuaded would not hurt any living creature. * * • Apparently. Lionel Terry does not -^feel that he committed! a crime. He feels only that he has a duty amd a mission to compel attemition to the. Chinese question — the question he believe^ is wojthy of consideration above all others — and he is wilh'ns: to be a martyr to his reih'gion. Mr. Terry had the entree to the houses of many of Wellington's best people. Hi. charms of person anidi his perfect, manners would mark him for attention in any assemblage — but his predominant desire was to discuss the alien question with you. He was polite with you when you attempted to argue against him, but he was oailm and Signified and umbending. His belief was his religion, and the fine intellect has eiven wav under a craze ending in a deed of violence foreign to the nature of the man.

Mche younger generation in Wellington did. not know the Rev. Alexander Dasent, the a,ged Episcopalian dleirgyraan, who died at Karon on, Friday last. The deceased gemtleman was born, m the 1 West Indies in bii© dim year oi 1818 and was a son of the late- Atitoir-ney-Gezieral of the Island of St. Vjui'cent. He wa 3 educated for th© Ohiuroh, and was ordained when twenty-five years of age ,and came out to ttoa colony in the early sixties. New Zealand was then just beginning to feel its feet, and, consequent upon the, gradual spread of Church-work, Mr. Dasentfs duties included founding a good many churches that are at the present day surrounded by big, fat, and prosperous parishes. He was appointed to the dhargte of Karon in 1882, a position he resigned nearly eight years ago, since when, he has been residing quietly in the tiraanless ivubuirb. The Dasent family are well-known and highly esteemed in Wellington. ■* • • The LanCe takes the credit of being the first paper to nominate Charlie Collins to fill the shoes of Mr. J. E. Page, the retiring City Treasurer, which appointment has beetn made by the City Council. Charles — who always has *a newly- washed) appeara/mce. — is the eldest son of Mr. John. Collins, of Boston Terrace (off Aro-street), better known a few years ago as "Collins, of Poll hill Gully". The young man served his educative apprenticeship under "Cocky" Wateon, at the Willisstreet School, and! after tharfv drifted into Messrs. Kirkoaldie and Stains' counting-house), where he put in five years totting up bolls for cotton and calico. * • » •--"Charlie" was so 'adept at this work that! Messrs. Smith and! Smith offered him the position) of accountant, which offer was accepted. After a pleasant twelve months in that employ, an opening occurred on the staff of the. City Treasurer, and Mr. Colhns, who looked 1 aihead, was appointed to fill it. An opinion has been expressed! in print that a successor to Mr. Pag© should be advertised for far and) wide. That is one of the ridiculous conventionalities of this conventional era, and' our mat-ter-ofnfact Mayor thought otherwise, and committed the heinous offence of appointing Mr. Collins acting-Treasurer during the Treasurer's twelve months' leave of absence prior to retirement. By the tame that period 1 has elapsed, the younp- Wellingtonian will have demonstrated that he is as good! as Treasurer as could be had for twice the money. # » • , While on the subject, it pleases us to brbtice that Mr. James Ames, junior, has been appointed to a permanency on the Council's clerical staff, and is at present engaged! in the Treasureir's department. He is/ the son of the City Valuer, and was born with a gift for figures and an amiable disposition. • * • Mr. R. Stewart (brother of NeM. E. Stewart) has arrived in Wellington to lay the crimson carpet for Nance O'Neil. "Dick" is one of Mr. J. C. Williamsons confidential men, and is mostly occupied m looking after J. C.'s Maonland ventures. Like Harry Braicr' he has the erift of eternal youth , in fact, most of Mr. Williamsons managers, including J. C. himself, wear wonderfully. This juvenility is accentuated by a jaunty carriage and 1 tilted hat. * Mrs. R. Stewart — ■ the mother of as handsome a boy as Australia knows — was Miss Constance Deorwyii, the one-time popular emotional actress, who played all the leads for Charles Holloway on tlhe occasion when that actor brought a real good ■show through this country. Remember her well as Esther Ecoles in "Caste," in which "Dick" Stewart played l Hautrey, and Alice Deorwyn (Mrs. Holloway) was Polly.

.^Dr. Barnardo's great heart is still I No man in all the Empire d'idl so much, or did it more unostentatiously, than the unselfish man who reclaimed! thousands of street children, and made a bright and useful life possible for them. Wherever the British flag flies there are Barnardo boys who have repaid tbfe untiring devotion of the man by becoming good, and often eminent, citizens. One of the finest Methodist preachers ever sent to this country — the Rev. W. Ready — was a barnardo boy, and! it is a remarkable fact that while the inflow of children to his homes made it seem impossible to deal with them, t(he doctor always had faith enough to believe that something would turn up. It always did. * ♦ ♦ •^Tt was Dr. Barnardo's plan to periodically send to all parts or the world the "Waifs' Magazine," wherein; w,as-pictur-ed the "before" and "after" of the waif, and it was largely by this means the people were stirred to the idealities of the life of home Teas children, who, without such organisations as he conducted, would assuredly have become confirmed paupers — or worse. It is sincerely to he hoped that Dr. Barnardo, before laying down his trust, infused his giant enthusiasm into the hearts of others, bo that his wart may still be carried on. * * * L/There aire pakeha tohungas as well as Maori tohungas," correctly, and with great point, said) the Native Minister to Mr. Herrdes, M.H.R., the other day. It is the beam in the eye again. The nation is cursed with tohungas,. wfcjo thrive and) live fat, full lives on the gullibility of nine-tenths of the race. Dowie wasn't a bad' specumen of a tohunga of the pakeha persuasion. Then, do you remember Eugene ? Some won't -an purpose, yet he was as champion 'tohunga of a sort. He argued in a wrapt spirituelle way that Ntew Zealand was going to go under, and the 1 game was to "sell' up everything and I'll be your banker through the troublous time." • « ♦ JL petition was presented in MelMJourne a day or two ago, praying for the release of Tohunga Worthington, the Kyrle Bellew of a bogus ohuroh, and formerly of the Temple of Truth, Cbristchiuroh, adlegedi to be a colonial edition of Piggott's "Abode of Love.'* What beoame of Olampett — he- was a good, fleshy, sweet-voived tohunga, wihose brother was a bad boxer — so bad that he was championi of the world? "Oh, my good friends!" There are tohunga shops in our main streets, tohunga advertisements in the best-regu-lated newspapers, tohumgas that go from door to door (in office hours), and attempt to trade upon the wishy-washi-> ness of feeble femininity. Let us look inward, and not' cast stones at our Maori brother. Mr. Carroll's reminder is very much to the purpose. * # • /There was as pretty a bit of made-up Business enacted by the famous East Coast tohunga, Wereta, as one would wish to see at Pakirikiri, near Gisborne. A big Maori meeting was being held in honour of the tohunga's visit, and during the afternoon, when there were a good many visitors from town about, a brawny dksciple fell down in an alleged fit. He rolled about, and moaned, and pulled awful faces. A Gisborne doctor, who was on the scene, went to loosen the feflltow's neckerchief, when he was rudely shoved aside, and Wereta, noticing the crowd gathering, strode towards the spot, pushed his way into the centre of the crowd, and commenced to mutter prayers rapidly in a guttural undertone. Gradually the accomplice ceased 1 his stragglings under Weneta's eye, and. finally, got up and shook himself together. Tie demonstration bad a great effect an the Maoris present. So simple, too!

v/ Mr. R. E. Bannister— "Bob"— glowed like a 500 candle-power axe light on Monday afternoon when presbmen from tbi four points of the compass beamed on each other un the "Tiine& Buildings. There was nothing stiff about that reuniting, basouit-eating, lemonade-imbibing function, unless it was the neck of Press Association Atack from sitting m the draught he complained of. But, enough of this flippancy 1 There was seated m the chair of honour — a nice, thickly padded, easy-springed! chair, too — the- father of the press of Wellington, and, incidentally, of New Zealand, Mr. T. W. McKenzie, white-haired, patriarchal, kindly, mentally alert, but. affected 1 at the evidences of kindliness shown for him — still eloquent, and in good going order, except for the legs that have carried him nigh on to the eightieth mile-post. * * * Editor Kelly is a cheerful circumstance at any function, and he has a gift of saying nice things without laying the oratorical "jam" on too thickly, and the man has no enemies, even if the editor has snipers looking for bis journalistic gore. The "Times'" does these things very gracefully, and the "Times men are more than kind— they are Bohemian. By the way, the "Times' is attracting heaps of talent, and it has now a very strong poetical leaning. You see, Arthur H. Adams' is now associate editor, and he is a poet. Poets are prone to be much sub-ed!ited> when they set out to throw leaders and things about, but no sub-editor dare blue pencil an editor. « • • Poets on the "Times" staff . J- LKelly, A. H. Adams, and J. Barr— all fluent versifiers, who have to curb their fiery Pegasus to meet the deadly utilitarianism of daily prose. Arthur Adorns is not angry with the Lance, but he is gently pained. Looking at us" with those big brown eyes of his — with the large, liquid pupils, and contracting his forehead into two strong perpendicular thought lines, he said he wept over a par in last week's Lance about himself. The Lancee wjho said Arthur d a struggle to laugh is expected out of bed to-morrow— at 8.30, or breakfast time. But more of Arthur a.non. • * * Dr. Chappie is a director of the "Times," and spoke modestly of his new-cbumness as far as journalasim is concerned, and another new director, "Kennedy Mac," chuckled consumedly over his connection with journalism — "The Evening Argus," we think he roared — and made the surging crowd of "Times" guests feed nice and comfy. "Kennedy Mac" is a born journalist — for confirmation see advertisements and yellow dodgers. We fear these remarks will not meet with the approval of ancient journalist, Mr. Luokie, who abhors the superlative, and hates to see news pars interlarded with opinions. Ah, well ; we young bloods of sixty and under will remember! V(oadcly" Loughnan epigrammed a bit, too. He is adways worth, (hearing, altnough — after the liquid hospitality , or the "Tunes" — one forgets some of the breezy parts oi his remarks. Everybody extended the broad white hand of friendship to Arthur, and Arthur took it, squeezed it affectionately, and smiled. Also, did he speak of his unwortnaness, and shrank like a tropical blossom on it® stem at the blast of "Noes I" that rent the weikm. "Off-the-cham' 1 pressmen are just warm-blooded humans, wit!h a penchant for good-fellow-shi POh, those Austnansl It was at the Savage Club's ladies' korero, and Dr. Collins, in chipping off some compliments to the ladies, mentioned unoriginally that they were now recognised as man's, equal. Lady Plunket approved the remark, and clapped her hands to show it. Commander Batter Yon Hohnel who was sitting next to her, was overheard to remark: "You don't think so. Ah, the ladies are far above us. The doctor must be a perfect savage to say such a thing!" Trust the Continentals for paying pretty compliments., but there is an excuse for Von — he is a bachelor. * • • Miss Jessie Maclachlanj the Scotch f>rima donna, who is to appear in Welington early next month » possesses a fac 6imile of a very interesting relic. This is a replica of the famous Tara jewel, which was supposed to have been worn by St. Patrick, the snakebunter, and which was lost for many agee. It was found on the shores of Drogheda by an ancient woman, who sold it to a working jeweller # f or a song. Knowing its value, the jeweller made a deal with the Antiquarian, Society of Dublin, but imposed a condition that it should not leave the country. That oonditiom has been faithfully kept, and the jewel reposes in the Dublin Museum at the present time. The Scotchmen of Toronto, wishing to .honour Miss Maclachlan, had' a fac simile _ of the stone made, and presented it to x her as the most perfect exponent of Celtic song.'

Bang Diok (according to the Greytown "Standard 1 ") has had a new experience. He was speaking in a private room to a certain resident when the door suddenly openedl without warning, and a female entered. She walked up to the "grand old man," and stroked his head, telling him meanwhile that he must be careful of his health. She begged of Mm to bestow kindly affection upon his wife and children.. "God knows," she exclaimed!, "there's many a woman been ruined in life for the lack of a little lore." • • * She then pleaded the cause of a small want for a fellow female settler ; them, without any warning, she flung her arms round the Premier's neck, and imprinted a kiss upon his cheek. The Premier was completely "flabbergasted," and exclaimed "Tut, tut!" and passed it off witih a good-natured smile, and! the old lady withdrew. The above is an evidence of the manner in which the Premier has won his way into tihe hearts of many of the people. • * * Aneait McKee Rankin, the fat acitor, who has been associated with Miss Nance O'Neal, the tragedienne, for some yearns past, and who will appear with her in, Wellington next week m his younger days he was accounted the most hiandsome actor in the United States, and was worshipped as onily a handsome and successful actor is in this world. He was "starring" once in Sam Francisco, and, on making his first entrance, received a terrific ovation. He bowed and' bowed, filled! with the intensest gratification, and still the audience would not allow him to speak. • * • He bowed, and bowed again, and then wonder at such a reception oausedl him to think a little. His eyes, which had not wandered from the vast audmence, glanced sideways, and there was a little, grizzled man, standing up in a sidie-box, bowing stiffly to the roaring house. It was General Sheridan — the people's hero! It was the greatest blow that "Mac's" self-esteem had ever received. • • • Wellington lost the Ranfuily Rugby football Shield to Auckland a few Saturdays ago, but the scales have been adjusted an the Auckland golf links by the New Zealand amateur golf championship being scooped in by Mr. Arthur Duncan, of Wellington with comparative ease. The only man that gave him any trouble was his brother, the pale-visaged Kenneth, who was runnerup, and who plays a rattling good game on occasions. The final was played in. cold 1 , showery weather, on Friday last — twice round the eignteenhole links — the game being described as "fairly interesting." The game was won at the thirty-second hole (when

Arthur was oup and 4 to play), but "Ken," who played a pluoky game throughout, lost a bit. at the emd of the first r.ound. He stuck to his task, however, 'and gave the spectators a decent exhibition. The winner was champion in 1901, 1902, and 1903, and is now for the fourth time on top. • # • ySy the death of Mrs. Fernandez, which occurred in Auckland a fortnight ago, Coromandeil loses one of its oldest and best-known residents, and 1 Mrs. Major (wife of Mr. C. Major, M.H.R.) her mother. Mrs. Fernandez was the widow of the late Mr. Solomon John Fernandez, one of the hardy old! pioneer storekeepers of the HaxiraM goldfieldis.