PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 81

PERSONAL NOTES.

— King Haakou of Norway ha« scientific tastes. He is interested in new inventions, and especially in any contrivance which may be of use at sea or in the navy. He also likes sport, is a fine shot, rides well to hounds, and is a first-rate billiard-player. King Haakon is a Knight of the Garter, and holds several other British dignities. It is curious to note that at the Court of Norway there are no nobles and no titles ; and in this respect it resembles the Courts of Athens, Belgrade, and Bucharest. When he came to the throne he abolished the prefix of "Your Excellency " for Ministers and other dignitaries, and even wished to dispense with the title of " Majesty." — The Earl of Leicester, the "Father" of the House of Lords and one of the oldest Etonians living, has just entered upon his eighty-sixth year. His lordship, who is now rarely seen at Westminster, has but four seniors in point of age in the House of Lords — Lord Gwydvr, who will be 98 in April; the Earl of Wemyss, who enters i the ranks of nonagenarian peers in August jpext ; Lord Strathcona, who is 88 this year; and the Duke of Grafton will be 87 in June. The Earl of Leicester, by th« way, is the father of 18 children, 14 of whom are living, and can number among hie sons-in-law four earls, a viscount, and a baron. There is jt difference of 40 years between his eldest and his youngest child. — Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the career of Prince yon Bulow, the German Chancellor, whose name has been before the world so much of late, is that he was practically forced into office against his own wishes. Of somewhat frail health and sensitive disposition, he failed to make much mark until he went as Ambassador to Rome. A connoi«seur of art, and exop^chnßly well read in literature and history, Yon Bulow soon found himself in an artistic and congenial circle. Then, in 1897, came the recall jo Berlin to take over the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. He departed very unwillingly. " I am like Ulysses," he said at the time — "about to desert fortunate and peaceful shores to embark on a stormy voyage beset with reefs and shallows." , He was at the Foreign Office for three years, and then succeeded Prince Hohenlohe as Chancellor. •—Lord Blytbswood, who is said to be

J engaged on the construction of a. now | flying machine, has a magnificent laboral tory and engineering shop at Blythswood House, in Renfrewshire. Hero ho not onty conducts his experiments in aerial navigation, but is also seeing what he can cia in the way of manufacturing precious atones. - It has been discovered that wher the mineral corundum, which is a colourless crystal of exactly the same nature as the topaz, amethyst, ruby, and sapphire, is placed close to radium for a period of about two months, it changes to the colour of one of these gems. Two specimen at Blythswood which have been under the influence of a speck of radium for several days are already of a 'beautiful • topa* colour. The permanency of the colour has not yet been proved, but under every possible test these stones are indistinguishable from the gems they represent. One of the sights at Blythswood H.6use is the largest static electrical machine in the world, designed and made by Lord Bly ths^ wood in his own workshops. — The Secretary of State for India, who has just celebrated his sixty-ninth birthday, has never disguised the fact that he has a greater love for literature than for politics. To 'be surrounded by books is his ideal of happiness, for apart from his extensive library he has no , amusements. He is a capital walker, however, and for his age a remarkably active, man. In. appearance he strikes one more as an, elderly' musician or actor than & statesman, his rather sharp, clean-shaven 'features and! long, iron-grey hair being, typical of on©, or two of the prominent -lights jn those professions. Personally, Mf.i Mofrleyis one ' of the kindest and most considerate of men. His love for dumb animals "ia well known, while on one occasion" the writer saw the statesman, in the- neighbourhood • of Wimbledon Common, comforting, a sob- v bing youngster who apparently had lost his . way. If further of .Mr Morley's kindness of heart and generosity were required, it may be found in the fact that he has given a home to the wife and daughters of his stepson, John Ayling, who was recently sentenced to. 10 years' imprisonment for forging and uttering pro- x miaeory notes, despite the fact that Mr Morley's own signature had been forged on five of the bills. v — Sir Charles Mathews, who acted for the Crown in the recent notorious murder trial at the New Bailey, bears a name not less famous by its theatrical than by its legal associations. He is the son of that famous comedian, diaries Mathews, with whom, before he 'began to practise at the Bar, he often appeared in private performances. There is no speaker' .at the Bar with a more dramatic manner or & finer command of gesture. His eloquence was once the occasion of an amusing scene on the Western Circuit. While he' was addressing the jury his clierfc, an exoitfcbio horse-dealer, was moved ,to cry, ," Go it, lijttle 'un! Go it. little 'un! 1 ' Mr Justice Stephen, who had, a.' supreme contempt for rhetoric, threatened to nave the delinquent removed * from the court. -The demonstrative suitor sat silent for a whil^, b\it - was unable fo keep his feelings under further constraint Mr Mathe\<re began his peroration.' The offender having been duly banished from the court, Air Justice Stephen, addressing the heated advocate, who had been interrupted in the midst of a. most impassioned appeal x> the jury, thundered out: "Go on, Mr Mathews, go on ; begin exactly where you left off." — Few occupants of the Bench have hadi a more varied career than Sir Robert Romer, who has just celebrated his sixtyseventh birthday. After he left Cambridge he acted as private secretary to Baron Nathaniel Rothschild. Then, at the age of 24, he obtained the post of Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Cork, which he continued to occupy until he was called to the Bar. While he was waiting for briefs he wrote reviews for the Athenaeum. The publisher of a novel which had been criticised most severely in that journal, in private conversation, with him, denounced the " villainy " c.f the writer of the review, without suspecing for one moment that he was addressing the delinquent. It was charactcrisfc of "Bob" Romer— as the learned jiuVo was familiarly called at the Bar— that h« at once declared that he was the "villain in question, and that the friendship between the two men— Mr William Bradbury, was the irate publisher— was quite unaffecfed by the incident. Like the Lord Chief Justice, the most athletic of all the judges, lord Justice Romer has always believed in working his muscles as well as his brains. "The harder I worked at sports the better I could work at mathematics," he has said of his univesifcy days. Rowing and cricket were -the pastimes in which he excelled at Cambridge; lawn tennis, eyeliner, and shooting have been the * recreations'of his later years. He makes a special point of walking at least eight miles every day, and invariably reaches and leaves the* Royal Courts of Justice on foaU