GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 302, 24 December 1907, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

Alderman Sir John JJell, who is to be Londonn next Lord .Mayor, is no novice in the many duties of muncipal. leader, lor he has played an important part in the lii'e of the City for the last live-and-twenty years. {Since liis election as representative of Coleman, street, alter uiic of the most strenuously fought coji- • ttcUs in the annals of the ward, he has dune yeoman service on many of the < ouiiuiitees. lie was Sherili' during the Coronation year, and was honoured with a Knighthood in cuminemoration of the I'vents of that epoch-making period, liis year of -Mayoral oiliee also sees the fortieth anniversary of his marriage to the oldest daughter of .Mr. T. Clare, >i Entiold. Sir John's town house is in Portland Place, where lie lives when 1»j is able to tear himself away from the old-world attractions of Stoke Poges, where he in lord of a beautifully-wooded estate called " Pramewood." Here he rears pheasants. dabbles in horticulture —his orchids are well known in tlie City —and Hits through the picturesque cuiiutry in his powerful motor, lie is also an ardent collector, and 4 * Framewood *' contains many uuuiatcliable curios in testimony to his prowess as a snapper-up of rarities, lie tells many a good story of his adventures in out-of-the-way parts of the country iji smirch of old furniture, to which Sir John is particularly partial. Of pictures he has some costly specimens, most of which are to lie found in his at Portland Place. Lady Bell is as enthusiastic a collector as her husband, but her taste licsi in the direction of old silver and ivories, of which she has many fine examples. 'iuis good story was brought from the Arctic by .Lieutenant Slaackletoiw A young E.ikimo had loved an K.-kiiuo lasfj, out as he had not the nece.vjury number of .-.euUkiiia to provide the marriage portion required by her father. he met with no encouragement from the stern parent. A yawning clnitsm separated the respective dwellings of the ardent lover and bis beloved, which could be crossed only by a »now bridge. The youth conceived a plan, lie would cross the snow in the night, abduct the girl, and alter recrossing destroy the bridge, and so prevent pursuit, lie carried the plan into ell'ecl. One night he crossed the bridge, invaded the hut of his idol, seized a sleeping-bag, and departed, destroying the bridge after he had crossed. Then he opeued the sleeping-bag, and discovered that he had abducted—not the girl, but the old man!