PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 114, 22 August 1910, Page 6

PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

The death occurred on July 2, at Srina-} gar, Kashmir, from cholera, of Captain lvynard ilawdon, of the 21st Cavalry (Daly's Horse). Captain Havvdon was the hero of a remarkable journey to Quetta via the Transcaspian railway, his account of which was published i nthe Times of April 2(5, 1005, under the title of "Overland; to ' India in Thirty-seven Days." He'*'was the grandson of one of the earliest settlers and explorers of Australia, Mr. Joseph Hawdon, who in the early pioneered the ovei'land stock route from Sydney to Melbourne, and thence to Adelaide, and who afterwards sat in the New Zealand Legislature.

<s Guard your voice as you would a crown of gold," was Madame Melba's parting advice to Miss Eliaabeth Newbold, in Paris recently. Madame, w'lio was on a visit to the great Marchesi, had beard Miss Newbold sing again, andi was delighted: with the progress she had made. The young lady, who comes from Melbourne, was presented with the funds to enable her to study by a number of admirers, Who floated her voice into a company. It is said that an English entrepreneur wishes to buy the company out.

Mr. Donald McNicol, whose death at P.uketapu is recorded, was 98 years of age. He was one of the earliest settlers in Otago (says the Daily Times), having arrived in Otago by the Ajax in 1849. He joined a survey party,-and helped to lay out Dunklin, living in the bush where Royal-terrace now is. (Removing to Goodwood in 1853, he took up a small holding. Until about six weeks ago lie was able to be about, and up till twelve months ago visited Dunedin regularly.

Commander James G. Bremer, R.N., died in a private hospital at Darlinghurst, New South Wales, last week. He was the eldest son of Mr. John De Courcy Bremer, of "Claramina," Rose Bay, and grandson of the late Admiral Sir James John Gordon Bremer, K.C.8., K.'CjH,, who was Commodore of the British Squadron at the capture of the Island of Ohusan, on July 6th, 1840. The late Commander Bremer entered the service as a naval cadet in Aprl, 1866, and •he became sub-lieutenant eleven years later. In March, 1897, he retired with] the rank of commander. The deceased l had been a cadet with Captain Lindeman,| the present shipping master of the port of jSydney, in the old Challenger. During the Egyptian war of 1882 he held the rank of lieutenant, and he received the Egyptian medal and Khedive' 9 bronze star. He also commanded H.M.S. Royalist when she was in Sydney. One of the most interesting posts held by a New Zealander in London'is (says

a London correspondent) that which Dr. C. C. Choyce, an Auckland boy, occupies. As Dean of Faculty at the Dreadnought Seamen 'a Hospital, at Greenwich, Dr. Choyce is practically director of the more important of the two post-graduate medical schools in London. The hospital luis accommodation for 250 patients, and more than 4000 out-patients are treated during the year. To be admitted as an in-patient it is necessary to be a seafaring man, but the cosmopolitan character of the hospital is at once evident on glancing into the wards. The fair-haired Scandinavian and the negro or Hindu lie side by side with the English seaman. The deep-sea carrying trade between England and the Australasian colonies brings many a 'New Zealander into the wards of the hospital. As a post-gradu-ate training school, the hospital usually receives from 30 to 300 students. They come, of course, from all corners of the earth, and Dr. Choyce prides himself that his is the school which works its students the harder, and wliich, on tliia account, and because it is farther from the delights of town life, gets the more earnest and keenest class of men.

•It is ddubtful whether any other member of the peerage has had such an adventurous career as the late Earl of 'Egmont, for .before succeeding to the title, quite unexpectedly, about a dozen years ago, he rouigihed it for about 20 years, serving as a sailor before the mast, as a fireman in the London Fire Brigade, and as caretaker of the Chelsea Town Hall. His adventures during this period are most entertaining reading, and on one occasion when a rowdy crowd declined to leave the Town Hall the future earl cleared the place by turning the fire hose on them. Lord Eigmont's ancestor, the first Viscount Percival, obtained a charter to colonise the province of Georgia in 1T32, and was advanced to the 'Earldom of 'Egmont in 1733. His brother Philip was step-father of iSwift's friend', Miss Anne Donnellan, She writes in 1744: went yesterday to (London, and found all my folks gone to see the show of Anson's wealth carried to the bank (he !had been chasing the Manila fleet of Spain three years and nine months, and had secured £500,000 of treasure),' so I went to my Lord Egmont's, and saw two and thirty dirty waggons pasiS by, guarded by a number of tanned sailors. The King and all the Royal Family were spectators. The tars were very 'happy, and dressed themselves in the Spaniards' fine clothes." The late earl married the daughter of a planter in South Carolina, ILS.A., in 1881. His i heir is his brother, Mr. Charles Percival, j late of the Natal Civil Service, who was born in New Zealand 52 years ago.

■lnspector Robert James Gillies, who is I about to retire from the police force, ar-1 rived in Auckland in 1875, joining the' police force in the ensuing year. He has been stationed in almost all parts of the Dominion. About 1878 he was sent 1 to take charge of the station at Te Awamutu, in the Wai'kato, where he remained for seven or eight years. It was during his residence in that district that he successfully planned and carried out. one of the smartest arrests ever made in the country. A young man named Pecker, who had come from England to reside at Epsom, Auckland, was brutally murdered by a Maori named Winiata. The murderer got away to the King Country, and was in hiding there for several years. Ultimately, however, he was arrested by Mr. Gillies and brought to justice, and sentenced to the extreme penalty of the law. In . consequence of I this action, the residents of the Waikato presented Mr. Gillies with an address setting forth their appreciation of his courage and resourcefulness, and his services were also recognised by the Government. He was then transferred from the Waikato to the charge of the Devonsort station, Auckland. In 1888 he was placed in charge of the Thames and goldSelds sub-district, where he remained for ibout nine years. At the end of 1898 he was promoted to be inspector in the iVanganui and West Coast district of ;he North Island. In the early part of i)O2 .Mr. Gillies was promoted to the inipectorship of Canterbury.