GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 14 November 1913, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

The barrister who distinguishes himself in the defence of a prisoner in a sensation.nl criminal case has often found it the road to fortune. Alter his defence of the Stauntons, in the celebrated Pen go case, Sid Edward ClarkeVs income leapt from three to five thousand pounds a year.

Mr John D. Rockefeller, the multimillionaire, began life in a very humble way. As a small boy he was hired out to work in the fields, and at sixteen went fib Cleveland, whore be obtained a berth as office boy. His first bit' of business transacted on his own account was a speculation in wooden poles, which brought him a profit of ten pounds. It was oil which enabled him not only to, tun the corner, but to amass his colessal fortune.

Major-General Baden-Towoll is rarely at a loss for repartee, and his most humorous sayings are generally epoken in a low, even voice, and with a serious look only belied by the twinkling of his eye. At a luncheon party, on one occasion, a celebrated doctor was chaffing him. "And hov do you feel a man professionally?" he asked. '#hP said Baden-Powell, "I don't mind it. How do you feel under the same circumstances ?"

Mr John Hassall, the artist, is very unconventional -in his methods, and says that he shudders to think what would happen if some of his friends knew; how he got certain effects. If he thinks burning will help him to,get the right shade of brown, he drops his brush and uses the redhot poker, whilst once, when he found difficulty in getting the % dirty grey he wanted, he used a little damp earth from the garden with very satisfactory results.

The Duke of Rutland is an eighth Duke, owns minerals in Leicestershire and Derbyshire, and as many, square miles of land as would make the coun' ties of Middlesex and Rutland; also Belvoir Castle, which' is one of the stateliest homes in England. He was once in the House of Commons, andin 1896 was" summoned to the House of Lords by his father's barony of Manners of Haddon, which now becomes re-Tmerged in the dukedom. He shoots and fishes, and is interested in natural history, especially in English wild birds. The Belvoir Hounds are mastered by his half-brother, Lord Robert Manners. The Duke is not a racing man, but he is halfowner with the Jockey, Club of the Heath at Newmarket..' He has a kind heart and does much good work for the Cabdrivers' Benevolent Association. In 1882 he married the beau- i: tiful Miss Violet Lindsay and ha<s' now. one son and three daughters. H:s heir, Lqrd Granby, is an attache at the British Embassy in Rome.

The abstemious habits of the new President of the UiwJ-ed States recall a story told in connection with the visit of Prince..jHenry of Prussia to America. Wh!en the Prince went to Washington the President invited him to ; a beer-feast, and finding ,at the last minute that the cellars of the White House lacked the necessary equipment, ten dozen beer glasses were hurriedly ordered to be hired from a neighbouring hotel, kept by one Ernest Gerstenberg. The glasses'" arrived just before the guests and when Prince Henry "took the firs,t observation" through one of these glasses he saw engraved on the bottom this startling notice: "Stolon from Ernest Gerstenberg!" Who diall blame the Prince if he looked rather suspiciously at the President. The explanation was quite' simple, of course. So many glasses had Been stolen from the hotel by : customers that the good Gerstenberg had had the notice engraved on. his property so that they might not be quite so tempting!

Mr Philip Gibbs, the war correspondent, says that the official regulations "Tor war correspondents who were sent out to the Balkan War were appallingly severe. Mr Gibbs found that he was forbidden to describe the disposition of troops, to give the names of generals, the names and numbers of the wounded, the success or failure of the Bulgarian troops, the state of the soldiers' health, the conditions of the climate, and so on. ~ When the censor had told him all this, Mr Gibbs asked him politely: "Will, you tell me, sir, if there is'■anything' about, which we shall be allowed to write ?" The censor thought deeply for a moment and then answered quite gravely: "There is much interest in Bulgarian literature." "Perhaps," Mr Gibbs suggested sarcastically, 'JJ- may also be permitted to describe the song of the birds?" "By all means," said the censor cordially.

Professor Yambery, the distinguished traveller and Orientalist, had one of the most romantic records of modern times. At twelve he was apprenticecl to a ladies' dressmaker, but afterwards took •to teaching. Next lie entered a school at St. George, Pressburg, and-was soon able to speak Latin with fluency. Jn 1846 he entered a school at Constantinople where lie struggled to sirpport himself, undaunted by ,want and privation. At sixteen he was conversant with several languages. By the time he had readied his twenieth year lie had become one of the most accomplished linguists in Europe.

Many good stories have been told at different times of Sir Henrv W. Lucy ("Toby M.P?'), lately, but it may not be. generally known that he and Lady Lucy once entered for the famous "Dunmpw Flitch." In those dftjrs they Ave re Mr und Mrs Lucy, and no other competitors had a chance against this happy couple, so Mr and Mrs "Toby" received the "flitch" at the hands of Sir John Aird.