CELEBRITIES AT HOME.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1886, 7 August 1884, Page 2

CELEBRITIES AT HOME.

{World.) Mr Jcstin McCarthy, M.P., in Ebury STRKET. The Vice-President of the Irish Parliamentary party, Mr Parneirsableheutenantj dwells in a house which, like a member of the Salvation Army, has undergone recent conversion. Number Fifteen Ebury street is said to have been in olden times a suburban tavern known as the Rose and Ciown, and after it was made f imous by the custom of Day and Rich, The Beggars' Opeia. Structurally it has remained the same ; and Mr McCarthy, who has a keen and delicate perception of humour, takes great pleasure in showing testhetic guests where the bar-pailor must have been, and where the room in which the authoi of BlacJc-oycd Susan, and 'Trivia, and the opera which made " Gay lich and Rich gay," too 1 * his ease. The ancient barparlor is now an anteiooin of a "gieeneiy yallery " hue, and hung with etchings and diawings of eminent persons by eminent hands. Heie, and in the parloui and rooms above, are many pleasant, amusing, and suggestive works of art, such as portraits of Miss Ellen Terry in various attitudes ; a fancy sketch of Mr Whistler, by Mr Pelleynni ; a capital " Hetty Son el," by Mr Walter Sickert ; a charming little work by Mr Macbeth, A.R A. ; another by Mrs Colliei ; Mr Watts' " Daphne ;" and poitraita of Mrs Steele, Messis Dillon, Davittand Parnell, aud of him whom we fear we mu&t call the late Mr O'-Donovan. Throughout the house has an .utistic air reflecting accuiately the sympathies of a cultivated man endowed with tender sensibility. But notwithstanding the aitistic proclivities of the member foi Longford and writer of the History of Our own Times, no man of his age has lived longer in the world of politics. A stripling of eighteen when the ovei throw of the Orleans dynasty aroused the nations which were, or thought themselves to be, oppiesse.l, he had alieady entered warmly into the schemes of the Young Ireland paity, who, whate\er may be thought of them as practical politicians, were at least gentlemen of culture and refinement. A CorUagian by birth, Mr McCarthy found that a knowledge of the Greek, Latin, and Irish languages was not sufficient to enable even a brilliantly clever youth to make his way ; so ho learned shotthand, and began a dis tinguished literal y career in the humble capacity of a reporter to the Cork Eiaminer. Stenography has server! him well in later years in enabling him to take down the i/,si>i,i»m veiba of a speaker in the Housi uf Commons, foi insertion and dix-u^sion or contradiction in a leading aitioleof the Daily NewsThe first impoitant pieoe of work he was sent to do was to icpoit the trial of Smith O'Biien and his colleagues at Clonmel ; and he was aX ■ t i!csent when the late Judge Keogh swor" the famous oath, and Mr, now Lord Fitzgerald, jumped on the table to denounce the Loid- Lieutenant. Mr McCarthy soon became a ptominent member of the Cork Historical Society, one ot several youngsters v> ho have since nude their mark in the world. Like his friend Sit John Pope Hennessy, whose tneigetic \itality survived the West Coast ot Afiica and Hong Kong, to find Ivalthier sojourn in Mauritius, Mr McCarthy and the rest of the enthusiastic Young liihhmen woie long hair and de clared that they wanted to fight. The Cabbage Garden catastrophe ot 184S made a great change in the minds oi many of the Young Ireland party ; but Mr McCaithy lemained staunch even after John Mitchell had been sent into penal servitude. Nevertheless, his working life became that of a literary man and journalist, ie had, like many another who has since justified his con fidence in himself, a hard uphill fight. Twice — in ISSI and in 1852— he endeavoured to obtain work in London, that New Jerusalem of the Irish reporter, but failed, for he had not yet found that he could do better things than shorthand. In journalism, as in other things, a great deal depends upon the way in which one begins. Shorthand holds a two-edged sword. It gives the practitioner a steady income, but frequently arrests that development of mind caused by the alternative of writing well or starving. Hence there are journalists who rejoice in their faculty of stenography, and others who hug themselves that they never possessed that sometimes fatal facility for making enough to keep the wolf from the lazy man's door. Mr McCarthy, when he at length secuied an English appointment, not in London, but in Liverpool, found extraordinary difficulty in making the step which divides the mechanical from the creative section of journalism. His employers on the Northern Times from 1852 to 1860 refused, year after year, to believe that he could compass the higher work of journalism ; and it was only by dint of extraordinary energy that he at last succeeded in getting his work iuto the editorial columns. Even then he did not enjoy his advantage long, for tho Northern Times came to an "end, and Mr McCarthy determined to make a fresh beginning in London., Here he again commenced on one of the lower rungs of the journalistic ladder, as Parliamentary reporter to the Morning Star ; but, in the meanwhile, having acquired the JVencb,; German, ami Italian languages, and some familiarity with the literature of all three, attempted, at the suggestion of. his admirable wife, the late Mrs I^cC&rthy, to write papers for th,e areatar magazines ami reviews. Ha made a hit-lin the Westminister Review, attracted thenotice of John Stuart Mill, and. became first foreiga editor, andthen... chief jditor of th* Morning §tar. His n opportunity Jwd now wwo tw aerv^ jj

used it vigorously. At this moment, too, he enjoyed the friendship of^Mr John Bright, and the advantage of long conversations with the brilliant tribune. But when, in 1868, Mr Bright became a Minister, and sold out his share in the Morning Star, Mr McCarthy resigned his editorship, and went to America on what might be called a mixed writing and lecturing tour— a combined enterprise which I gave him an enormous advantage over ordinary travellers in that country, in btcoming acquainted with the genuine thoughts, aspirations, and habits of the people of the Unittd States. He was aheaoly know as a novelist, having writs ten Paul Massey and the charminjpWaterdale Neighbours. On going to America, Mr McCarty w rote a series of stones in the Galaxy, and was so success" ful during his sojourn in that country that he did not return to England, except for a short time, till 1871, when ht was engaged by the Daily News as Pailiamentary leader-writer. "In • this capacity he greatly distinguished himself, not only by his admirable style, but by a keen and calnrpowef of perception, which enabled him ♦:> see and grasp the latest phase of a political situation. Whatever may be the popular idea of the native intuition which makes everybody competent to drive a gig or write a leading article, the latter operation, when performed dm ing a Parliamentary debate, is by no means so easy as it looks, and would be impossible to a fussy or irritable man, or one whom the atrocious hours of the House of Commons would be likely to crush with utter weariness. But Mr McCarthy has an extraordinary faculty of keeping cool. With abundant , imagination and delicate humour he combines the very opposite qualification of calmness. He seems to be never overexcited, never heated l»y the fiercest discussion. Rhetorical volleys pass over his handsome head without in the slightest degree affecting its equilibrium. As he is now on the floor of the House of Commons, so was he of old in the Galleiy, always at his post, always cheerful, and speaking good-humonr in a sly twinkle through his gold-rimmed specticles. During the last decade and a halt he has had every reason to be satisfled with the world he has lived in. His suoc ss as a writer of fiction was confirmed by Dear Lady Disdain, and as a moie -enous author by his History of Our awn Tunes. The latter work has happily added substantiol reward of no common kind of literary honour andglory, and Mr McCarthy has not only achieved that legitimate object of ambition, a seat in Parliament, but is second in command of the most firmly knit band of politicians in the Lower House. The member for Langford is one of the busiest men of to-day, and takes very little ease in the converted Begners' Opera. Despite late sittings in the Commons, he is up aud about betimes, clad in a frogged jacket carefully and wonderfully made, and sitting in front of a type-writer in the sky-parlor. Mr McCarthy professes to love the serene altitude of his waiting-room, which it would he flattery to call a library. These are books especially Blue-books, in any quantity at Number Fifteen Ebury Sheet ; but they are not suffered to cumber the wnting-<'oom of the head of the household. Unlike Mr Sala, he does not care for an arsenal of books of reference. Some literary tools every writer nni3t have in his workshop ; but Mr McCirthy seems to think the fewer of them he has the better. Yet his den is not devoid of objects of inteiest— such as the inkstand of oxidised silver presented to him by the giateful Schleswig-Holsteiners, whose cause he had warmly espoused and advocated. Other curious relics aie preserved by him, notably a dinner-bell, in the selection of which he claims to have vanquished his friend Mr William Black. Mr Black has for a dinner-bell a cowbell from the Roman Campagna, and Mr McCarthy claims that he has trumped that triok with a camel-bell from Jerusalem. Apropos of festivity, Mr McCarthy is a capital hand at that difficult task, an atter-dinner speech. By a happy compound of geniality and that knowledge of the world which is sometimes miscalled cynicism, he always amuses his hearers without leaving the faintest after-taste of bitterness. Tho best evidence of fie per&onal qualities of the man is that he can make himself acceptable to cultivated men and women who hold his political views iv utter detestation and abhorrence.

Queensland now owes about £19,000.000, or at the rate of £70 per head of population. Mb Bullock, of Pump-Court, Temple. h is been appointed to the recordership of Buckingham, vacant by the death of Mr W. J. Payne. George Chap e el, the absconded rate collector and land surveyor, has been found di owned at Maldon, having committed suicide. The amount ot his d( falcations has not been ascertained. Mr Howard Vincknt^s position as director of criminal investigations is not to be filled up, but instead there is to be a', additional assistant-commissioner of police, for which purpose a small bill is now before Parliament. Canadian Agriculture.— The report of the Department of Agriculture has recently been presented to the .Dominion Parliament. The total number of emigrants to Canada in 1883 was 206.590, of whom 133,624 were registered as actual settlers. All labourers, able and willing to work, found employment at h munerative wages, and it is stated the demand for Übour could not be satisfied by the available supply. This applies particularly to agricultural labourers and domestic servants. The agricultural statistics that have been collected show that the highest average of wheat production in the Dominion, and in fact on the Continent, came from Manitoba, and the North West Territories, which fact, in view of the very large areas of wheatland open for settlement and colonisation, points to a probable large export in the futuie. The live cattle- trade from the Dominion, has grown so rapidly during the past few years that it is now one of the staple industries of the country. In 1878 the export of cattle and sheep were respectively 6940 and 0504. In 1883, the numbers were, 55,625, and 114,352. Large quantities of agricultural and dairy products were also sent to the United States and. Great Britain. The new settlers in Manitoba and the North-West Territories are estimated ,a.t 42,772. The report contains the result of an investigation made by the secretary of the Department of Agriculture into the alleged emigration from CanajJa to the United States. The foundation for /the statement is the report of the American Bureau of Statistics, but the inquiry shows that the figures are, very much exaggerated, if not altogether incorrect, there being very little difference between the number of passengers over the Canadian railways to the United States, and those travelling from the United States to Canada. Road notices by the Waipa and Piako Courfiy Council's appear elsewhere. - Mr Isaac Bates' new advertisement appears in anothet part of tnisfcsue, and is worth perusal. Tenders are invited from persons willing to collect the Waipa county rate. Advertisements in connection with the Hamilton cemeteries appear in another column. v M J J ' S -J? u <*land will sell at "the Waitoa Yards on Thursday next, dairy cows, mixed 1 ?onT- catt i e ' fat and store » nee P> &c - On the Wth inst. he will sell at this Ohaupo Yards, 30 well-bred steers off turnips and nearly beef. We draw the particular attention of our readers to the advertisement of, Messrs j. A. u'i?s and . C S-» fowr^npagenU,, Auckland, which appears in another column. YesJ It is certainly irfie. Ask any of l^'r^^H X h ?>^Varcha s idtbere. Garlick and CraHwatf baw'nunterousr liriasked for and very favourablu commendations from country customers on their excellent packuw oJ Furniture, Crockery, and Glass, fee. Ladies and SenUemen about ? -to^ f.ujwsk should rememberU that GirUtf *nd ' Cranwell's is the Cheap FmriUUng Warehouse of AuckUndj % Fmjrtjjnßjto ( -,»uit;,all;, classes: ; also Carflefc, feioor J Cl<Tths ami^l/fiouso ."tfeces"V s - "Av9 ur ft«whbtae4s* newly "finished, or, yotfarH souar43 'getlinarriedjHy i GSrlfck a»d c Fj» n V«lty > Que,en T »treat and»M»TOSia|r«fe^tuck. wiw^f^^^^f** Te * c * tel *$ v*u *