People we Near About.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 46, 16 November 1899, Page 21

People we Near About.

, From our latest Home files we learn that the Marquis of Bute has nearly recovered from his illness — a paralytic attack. He is to winter in Italy. Murray McGregor, Earl of Caithness, a former resident of Cliye, near Napier, where he pursued a humble calling, died from pleurisy at the Wairoa hospital the other day. The title was an empty one so far as emolument went. Lieutenant-Colonel McDonnell, a Maori war veteran, died at Wanganui on Wednesday of last week. The deceased was eldest son of Commander Thomas McDonnell, R.N., Porte Ferry, Cassel, Ireland. He came to New Zealand in 1840, and received a commission as sub-inspector in the Colonial forces in 1863. He took part in various expeditions against the Natives during the sixties. For his services he repeatedly received the thanks of the Governor-in-Counoil, of the Ministers of the day, and of Bir Duncan Cameron and Sir Trevor Chute, who on two separate occasions recommended him for the New Zealand Cross, which he got later on. Maitre Fernand Labori, who defended Dreyfus before the courtmartial, has won his position by his own talents and thorough industry. He was born in Rheims, where bis father was a railway official, and at an early age was sent to Mainz, in Germany, to qualify himself for business. From Mainz he went to England, and it was during his stay in that country that he decided to become a lawyer. On his return home he enrolled himself as a student at the Faoulty of Law in Paris, and in 1884 he was duly called to the Bar. It was in 1894 that he achieved fame as a lawyer, by his defence of the notorious Anarchist, Vaillant. The ex-Empress Eugenic recently arrived at her English home at Farnborough from her Continental travels, and will stay there for a short time, making daily pilgrimages to the mausoleum where the exiled Emperor and the ill-fated Prince Imperial are sleeping. There are sorrow and disappointment in the closing years of the ex-Empress's life. She was once the woman of matchless beauty whom every French subject adored. Very few Englishmen know the antecedents of this woman. She is Eugenic Marie de Monti jo, and was born seventy-three years ago last May in the old Spanish oity of Granada. She was the second daughter of a Spanish grandee and of a Scotch lady, Kirkpatrick of Cliseburn. The incidents which occurred between her marriage and her flight from the French capital are now crystallised into historical record, but when Bhe left Paris she took with her a vast fortune from the wreck of the Empire, and this she has disbursed with a liberal hand.

Prominent among the alumni of St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, who attended the recent annual reunion at Detroit, were the five Fathers Hiokey, all brothers, of the Cincinnati diocese. Rear- Admiral Kane, who has just retired from the naval service, is the Calliope hero during the famous storm at Apia, Samoa. He is a native of Dublin, where he was born in 1843. He comes from an old Catholic family, members of whioh fill leading positions in various professions and in the Church. The Rear- Admiral was a pupil of Archbishop Donne, of Brisbane. There is talk of turning Lord Dunraven's Welsh seat, Dunraren Castle, Glamorganshire, into a residential club, with golf links and other attractions. It is an imposing pile, overhanging the sea, and came to the Quins by marriage. There is a considerable park, but the trees suffer from the prevailing westerly wind, and bend eastward. The family have not resided there much of late years, and, having regard to the unique charms of Adare Manor, their Irish home, this is not surprising. Lord Dunraven is one of the very few noblemen of Celtic stock now remaining in the Irish peerage. One died a few months ago, in the person of Lord Lismore, an O'Callaghan, whose title is extinct. The Duke of Devonshire's grandmother was of the family. There is, perhaps, no man of bis prominence in the United States who is so easily approached by newspaper men as Cardinal Gibbons. He makes it a point always to see representatives of the Press when they call at his residence, and he willingly gives out such news for publication as should appear in print. He takes an interest in affairs of the day, and will often discuss with his interviewers public questions, provided the topics are those on whioh he can with propriety express an opinion. His Eminence is a great pedestrian, and his figure is familiar in the streets of Baltimore. He always appears in a frock coat, and he usually carries a stout cane. The Cardinal was provided with a handsome carriage, and he could ride in state should he so elect, but he prefers to walk. Among rich and poor Lady Margaret Howard's long illness has been, and is (says M.A.P.') the cause of sincere grief. It would not indeed be hazardous to say that she is better known among the poor than among the rich. Of the many benevolent works with which not only her name, but what has been of vast greater use, her personal service, have been associated, is her Catholic Social Union Settlement in Tredegar Square, Mile End, E. Lady Margaret founded it in 1895, and, aa long as her health permitted, was constantly in residence. Here were organised, managed, and directed quite a chain of good and useful works for the benefit, pocial and moral, of the people, tew of whom have forgotten the kindly and homely manner of Lady Margaret Howard. If prayers and good wishes can avail in the restoration of her health, her ladyship's absence from their midst will not be a long one.