People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 29, 20 July 1905, Page 10

People We Hear About

The Poet Laureate t of whom the public hears but little nowadays, has entered on his seventieth year. It is a curious fact that the foundation of the 'Birmingham Daily Post ' was chiefly due to John Frederick Feieney, a County Sligo man, while the ' Daily Post ' of Liverpool was founded by M*. Michael James Whitty,'a Wexford man, both earnest practical Catholics. The death of the Dowager Lady Stanley pf Alderley remin&s one (says the • Manchester Guardian ') of the curious variety of oonviction that the last two generations of the house have exhibited in religious matters. Her hustbtand was a Mahometan, Lady Carlisle, her dauighter, is a Unitarian, and Monsignor Algernon Stanley a Catholic Bishop. Dr. A. L. Kenny, of Melbourne, whose work as secretary of the second Australasian Catholic Congress hasbeen gratefully recognised throughout the Commonwealth and New Zealand, is about to take an extended holiday trip round the world. He will leave Melbourne about the beginning of September, and will be absent for fully twelve months. The new Speaker of the Legislative Council, the Hon. C. C. Bowen, was born in Milfoard, County Mayo, in 1830. His father, the late Mr. C. B,o,wen, was Speaker of the Canterbury Provincial Council for several years. The Hon. C~ C. Bowen was educated ail Rugby and Cambridge, and was amongst the original settlers in Canterbury, acting, until 1852, as secretary to Mr. Godley. He held the position of Reteiaent Magistrate in Christchuwch from 1864 to 1872, when he was calleS to the Legislative Council, but soon after resigned his- seat and entered the House of Representatives as member for Kaiapoi, holding office as Minister of Justice and Commissiioner of Stamps. During his tenure of office, he carried through the House in 1877 the Education Act, which made primary education free, secular, and compulsory. Count Plunkett, M.R.1. A., F.S.A., a well kpown figure in Irish life, is a specialist in art, which he has studied since his boyhood in all lihe great art centres of the wjarld. Born in Dublin in December,^ 1851, he was educated at Nice, Clongowes, and Dublin University, where he gained prizes in modern languages and distinction in oratory. He was called to the Bar In 1885, on his retura to Ireland from a prolonged lour round theUnited Stated. Having studied literature under Professor Dowden, he has contributed to a score of Irish journals and magazines. In 1882-3, in union with some friends, he issue ' Hibernia,' a review that tried to find a common platform for Irishmen who desired the intellectual elevation of the people. He enlisted the services of veterans like Dr. Mahaffy, Dr. Joyce, Mr. Olden, and Miss Margaret Stokes, and younger writers such as Mr, N. Cqlgatn, the Irish botanist, Mr. T. W. Lystei (of the National Liibrary), and Mr. W. F. Bailey (the chief organiser of the Land Purchase scheme). Through that journal Count Plunkett introduced Miss Katherine Tynan and Miss Jane Barlow to the literary world. The changes and complications during the last century in the Government of »S|pain (says the ' Catholic Times ') have been sluch that many have but a very indistinct idea of how the present King's fathqr succeeded to the throne. After the French cause in the Peninsula had been destroyed by Wellington, Napoleon signed a treaty re-establi<*hing King Ferdinand in power. Ferdinand had no male heirs, and he left the Crown to the elder of his two daughters, Isabella, having persuaded the Cortes to renew its decisions of 1789 and 1812 abolishing the Salic Law which excluded females from the throne. His brother, Don Carlos, took up arms in support of his claim, and a war, which lasted for seven years, followed between the Carlists and Cristinos. The young Queen was at last placed on the throne, but her reign was a round of national discontent, and she abdicated in 18fi8, when the Prommceamento, a document setting forth the nation's grievances, was issued. In the course of time it was decided to elect a King from among a number of foreign princes. The choice of the Prince of Hohenzollern, though he refused the offer when France sternly opposed him, led to the Franco-Prussian War. The brother of the King of Italy, Amadeo of Savoy, then received and accepted the offer, only to resi c;n in two years. A republic succeeded, and this also lasted but a couple of years. In 3 875, Alfonso, son of the exiled Isabella 11., was induced to become King, and was crowned as Alfonso XII. He 'died in 1885 ai the age of twenty-eight. Alfonso XIII., the present King, wasi "born after his father's death, and was from his infancy delicate, but he wa.s nursed into good healtS by his devoted mother, who was a most capable Regent,