People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 18, 2 May 1907, Page 28

People We Hear About

A man W'ho> was 1 well known from the North Capejtoi thie Bluff passed away last week at Uhristchurch in the person of Captain Jackson Barry. In his younger days the deceased, who at Lhe lime of his death was in his 88th year, led an adventurous life, details of wh-ioh are given in his published autobiography. He was almost an octogenarian when he brought out his last ,work, and within the last two or three years was to be seen in various parts of the Colony selling copies. He was at one time Mayor of Cromwell. The passing away recently of Mr. E. M. Smith, M.H.R., creates a void in the House of Representatives which will not be easily filled, lhe deceased had always a great belief in the future of TaranalA, and proclaimed its praises in and out of season. He was generally known as ' Ironsand ' Smith, owing to the persistency with which he advocated the utilisation of the Taranaki beach sand for the production of iron. He was a genial, kind-hearted man, who if he did not carry gjreat weight in the House, was at least highly respected for his sincerity and honesty. Here is a pen portrait from the London ' Sunday Chronicle ' of the Rev. Father Vaughan, whose denunciations of the doings of the ' Smart Set ' have attracted so much attention : — ' Even when he is joining) in chaff at the dinner table, or in familiar conversation with his friends, Father Vaughan has a notaJblei miannec — the manner ol the Vawghans', they say. It is not| the grand) manner, yet full of a haughty dignity, a sense of aeing somebody, a consciousness, even in the very walk, of power to loose and unloose". The features are said to be those of Verestchagin's famous portrait of Napoleon. Certainly there is this point of similarity between tbe cas'tigator of Europe and the castipator of the Smart Set— the appearance of both is far more impres>- - sive in profile than full face. • Mr. Hugh Mahon, M.8.R., who delivered the adldress at St. Patrick's Day celebrations in Sydney, has had the uncommon experience of active political life in the old world and the new. In the days of the land agitaition, following the distress of 1879 in Ireland, he was associated with the leaders, and received the attention of the Crown, as a political ' suspect.' He was for 'a time private secretary to Mr. "* P«rnell, and coming to Australia he engaged in journalism in New South Wales, ultimately settling in Western Australia. He represents the enormous electorate of Cooflgardie in the Federal House of Representatives, and his brief administration of the Post and Telegraph Department as Postmaster-General in the Watson Ministrywon him the high regard of all who met him in that capacity. Mr. Redmond Barry, M.P. for North Tyrone, is the first Liberal Solicitor-General for Ireland of the Catholic religion to sit in Parliament for many years. He is a native of Cork,, where he was born in 1862. He took silk in 1899, and became Solicitor-General when the Liberal Government came into ofiice. This is the first time since 1883 that both Ihe Attorney-General and Soliditor-General for Ireland in a Liberal Administration are aitole to sit on the Treasury Bench. Mr. Barry is a distinct acquisition to his parly in Parliament from' the Irish standpoint. At y the Bar he has proved himself an able lawyer and a fine orator, while his Knoiwled'ge of the affairs of his native country is as extensive as his sympathies. Mr. Barry had a namesake in a sometime Colonial Solicitor-General. But he has another for all time "in Thackeray's Redmond Barry known to fame as* Barry Lyndon. - ' NMss Alma Moodie (says the Sydney ' Freeman ') is the latest musical prddigy. She hails from. Central Queensland, and was born at Mount Morgan six and a half years ago. Her mother has been for some years, and still is, a teacher of music at Mount Morgan. For the past nine months the child has 'been with Herr Hugo Hage, of Rockhampton. ' Sh& is a phenomenon,' remarked Herr Hage, in the course of an exhibition of the child's powers. ' Children of her kind,' he continued, ' are occasionally found in Europe ; but never in my life have I seen anything like her in Australia. For one thing, the remarkable feature of her musical ability lies in her being so unconscious of her great gift. Her ability is inborn. Anybody in the room, for example, may strike a chord' on the piano, and' from outside the room she can tell you, immediately asid unmistakeafrly, precisely the note or notes that are struck. ' Herr Hage considers that she gives every promise of proving one of the most brilliant musicians Australia' is ever likely to produce.