People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 17, 30 April 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

King Leopold of" Belgium has conferred upon Car--flinal Gibbons the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Crown^ as a mark ol his personal esteem; and al— ; so in recognition of his great services to the cause of Christianity , and 1 humanity throughout" the world. The reported elaborate festivit es arranged to be held in Vienna this spring; on 'the occasion of the Etoperor's Diamond Jubilee will r be abandoned owing to the state of his Majesty's he&lthu The festivities would'involvaifcivitrng fofceigm Royal ties and" Princes, the reception of whom might prove too severe a strain upon the Emperor. The Hon. James Kent, who has 'been/ a j pointed Minister of Justice of Newfoundland in succession to Sit) Edward Patrick Morris, who resigned the office last year ds a native of that Colony. He received his education in Ireland at Tullaibeg and Clongjowes Colleges, and graduated B.A. ol the Royal University of Ireland in 1890. Mr^. Charles Rous-Martin, who 'died in London' in the early pact of last week, was well known in AVellimgjton', where:-at one timei he occupied the editorial chair of the v Evening Post,' and later that of tho ' New Zealand Times*' He was a facile writer,, and was -recognisea as one of the leading musical critiesi in this Dominion. In recent years he acted as London correspondent of some of the daily papers in New Zealand). ■ News has been received of the death after a sevese illness, of Colonel Thos. O'Reilly, K.S.G., C.M.G., who was Mayor of Cape Tow/n during the three years of tfie late South African War. Colonel O'Reilly, who went to the Cape over twenty years ago, was for ten years a member of the Cape Parliament, in whicH be was one or Mr. Cecil Rhodes' most formidable opponents. He was v-Jl^}! 110 * Catholic, and some years ago the title of • £Mgnt of St. Gregory was conferred; upon him by. the Pope. Sir Charles Saatley spent his seventy-fourth birthday in his native city of Liverpool. He visited the institute, where he received his early education, and listened to part songs by the school choir. Afterwards £c was presented with a salver bowl from the pupils as a birthday gift, and delighted the boys by sina;inc l Ruddier than the cherry,i' " Simon the Cellarer,' and several other scngs. He also chatted pleasantly about his career in the musical world, and impressed upon the boys tho value of classical study m training the mind. Mr. W. Redmond, who displayed such concern in the House qf Commons the other day as to Australia's contribution to the navy, is one of' the few Irish members whlo haive a - practical .experience of political and social life at the Antlipodes, (says the i' Pall .Mall 'Gazette,'). A few years ago he made a prolonged tour in the Southern Continent, and, though he-gave attention primarily to Irish' affairs, he gained an enormous amount* of knowledge on the tariff question, - oldage pensions, the power of the Labor Party, '-education, and' the like, which is likely to reappear to advantage when such questions' break through what he calls ' the crusty conservatism of England.' Sdr Henry Oampbell-Bannerman, who held the office ' of Prime Minister from December, 1905 to the beginning of the present month', and whose death occurred last week, was born in Glasgow in the year 1836. His uncle, William Campbell, was in the early part-of the last century am assistant in a Glasgow draper's shop. At that time it was common to. mark goads with o*e price, but to be prepared to sell them, after haggling, for much less , and Dr. Chalmers', ,of Disruption lame, condemned' the system as savoring of corruption. William Campbell was much impressed, and urged his employer to adopt a system of l No Second Prices.' ; His employer ridiculed the idea, but offered to lend William Campbell £500 to try iMe> eacperimenti in> a business of his own. William accepted the offer, got credit for a like amount from Manchester houses, and opened a <* One Price' shop with his brother, Sir Henry CampbellBannermatt's father, as his partner. The business grew , to enormous proportions, and the Prime Minister's father, Sir James Campbell, became 'Lord Provosti of the city of Glasgow, and a pioneer in its Period of municipal expansion. .