People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 25, 25 June 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

Few British statesmen have received as inueh as £100,000 in official salaries. Mr. Gladstone's total receipts from office came to a little over £102,000 ; Lord Salisbury's fell just short of £100,000 ; the Duke of Devonshire has received approximately £64,000 ; Lord Cross, £74,000 ; Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, £72,000 j Lord Gosehen, £70,000 ; and Lord George Hamilton, £68,000 ; while Lord Halsbury throws all these into the shade with a total of well over £200,000.

The Prince of Wales has many titles, which are not generally known. For instance, he is Duke of Cornwall, Duke of York, and Earl of Chester in England ; in Scotland he is the Earl of Inverness, Duke of Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Great Steward or Seneschal of Scotland ; in Ireland he is Baron Killarney ; while in Germany he is the Duke of Saxony and Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotlia. Of course, Wales is represented in the principal title, which was conferred on the Prince when his father became King.

Lord Jersey, who recently entered upon his sixty-fourth year, is probably the only man in the peerage who has seen a duel fought on English soil. It was in 1851, when lie was six years old, and it happened at Osterley. The combatants were Sir William Gregory, a sporting M.P., and Captain Vauglian. The latter missed his man, and Sir William, who was seconded by Sir Robert Peel, acted on his advice, and fired in the air. Lord Jersey and his little sisters saw the affair, and ran home to tell their mother, in great glee, that they had seen two gentlemen shooting at one another in the park.

Of the good stories -which Dr. Macnamara, M.P., tells concerning school children, the following perhaps is one of the best. On one occasion a school teacher was endeavouring to convey the idea of pity to the members of his class. It was not easy, so he proceeded to illustrate it by a little story. 'Now, supposing,' he said, 'a man working on the river bank suddenly fell in. He could not swim, and would be in danger of drowning. Picture the scene, boys and girls — the man's sudden fall, the cry for help. His wife, knowing his peril and hearing his screams, rushes immediately to the bank. Why does she rush to the bank?' After a pause, a small voice piped forth : 'Please, sir, to draw his insurance money ! '

Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, President of the CanadianPacific Railway, tells a good story of an applicant for a free pass, showing incidentally how easily telegrams may be misread. Sir Thomas in Montreal got a telegram asking if he should pass Fred White along the line. 'Don't,' Sir Thomas dictated to a clerk; 'let Fred White walk.' A fortnight later Sir Thomas was surprised to get a card with 'Mr. Fred White' on it. He imagined he was to be abused, but still directed the caller to be shown into his private office. 'How are you, Tom?' cried Mr. Fred White. •Thanks so much for your kindness. Your peoplo did me splendidly.' Sir Thomas, though surprised at his visitor's effusive gratitude, said nothing, but, when he had left, wired to Vancouver for an explanation. The reply came back : 'Acted on your telegram — "Don't let Fred White walk." '

The Hon. Richard Anthony Nugent (says the 'London Tablet')) wLo has just been elected Governor of the Bank of Ireland, became a director of that institution some years ago, and has served a term as its vice-governor. The uncle of the Earl of Westmeath (who was assistant private secretary to Mr. Chamberlain), Mr. Nugent himself contested the East Galway Division of; County Galway, in 1885, as a Liberal. Since 1904 he has been Chairman of the Midland Railway Company of Ireland. Of the fifteen directors of the Bank of Ireland, three are bound by law to be Catholics — a proportion which adds point to Mr. Birrell's recent comparison between the relative distribution of offices among Protestants and Catholics. That the directors among whom Catholics form" a minority should have chosen a Catholic Chairman is at least an indication of better things.