People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume 12, 12 November 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

Sir John Logan Campbell, the ' Father of Auckland,' cele-> brated his ninety-second birthday last week. Mr. Seumas MacManus, the Irish poet and novelist, has -been appointed special lecturer in English at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. The new Governor-General of the Commonwealth, Lord Dudley', is only forty-two years ' of age, and is reputed to be extremely wealthy. During his term as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland both he and Lady D.udley were extremely popular with all classes, and took a keen interest in all that peftained to the welfare of the people. The Irish poetess, Miss Emily Hickey, has been awarded a grant from the Royal Bounty Fund, to be applied ap an annuity, in recognition of her services to literature. Miss Hickey is a convert, 'and, both as an Anglican and as a Catholic, has enriched Anglo-Irish verse x with many notable poems. She is the author also of several prose works, including translations from the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and -was one of the founders of the Browning Society. As an evidence of the rapidity with which- motor cars have come into public favor it-may be mentioned that sis. and twenty years ago a young man with a scheme for a carriage to be run by a gasolene motor could not get several manufacturers to look at his patent. Young Selden was told by some . capitalists on whom he called that he had "been wasting his time and money, and that even if he succeeded in getting his proposed motor carriage to work he could not find anyorte so reckless as to ride in such a vehicle. To-day there are in the Unitad States close on , ioo|boo motor cars, and 70. per cent, of these are worked-under the Selden patent. " * f _ -Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria was seventy-eight- years old on August 18, but he is still an • ardent hunter. Having settled down at Ischl for his summer holiday, the Emperor lost no time -in beginning his favorite sport of deer-shooting. In the first formal court shoot the Emperor and his party drove in carriages as far into the mountains as possible, and then took to horses. But ' after riding for a quarter of an hour he was forced to walk the rest of the way up the Steinberg, five thousand feet high. An hour's climb brought the party to tin hunting ground, and the Emperor shot four stags — not a bad day's record for a man close to fourscore years. The Most Rev. Dr. CReily, Archbishop of Adelaide, is in his sixty-third year. His Grace is a native of Kilkenny, and made his preparatory ecclesiastical studies in St, Kieran's College, completing his course at All Hallows, For eighteen years he. labored in the Fremantle district, djocese'-Qf Perth, being for ~ a considerable time editor, and very often, too, the printer, of the W.A, Record, When the diocese of Port Augusta -was erected he was appointed its first bishop, and took formal possession of the see on July 15, 1888. ArchlSishop Reynolds, of Adelaide, died in 1893, and Dr. O'Reily was transferred to the vacant see by Papal Briefr dated January 5, 1895. His, archdiocese has an area of over 40,000 square miles, which is nearly equal -to that " of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an interesting and -pleasant fact in connection with' this year's^ National Eisteddfod (says the Dublin Evening Tele graph) that ono of those who, having passed the- Gorsed examination, ,was formally em oiled amongst the, Order of V* 7 elsh Bards, was an Irishman and a Catholic priest* -' This" was the Rev. Thomas P.- Kane, S.J., of St, Stanislaus' College. Tullamore, ■ brothei of the famous preacher. 'Father Kane spent some years on the Welsh mission, and studied the national language with such success that he was the first priest to get other than an honorary degree. A Welsh priest, Father Jones, had the title of, bard conferred on him on account of his ability as a poet in the Welsh language. Father Ka.ne, however, won admission to all the privileges of a bard by passing aii examinatipn. jn Welsh. His appearance on the platform, at L{angallen was, the . signal for a great qutburst of applause^and the - successful aspiranj: tp bardic honors was the recipient qf hearty cpngratuJa* tions and hand-shakings frqnn, the Welsh people, including some whq had themselves failed to win the coveted honor. The tltleof bard is a literary degree to which much Importance is attached. Among the twelve successful competitors were two Oxford ■ B.A.'s. Father Kane is a native of _ Dublin.