People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2, 14 January 1909, Page 68

People We Hear About

' , M . r - Justin McCarthy, the veteran Irish Nationalist and litterateur, celebrated his 78th birthday on Sunday, November 22. Mr. A. T. Ngata, who is the member of the Executive representing the Native race in the Cabinet, is an M.A. and LL.B." of the New Zealand University." He is thirtyfive years of age, and represents the Eastern Maori District in Parliament. Mr. Hugh Kelly, of New York, a prominent Catholic and head of one of the biggest sugar- manufactories in the world, has just died. He was a trustee of St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Catholic Orphan Asylum, Calvary Cemetery, the Sevilla Home for Children, and the Central Islip State Hospital. Mr. Buddo, M.P. for Kaiapoi, who 'has been appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, etc., is a native of JLdinburgh, -and is fifty-seven years of age. He came to this Dominion as .a young man of- twenty-one. He is by profession an engineer, but has been engaged in farming in North Canterbury for a number of years. Mr. Rodericks Mackenzie, the representative "of Motueka, who has been given the portfolio of Public Works and Mines, is fifty-seven years of age, and first saw the light in Ross-shire, Scotland. He spent two years with an engineering and shipbuilding company, then went to Canada, and from there came to New Zealand forty years ago". Since then he has been mostly engaged in contracting. ±Ie has been m Parliament since 1893. Mr. A. W. Hogg, -the new Minister of Labor and Customs, was born in Glasgow sixty-three years ago, and cama out to Victoria in 1858, where he was engaged for a time in mining, storekeeping, and journalism. He has been a resident of New Zealand for thirty years, and during a part of the time had been engaged in journalistic work in various centres. He has been in Parliament for a number of years, and has had experience on many public boards. He is very popular in the Masterton district, which he represents. Mr. Thomas Mackenzie, the recently appointed Minister of Industries and Commerce, hails from Edinburgh, where he was born four and fifty years ago. He has been in New Zealand for about half a century. He served as a lad in a store, and eventually became a storekeeper in Balclutha. In_ 1889 he went to England as a Commissioner of the New Zealand Government „to inquire into the produce trade, and in 1896 he paid" another visit to the United Kingdom as the representative of several colonial mercantile firms. He is a recent convert to Liberalism. A little romance, connected with Madame Melba's last visit to Belfast has been eliciting journalistic references to the days of chivalry. Charles Pollock, a newsboy, laid his bundle of papers on the footpath from the hotel to the carriage to prevent the distinguished singer getting her shoes wet. He has received a charming letter from Madame Melba, with a cheque for £5, and it is said that arrangements will be made to have the boy educated and apprenticed to some trade r which he may select. The lad is the sole support of an invalid mother. Sir Thomas Grattan Esmonde, who played a prominent part at the Jubilee celebrations at Rome as one of the Private Chamberlains to his Holiness, is the eleventh baronet. He is an old Oscotian, and has been Member of Parliament for North Wexford since 1900. A Nationalist, he is exceedingly popular in the county, in which he owns some 8000 acres, and where he is regarded as a generous landlord and an ardent and enthusiastic sportsman. Sir Thomas, who is proud of the fact that he is a greatgrandson of the illustrious Irish patriot and orator, Henry Grattan, has been a world-wide traveller, and he is the author of some interesting publications,' in which he has graphically narrated his experiences in America,. Africa; Australia, and the South Sea Islands. Sir Thomas has a son and heir, who is now. in his fifteenth year. ' Lady Esmonde, who accompanied Sir Thomas to Rome, was the bearer of many valuable gifts to the -Sovereign Pontiff from the ladies of Ireland in recognition of his Jubilee. The gifts include rich vestments,' which have been worked in the convents in Ireland, besides other objects, and an illuminated album containing the names of 20,000 subscribers.