PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2490, 4 December 1901, Page 64

PERSONAL NOTES.

— One of the best-known of the former servants of Great Britain is the Right Hon. Lord Augustus Loftus, who completed his eighty-fourth year on October 4. After being an Attache and Secretary of Legation at various European Courts, he became Ambassador in Berlin in 1865, and was our representative at St. Petersburg from 1871 till 1879. after which he became Governor of New South Wales and Norfolk Island, in which cajiacity he opened the first In-tel-national Austialian Exhibition held in Sydney. — Sir Edinond Monson, our Ambassador to the French Republic, who completed his sixty-seventh year on October 6, is one of the famous Englishmen who have lived most of their lives out of the country in its service. Since 1856 he has almost constantly been abroad, though in the sixties he attempted to enter Parliament for Reigate. What the House of Commons lost diplomacy ■ gained, for Sir Edmond's services were able to be used in the delicate machinery of international affaire, and he has been ambassador to several of the chief European Powers.

— Miss Braddon is one of the few women who have made a great reputation who refuse to accede to the request? which have been made to them to have their photographs taken. It has, in fact, been frequently stated that she has never been photographed in her life. This, howetvr, is incorrect, for there is one known portrait of her, but very few copies have been printed. She remains at 64, the age she completed on October 4-, one of the greatest no\elk,ts and one of the most prolific writers we have. For some years she has been content with publishing one book every year, but when she was younger her output was for many years two long novels in 12 months.

— Maximus Corky, whose sketches and stories have excited such remarkable interest in Russia, is an Agnostic and a realist. He was born just 32 years ago at Kiiniuovgorod. He had a sad, wretched childhood, and, like all Rusdan orphans of the lower class, was early apprenticed to a hard taskmaster—in his case a cobbler. He seems to have been little more than a child when he ran away and became a wanderer, much of his early youth having been spent on the Volga, acting first in one capacity and then m another on the small steamers which go up and down the huge Russian river.

— Few journalists are so popular with the reading public as Mr T. P. O'Connor, M.P., whose initials "T. P." are to be seen in so many different publications. His names Thomas Power, have by universal consent been shortened to " Tay Pay," the supposedly Irish pronunciation of his initials. He has had a remarkable career as a jouj nalist, and has had a seat in the House tf Commons since 1885, when he was returned for two constituencies. Whilst most men are cpntent to wait for months and even years before they venture to speak in Par liament, Mr O'Connor addressed the Houg«, the very day he took his seat. He was 55 on October 5.

— Philanthropy at 5 per cent." a famous phrase for whioh the public is indebted to Lord Rowton, who received liia peerage on account of his devotion to Lord Beaconsfield, whose private secretary he was from 1866 till 1868, and again from 1874 till 1880. Indeed, to Lord Rowton was left the task of preparing the biography of the great Prime Minister who served his country so devotedly. As chairman of the Rowton Houses and the Guinness Trust, Lord Rowton has earned the gratitude of the great body of the laburing class for the services he has rendered to a certain section of it. x?.e was 63 on October 8.

— Judge Lumky Smith, X 0., who succeeds Mr Commissioner Kerr i» the Senior Judgeship of the City of London Court, is a brother of Mr Horton Smith, the wellknown F.C., and one of the trustees of Lincoln s Inn. Since 1893 he has acted as the Judge of the Westminster County Court —the blue ribbon of County Court Judgeships—and has established a great reputation, as an able lawyer, a clever man of business, an eloquent speaker, and a quick £i3ceraer of the points of a case. He has been a member of %h& bar for xrpwards of +0 rears, entering the Jnnei Temple as a student in 1857, and being called in 1860. He then joined the South-Eastern Circuit. Twenty years later he took silk, while from 1883 until 1894- lie held the appointment of Recorder of Sandwich, Two years previously he commenced his career as a County Court judge, acting first of all at Shorej&tsk and Bow^ gnji ig njojjtfea s^Wwgl'ds

.ernaiiona Sydney

being transferred to the court he now leaves. Judge Lumley Smith is evidently a man to maintain the prosperity enjoyed by the court under the rule of ex-Commissioner Kerr, and to uphold the popularity it enjoys in commercial circles.

— A distinguished officer, in thr> person cf General Sir John Daws. K.C.B , died on Saturday, October 5, at Shean Lodge Ballvcioy, County Mayo. Born m 1832, ho was the second son of AJr John Davis, of The Park, Rathfarnham, County Dublin He was educated principally at Cheltenham f ° iu ge< 7c^ T? nter f-, c ] the arx °y as an enqi sn of the 35th Fool (Royal Sussex Regiment) in February, 1852. He served with his regiment in the Shakabad district during the Indian Mutiny (1857-8), obtaining the medal, and got his company in September. 1859! He obtained the brevet of colonel in February, 1873, and in that rank served on the staff at Shorneliffe for two year?. He was promoted Major-general in August, 1883, and next year went out to Egypt to command the 2nd Infantry Brigade in the Egyptian Expedition. He was present at the battles of El Teb and Tamai, and was several times mentioned in despatches. He obtained the medal with two clasps, also the Khedive's Star, and was created a C-B. for his services. In the following- year he served 111 the Suakin' Expedition. From April 1886, till the end of 1887 he commanded the troops at Malta, and was then transferred to Dublin, where he remained in command till 1890. He was promoted Lieutenant-general in April, 1891, and shortly afterwards succeeded the Duke of Connaught in the command at Portsmouth Ho wan made a General in May, 1896, and a K.C.B. on the occasion, of the Queen's Birthday in 1898.

— The dragon fly can do more triSts in the air than any bird. It can outstrip the swallow ; it can Sy backwards and sideways, to right or left as well as forward, and can alter its course instantly without tvi fling.

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