Pars about Notabilities.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 101, 27 April 1912, Page 15

Pars about Notabilities.

I Dr. Edgar -Jones, M.K.CjS., the oldest doctor in England, and probably in the world, has just entered his 103 rd year, ■at his residence at (ire.at liurstead. , Essex. Dr. Jones is also a magistrate, j and next month will begin his sixty-first j year as a member of the bench. I i, I Hi:-.-, Felicia Lyne, the American girl I who lias taken London by storm by her ' ringing at liammersteiu's Opera House, proves that a tendency to stoutness i 3 not the invariable fashion in priuiu I donnas. Miss Lyne. who i.- twenty-one ■ years old, neighs ninety-eight pounds. ; «lid i- live feet one inch in height. j I I Countess LoTivav, Princess Stephanie | of Belgium, who has joined with her) elder -i>ter in .ii.-putin\r her late father's : will, had a troublous experience of mat- ■ rimony in her lirst marriage with the ' luckless heir to the Austro-Hun/,.iria.n ' ; ! irono. She )::<-. however, bvon very happy with her second husband, and lead- the ordinary life of a woman of h'prH social j-c.-.ilion without troubling herself in a;v. way about Royal honours. . ! ' l ' ; A notaolc figure has passed away in ; the person of Dr. Jo.-c P.i/., tje proprie- ; tor ol" the greac ".uenos Aires daily, "Li ■ Prcnsa," who a',cd at his villa of Mire- ■ : More-. Mori:-- Carlo, ideally. "La; . I'n-n-a." which appeared as a modest | ■ newspaper of foi:r pag;-s in 18(i.">. i, to- j ■day one of the greatest journals in the ! 'world. It appears with some forty to' I fifty pages daily, and its advertisements are reputed to bring in £480,000 a year. It is published in paluial oili .» ' which cost £400,000. and in \vh.vh a , ".abiT of i luxuries have been installed for the use [of subscribers; such as a free dispensary, a bureau of aid for the indiacnt. and the like. Dr. I'az, who was sixty- ! ! four years old, leaves a fortune of >. ; £4.000,000. ] None or the pictures which Charles • Dana <iibsou. the American artist.! sketched of the Duke and Duchess of Coiuiaught aril the Princess Patricia,! during the time he was tin guest | the ru.viil governoi-general, will ever get < I beyond the family -brine 1.-:iys an : I American paper I. ■"Though I was not i commissioned lo sketch the duke and . Iduchess or the prince.-s." said Mr. (.Jib- : I sou. "I did make a few sketches of Princess Patricia which 1 asked her to accept with my compliments. 1 also drew pictures of their royal highnesses, with which they said they were very pleased. Mv vi-it to the Connaughts was purely "personal and was arranged long before the duke went to New j York. 1 met him in I'ari- some time { ago and he invited mc there." Tiie late .Mr. Saloon was. perhaps. | more frequently the host of Royalty j , during the past ten or twelve years than | was any other member of that small j section of society that circles round i Buckingham Palace. At his fine holla? in j Albert Gate, at Tukhan. the beautiful | Seafield property in Bauffshire, and at i the big house at Hove (Brighton), the | late King was an annual guest. During ! King ward's visits to Hove the au- , thorities prevented indiscreet sightseers : from taking up their positions on the j benches opposite Mr. Sassoon's house by j the ingenious method of freshly painting I the coveted .-oats every morning. Tile • ( Sas-soons made their money in Pei--ia and j India. Mr. Sassoon was a brother of i I rhe tivst baronet of his name, regarding ■ i whom the following limeric-k used to be ; i in circulation: — ! ] Sir Albert Abdullah Sassoon. , Thar Indian auriferous cooa. , lias bought an estate In the street called Queen's Gate, « And will enter upon it ia June. Probably there ie but one woman in ( the world whose business it i≤ to handle 1 ( and despatch trains. This arduous duty J ; is performed by Mrs. Jennie Connor, of | i Melrose Highlands, a suburb of Boston, ; • Mass. .She is employed by the Boston ; ■ and Maine Railway, and is well-known , i to the thousands of railway serv;'.tit-:> ; ■ who are engaged ill carrying on the tral- i lie over the four States in which the road ] operates. Something like -100 iudl- j ■ viduals engaged on the line have to re- , i port to her regularly, and in their opin- '. ; ion Mrs. Connor knows more about the . 1 construction and working of the big , i engines than do most of the men who j ; have assisted hi building them. She ; < has charge of nil the engines driven on . the northern division of the railway. . and it was in consequence of the re.-pun- , sibility thus placed upon her that >h.- ; was first led to take up the study oi this J ■ ■".-team moguls.'' | \ correspondent writes: You publish a ( paragraph in last week'- "Stir" supple- ; ment referring to the recent death ot j ■ General Sir Alexander Taylor, one of ..no heroes of the memorable capture of Delhi ■ during the Indian mutiny in ISr.T. Willi- ■ out wishing to detract in any way from | I hi- fame Justly due to the memory of ' General Taylor. 1 may be allowed to make a few remarks, with the object •>! pointing out that in the obituary notitvs tiiat have appeared in tin- Press refernng. ' to the death of this veteran officer, scant j justice has been done to the memory of : imot-ber engineer officer whose services ■ before Delhi were at least as worthy of < national remembrance a-, thone. of Taylor. 1 refer to Colonel Richard Biuret 1 Smith, of the Bengal Engineers, who was 1 Taylor's superior officer at Delhi, and; < referred to in your paragraph a- Rairl. j • At the besrinniiig of .Inly of that m-'moi- ' able year" Buird-Smitli was summoned < from "Kourker to act a- chief engineer h tv the Briti»ii forces under (iem-ral Wil-| 1 .son on the ridge before Delhi, and to h direct the plan of attack upon that city. It was IJaird-Smitli's plans which were parried oi;t by his second in command. Alex. Taylor, an-! with whatever zeal and ability the latter carried out the scheme of attavk designed by his chief it is surely unfair to .ignore, as most writers • do. Baird-Smith's'claims to recognition ■ a the author of that scheme which re- I .-lilted in the successful assault upon j and capture of Delhi. The writer of the ■ punnrraph under notice quotes the fa- ( mnus exeiamai.ion of the probably h:i 1i i * delirious and living hero. Xicholson, "if ( 1 set throujrh this 1 wiil let the world j know it was Alex. Taylor who took . Delhi:" In a letter I have recently re- | ( i-i-iveil fro?;; Colonel Huir.l-SiiUh's elder,: | , daughter, she writiv: "My rather always j , -.1 i-1 tint to -ay any on.- man "took |"| Delhi' \\.:s the heifriil of absurdity. Itj, >va- in truth the united work of all who j v ere ei!*_'a.'cil in the siege. But surely j t if on- man was to claim the honour, or have it claimed for him. it was the man j whose brain and foresight had evolved j . the plans that made the victory poi- : i sible." Fortunately for the fame jiiotS.v j , due to one of the acknowledged heroes \ ] of the mutiny. I-<ord Roberts, who w-is, ; 1 himself present at the siege of Del In. j , has in his book. "Forty-one Years in | ] India." done full justice to Colonel Bain'- | i Smith in connection with the part lie ; took and the eminent services he rev- i dered bis country on that occasion.