PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 8

PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK.

Sir John Pearce Luke, K. 8., C.M.G., -tfasborn in Cornwall sevehty-oiie rears ago and is a typica.; Cousin Jack. He is an ironmaster of Wellington, for many SIR JOHN LUKE, years occupied a Wellington seat in the Souse of Representatives, narrowly escaped Ministerial rank and was Mayor of the Capital city from the year of the Great Strike (1913) and throughout the Great War until 1921. He is perhaps the best-known man in Wellington, very likely because he used to go to his home in Newtown per horse ear. It was himself who moved the fateful motion to municipalise tlie trams and to elc-ctrify the same. He has been an excellent example of perpetual civic and national motion and is still going strong, A Hamilton shopkeeper lias protested to the municipal authorities that street exhorters, bv using the road as an oratorical or vocal platform, interfere with THE CRIER. trade. In a modern world of clamour the occasional human voice seems the least of many evils, but in time the street speaker's voice will be stilled in order that the music of the vehicle and tlie clangour of traffic may be the more appreciated. It is but a few years ago thnt iiiost oi the messages to mankind were publicly vocal. There are men alive who remember the street crier with his bell. In some Old World villages he still remains. They even had a street crier's contest two years ago in England. A man whose voice could be clearly heard from one village to another won the prize. The amount of trade a man could restrain with a voice like that would be enormous. In great-grandfather's day, when every village got a copy of a newspaper, even though it. was only a fortnight old, the village scholar used to restrain trade by reading out the news to the whole, village as it gathered round tlie Street cries, covering the commercial neld from cat s meat to beer and muffins, were not long since a part of British life. Even in Auckland within the last few years tlie \Qcifeious rabbit-oil' has called his dripping wares (in restraint of trade by ordinarv butchers), while men with rich Voices still occasionally make the welkin rinir with "Fishoh!' And everybody will remember how wikully an old gentleman u-ed to ruin the tiade of timber companies bv walking suburban streets crying out "Clothes "props!" Ihe incidence of free, secular and compul9oi > education happily makes illiteracy novel, ivatural, therefore, for a c-itizen with the _ TT „ advantages to which we: THE THREE R's. are all entitled to evince j , .. , surprise at the neglected I education of a friend. Said he: "Although! Je s quite illiterate he is a nice chap and married well. In fact, his wife has lots of money. One of the first things she did after the j were married was to give him a sparking car. But he was so illiterate he took six months to learn to drivel'' THOUGHTS FOR TO-DAY. There never was an ill thing made better b\ meddling.—R. L. Stevenson. * * * ~.. a false step is made bv standing still.—Lord Dewar. ' * ♦ tt v like mercury; if you once letit loose it runs all over the place.-^Christopher stone. 1 * * * In bearing with the -defects of others we must not forget that thev have to put up with ours.—Anon. ' I