PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 258, 31 October 1931, Page 8

PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK.

The Eight Rev. James Michael Liston, Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland, was born in Dunedin in 1881, and educated at the Christian Brothers' College in NO. 217. that city and at Sydney, Dublin and Rome. His lordship's ordination to the priesthood v took .place in 1904 and .he became a teacher at the Holy Cross College at Mosgiel.' From 1910 ■to 1920 he was . rector of that'college, being consecrated bishop in the last-year, He was coadjutor Bishop at Auckland with the'late Bishop H. W. Cleary and. succeeded Dr., Cleary in. this see at his, lamented death. Dr. liiston is a writer of authority and charm and contributes to religious and secular journals. Very likely it-moved old stagers, to read that on Wednesday night last, when the King and Queen and other Royal personages attended ■ a command performance AN OLD SONG, at Drury Lane Theatre, the orchestra played "Soldiers of the Queen," linking, of course, the reign of Victoria with: that of her grandson. Time was when soldiers of the Queen almost wilted in their boots .at the sound ,of the song, blared at them by every band in every town, in every country of the Empire. New Zealand soldiers who had "been my lads, who'd seen my lads" in South Africa were beginning to return to their own, their native land. The-first of these men went from Syd 7 ney straight to Dunedin. , Everywhere the spirited song had been dinned at theni, and they were -frankly astounded as the Harlech Castle put into Chalmers to note that not a note, of the. song disturbed the uncanny serenity of the place.. It had been freely intimated that Dunedin intended to hail the troops with glad cries and;gladder sustenance, that no house would be out of l.p-.inds, and that, in short, there would be a braw time in the auld toon the niclit. It is impossible to describe the solemn effect on the returning troops when the simple message was passed round: "The Queen died to-day." «

None will regret the passing of x tliat vivacious citizen, Mr. Joseph' Howard Witheford, more than those who were partakers of his amazing hospitality. THE OPEN HAND. In the heyday of his fill:

ancial successes his pocket was practically an open purse and lie slied piece's of eight, doubloons and less romantic sovereigns with almost passionate catholicity. He entertained in a' sweeping-way. He was in Sydney, when the first New Zealand troops were, returning via that city. He chartered a ferry boat, gathered the lads, and.did -them, exceedingly well, thinking nothing too good or too expensive for the Maorilanders. It was perhaps all the more gratifying to Mr. Witheford because his own son Bob had joined the •little corps in the field. 1 Indeed Bob, who nowadays is a senior official in the Treasury Department we love so well, was gazetted to an, Imperial regiment, but subsequently explained that an officer's pay unless assisted 'by a large private income, was not attractive enough. The late Mr. Witheford was a.) man of great personal courage. There is a Birkenhead .story of his little difference with a refractory bull in which he was victor, although at the time he was over seventy years of age.

It is a common Ifuman weakness to adore new shoes. Should you not believe this. arrogant statement, confer a new pair on your small daughter or your NEW SHOES, little son and see the lovelight in their eyes. We are 'but children of a larger, growth, and even the exalted merchant or the super-politician niay be occasionally seen indulging in glad eyefuls of his new footwear, or be caught permitting the gaslight to illuminate his latest evening pumps. Herein civilised humanity does not differ from the untutored savage who has been detected in the act of thrusting a number fourteen foot through a belltopper hat, becoming then in his primitive opinion the beau of the kraal. This divagation has 'been impelled By the. amiable weakness of a lady in -Queen. Street,* She was large, well set up, buxom, adequately attired, arid accompanied by a gentleman, obviously her husband', who consumed a cigar of opulent vintage, as the gorgeous band, around its equator indicated. Perhaps you have noted that the human kind if walking in front of an observer exhibits the soles of the shoes at each step, and it is 'elementary, my dear Watson, for a student to distinguish "brand-new shoes from last year's crop. In the case under review, the student determined that the shoes of the lady had been oil her feet for 110 more than six minutes. The lady was so entranced with her pedal buds that she was oblivious to traffic and the. gentleman with the cigar found it necessary to act as silent guide, per elbow. But When the enthralled wearer, suddenly stopped and wiped an invisible speck of dust from) the crocodile skin portion of the left shoe with her hanky,' the gentleman with the cigar, slightly peeved, barked, "Oh, come on, mother!" , , j