PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 11, 13 January 1934, Page 8

PERSONALITY OF THE WEEK.

"By Trc, Pol and Pen, you shall know the Qornislmien." Sir James Trevilly Grose, K. 8., is the son of Cornish parents, but he was born in Townsville, NO. 421. Queensland, which is big enough, in all conscience, to breed big men. The general manager of the National Bank of New Zealand as a boy joined the Bank of New South Wales in Ms native town, acquiring his large knowledge of banking practice-in the Sydney "head office. The State availed itself of his talents during the Great War by using him as Secretary to the Defence Department Board of Business Relations. Sir James came to New Zealand in 1927 and was appointed inspector for the Bank of New Zealand. During the next year he was appointed general manager of the National Bank of New Zealand. His expert service as chairman of l the Associated Banks is remembered with gratitude. Next year (Sir James will make a tour overseas.

The passing of the years leaves many beloved faces undisturbed, except perhaps for a beautifying wrinkle or maybe- a deeper dimple. It was only when THE WAYSIDE he removed his hat that HUT. the years sftemed to have rolled along, for the brilliant ruddiness ofi his thought department had ohnnged to an engaging silver. He said he had just returned from a fifteen-thousand-mile drive —"Sec New Zealand First" sort of thing. (Mentioned that a four hours' drive in FortyMile Bush country would be a day's drive in North Auckland—more hills about, if you take one's meaning. Had a look at the Waipoua Forest and gasped with astonishment at the marvel trees, but what struck him most was a roadman's hut tucked away in a bit of bueh —a little- floral gem backed by the forest. Everywhere sweet peas—here was a man, thought he, whose heart was attuned ' to Nature and who finds a happiness bricks, mortar and concrete cannot confer. Then upon the broad highway the politest, gentlest and best-informed man he had met in the long journey—a roadman, too.

I Many timepieces are being trotted out locally in evidence of their antiquity. Up to the moment no one seems to liave boasted of the old chains and watchA LOCK OF HAIR, guards our forefathers prized so much. Innumerable old guards are mortuary reminiscences— carefully woven during the life of the subject from his or her hair, and for generation's after I the head had disappeared from mortal ken Iseen on many a speckled waistcoat, anchoring the- old watch. To-day the old hair watchguard is no longer a decoration for a gent.'s waistcoat, but no doubt it lurks in a thousand bureau drawers, linking buried great-grand-fathers and long-removed grannies with the present wristlet age. Talking about hair and its use*, any average man searching for a clean collar will tell you how frequently he drops across trophies of female locks, generally screwed up in a bit of paper and merely meaning that its former owner has bobbed, shingled, cropped or otherwise removed "a woman's crowning priory." It is clear that woman at base clings to her locks even when they are severed. It is a little'pathetic, perhaps for dear old gran to unearth a long lock of her IS7O 'hair with the sunshine of youth still gleaming ill it, just to convince you that she was not always enow white and that once those dim old eyes w.ere bright enough to match that sunny hair. And only the other day somebody discovered that a lock of the Du'ke of Wellington's hair that was a family heirloom was in reality just a bit of rabbit fur. A local collision in which teetotal beverages suffered sadly produced no untoward sensation, and except for the necessary removal of the broken glass, the incident A REVERENT was not poignant. The CROWD, incident irresistibly recalls (he dreadful spectacle of a hogshead of beer, which fell from the tail of a lorry in an Auckland street, hitting tho Neuehatel with a dull, sickening thud. Paseers-by paled perceptibly, and held their breath. When they observed that the stout oaken barrel remained .uninjured and the beer was still imprisoned, a general sigh of relief went up, and the rush to aid the lorry driver to restore the barrel to its place showed how exceedingly careful the public is of other people's property. If' that lorry had been an ambulance and the hogshead a street casualty, the devoted crowd could not have been more piously careful. Once on board the lorry, many of the rescuers 'patted the restored* barrel affectionately, whispered words of encouragement to the driver, and strolled quietly away with many a backward glance. There seemed to be something almost spiritual in this incident. So powerfully did it work on the minds of the rescuers that many of them in twos and threes called at hostlerie's merely for the purpose of seeing what ale looked like outside a barrel.