LOOKING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 181, 1 August 1936, Page 18

LOOKING BACK.

NOTABLE EVENTS.

DEATH OF A PRESIDENT. NEXT WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES. (By M.P.W.) A leader of the American people who lad the happy fa.culty of bringing men together was President Warren Harding, who took over the countrys highest offics from Dr. Woodrow Wilson. Harding was in many respects the opposite of his predecessor, but during the few years

lie spent at the White House even his most bitter critics gave him credit for very human qualities that appealed to Jha nation.

Harding started life as the editor and publisher of a small newspaper in Ohio, but the manner in which he built up his journal until it was the most influential in the State brought him prominently before the people. His political career began in 1900 and culminated with his election to the Presidency on November 2, 1920. The new President's success marked an overwhelming Republican victory, for he was elected by a record majority of 6,000,000.

Harding died in office on August 2, 1923, worn out by the strain of dealing with the terrific poet-war problems that arose during' his term as President. He carried his burden with distinction and impressed hie personality upon the world, which saw America, under Harding's guidance, improve her relations with the other great nations of the world. His end came suddenly and shocked a ination which a few days before had been told that the crisis of his illness had passed. On Harding's death Calvin Coolidge, the Vice-President, took his place, at the White House.

Mr. Baldwin's Birthday. In of his-many troubles it is to be hoped that Mr. Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of Great Britain, will on his birthday, August 3, find some brief relief from the cares of his office. Mr. Baldwin was born in 1807, and, after an education at Harrow and Cambridge, entered liis father's business, Baldwin's, Ltd., controlling one of the largest iron and steel works in Britain, of which he eventually became head. He had been in business twenty years before he tried to enter Parliament, and he became a back bencher in his fiftieth year in the middle of the war. It was only a few years before he 'became Prime Minister, and he has alternated in that position with Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald ever since. The popular idea of Baldwin as a simple, blunt, pipe-smoking country gentleman with an interest in pigs is ill-founded, for he has proved himself clever and acute, with the attitude to politics of an Oxford don. Mr. Baldwin has frequently led the way in helping his country and countrymen. In 1919 he contributed anonymously £1 a third of his then capital, the redi > tion of the war debt. Another 0.~ his anonymous gifts, of .. smaller m tare, was a cheque for £200, donated to save

■an asylum for feeble-minded girls which was in financial straits. It was accompanied by a letter worded with absolute illiteracy.

In the past few years Mr. Baldwin lias been outspoken in his warnings of the perils of aerial warfare, causing a sensation by the speech in which he said: "The old frontiers are gone and when you think of the defence of England you no longer think of the white cliffs of Dover but you think of the Rhine. That is where to-day our frontier lies." Wreck of the Maori. August 6 will mark the tragic wreck of the Shaw, Savill liner Alaori which, on that day in 1909, while on the way from England to New Zealand, struck a rock at Dwyka Point, forty minutes after leaving Capetown. She sank in four minutes. The vessel, which was a cargo carrier, had been running foi\ sixteen years between London and New Zealand.

As the Maori struck in an inaccessible position on the rock-bound coast, thfe plight of the officers and men could hardly have been worse. There were mountainous seas running, and these claimed many live 3 from the crew of fifty-three. Boats took off from the wreck, but were battered to pieces, on the rocks, and only a few of the occupants reached the shore. • There were several instances of heroism.

The boatswain, George Stewart, a native of Lyttelton, merited particular praise, for it is recorded that he swam eighty yards in the boiling surf to save two men who were struggling in the heavy seas. Another account of the tragedy declared that when the boats left the ship twelve men were still asleep below, unaware of the disaster. They threw a line ashore, and two men reached the land with difficulty. Two more were drowned, and the remainder took refuge in the rigging for fortyeight hours. Eventually they secured a rope thrown by a rocket apparatus and were dragged ashore through'a tremendous sea. First Train Through. Sir Joseph Ward during his years as Prime Minister officially started or opened many big undertakings in New Zealand. As stated above, he fired the first shot of the Otira tunnel work, and

then on August 7, 1908, only three months later, lie was on the first train that made the through trip on the North Island Main Trunk line from Wellington to Auckland. It was some time after that before the actual official opening of the line, but the fact that the first train had been through, thus adding another long link to New Zealand's chain of communications, aroused considerable Interest, not only in the portions of the country through which the new railroad ran, but in all parts of the Dominion. From the time the train moved away ■from tlie Wellington station on the night of August 7, to tiie accompaniment of cheers from a big crowd, the passage of the first through train aroused enthusiasm. There were about 200 passengers on the long 420-mile journey, including the Prime Minister, other members of the Cabinet, many members of Parliament and their wives and friends. At the Auckland end of the journey •the crowd was no less enthusiastic. There was a small ceremony to mark the occasion, at which there were present the Governor (Lord Plunket) and the Mayor of Auckland (Mr. Arthur Myers.)

Mount Blanc Conquered. One of the most important celebrations in France this year will be the 150 th anniversary of the first successful attempt to reach the top of Europe's highest mountain. Mount Blanc was climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat, a native of Chamonix, on August 8, 1780. The first ascent of the famous mountain was the result of a reward offered by Horace Benedict de Saussure, of the Academy of Geneva, and his friend, Theodore Bourrit, a miniature painter. For years the natives of Chamonix tried to discover the path that would lead them to the summit and win the reward. One day three of them set out on the quest, followed by Balmat, but they gave him the slip. He determined to continue the quest alone and discovered a ws\y which he felt sure would h id to the summit..

After passing the night on the mountain he returned home and told no one of his hopes. One day Balmat confided liis secret to Dr. Paccard, a young

physician of the village, anil the two men set out at live o'clock in the morning. Paccard was overcome by mountain sickness and Balmat continued alone and was the first to set foot on the top of the mountain. He returned to where his companion lay, dragged him to his feet and forced him also to clamber to the top where both were seen. It was six o'clock in the evening. Next year Balmat repeated the ascent with two guides and a week later the first Englishman, Colonel Mark Beaufoy, climbed to the top of Mount Blane. In the 04 years from 178G to 1850 there had been only 57 ascents but since then Mount Blanc has been climbed regularly every year.