LOOKING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 15

LOOKING BACK.

notK WORTHY dates. KING'S GREAT UNCLE. JINK WITH GLORIOUS PAST. (Ilv MAX WHATMAN.) A soldierly figure, despite his great #jrr, the I 'like of ( oiinanglit is a living link with some of the most glorious pages in British history. He was sponsored :i t liis ehrUt enin:» by the aired Duke of Wellington. Tt will be 89 years on Mond.iy since this last surviving arm of f/neen Victoria was born. The young Prince, who early showed « passioiutae liking for things military, hfitl a spectacular career in the army. Ho Paw service ngnfnst the Fenians in f'urmdn. (1*70) and in Arabi Pasha's revolt in Egypt (iss-j). jfo was in action at Millmila and Tel el-Kebir. mul was three times mentioned in dispatches. Lord WoNeley privately nd vised Queen Victoria of the gnllant. bearing of her ion under fire. mnd FFis Royal Highness, at the end of the campaign, received the thanks of l';irliatnent for his ser-vicc-s in the field.

Duke of Connaught.

« The 'Duke of Connaught was later Commander-in-I Vn»f in Ireland, where his term of command wns marked as muchhhrj r liiffh efficiency as by aolieitnde for the men who served nnder him. Promoted field-marshal in 1902, the Puko went on a tour of inspection of overseas parrison*. He was Comman-der-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, later visiting Sont.h Africa to inaugurate the T'nion "Parliament. During the Oreat War he wu Governor-General of Canada.

Fmous University ;r£ wto ac s, sect OVPment localise members of t'-eir °r lu however, the conception 'new i n ZTX t h iZrj^ ,nctiT non - tw tlie w v ul tho the D, ke , Was lai(1 ,j y t .I I Suss,vx April :tO, ls°~ Tn October. the college ~wa= Cl" i] r. V r* r-ty of London"! l i i . Was '^sijrned nhvs mathematics, t„lf ' IJ'"',' aml moral sciences' i,T *ith the laws of England, his- » y and political economy, and the Tn'- l < ; ' Je( ' tS ( ~ f m !' dif al education." • this university, one of the youngest yet among the most important in Europe, is particularly renowned for its famous school of economies. Brilliant Tom Hooa. Those who have chuckled at the brilliance of "Miss. Kilnmnsegg" and been | stirrwl by the "Song of the Shirt"—and I they may be numbered in millions—will j never forget the versatile genius of Thomas Hood, British humorist and poet.Hood was born in 17!)1> and died , on May ."!. 184.>. As a humorist Hood had an extraordinary gift for iug.din" with words. His fancy inccssantlv"pnw dueed a complex an<l curious combination of words and syllables that made Ins style something unique. Kven in his serious etlorts. this, peculiarity of st vie and his constant use of puns were olten I apparent, as for example in tlrese lines from the "Song of the Shirt": — And underneath my eaves The brooding swallows cling. An if to aliow fcli«Mr sunny backs Anil twit me with the frprin*. Perhaps the greatest tribute that' cowld bo paid to Hood was the extent of the gathering when nine years after his death a monument was raised to his memory in the cemetery of Kensal Green. Artisans came from "a great distance to view and honour the image of the popular writer, whose best efforts had been dedicated to the cause and the suffering of the workers of the world. Literary men of all opinions clustered ronnd the grave of one of their brethren whose writings were at once the delight of every bov and the instruction "of every man who read them. Darkest Africa. On a winter's morning more than a. century ago, a 10-year-old boy, small for hi* age, set out for his first dav at work in a cotton mill in Lanarkshire, Scotland. There did not appear to he any "future for this victim of the industrial system of the time, yet the boy, I>avid Livingstone bv name, was to be renowned throughout the world as the explorer and missionary whose discoveries in Africa greatly advanced geographical knowledge and whose efforts played so important a part in the suppression of tho slave trade in Africa. After beginning work, Livingstone spent all of his spare time at study, with the result that he qualified as a missionary and was sent out to Africa

•by- the Ixjndon Missionary Society. Of his great travels in Africa there m no need to write. Xo other single African, exp orer has ever done so much to extend our knowledge of African geography as Livingstone during 30 vears of work. His travels covered a. third of the Continent—from the Cape of Good Hope to near the equator, and from the -Atlantic t-o tins Indian. Ocpan. "Jn the annals of exploration of the ark Continent," wrote Stanley manv jears after the death of the missionarvexplorer, "we look in vain among other nationalities for a name such as Livingstone's. He stands pre-eminent above all; he unites in himself all the best qualities of other explorers; Britain excelled herself, even, when she produced the strong and persevering Scot, Livingstone." .Livingstone died on May 4, 1873.