OPINIONS ABOUT PEOPLE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1024, 13 January 1911, Page 9

OPINIONS ABOUT PEOPLE.

THE NEW SECRETARY FOR INDIA.

"If it were ashed who is the most dignified politician of the day, the general consensus of opinion would certainly bo in favour of the genial peer who, after having been Secretary for the- Colonies ami Lord Privy Seal, lias just been appointed Secretary for India," says '•ivlayfaiiy' the new- society journal. "A handsome man, with a placid temper which nothing seems to disturb, lio has on more than oiio occasion disarmed extremely hostile criticism iu debate by his serenity alone. "His poetical talent is of no mean order, as his work, 'Stray Verses, proves—a talent inherited, no doubt, from a clever father, the first Lord Houghton, better known as Richard Monckton-Milncs, tho '.Mr. Vavasour of Beaconsfield's 'Tailored'. Lord Mlnto Retires., : Lord Minto has retired and Lord Hardingo of Tcnshurst has succeeded liiir. as Viceroy of India. "That a Radical Mimstor with the antecedents and pronounced opinions of Lord Morley would desire to . enlarge tile, liberties of tho liiduuv peoples was," says tho "Times" /'clearly to be anticipated, and Lord Miino, m v/hoso previous'career there was.little to indicate the probability of similar sympathies, pondered a real service- to India by showing that.the nominee of a Conservative Government was able and willing te co-operate on those Hues with a Radical Secretary of S ato at Whitehall. It would be prematmo to attempt to determine tho precise shaie that Lord Morley and Lord Minto may ha'vo bad respectively in originating and shaping tho Constitutional changes embodied in tho recent reforms. But Lord Morley has more than once stat T ed publicly .-that the idea of placing an Indian upon the Viceroy's Executive Council was, in the main, the conception of Lord Minto. Dr. A. Ft. Wallace. "One lost all sense of party bitterness in listening to this brilliant and enthusiastic old man, who is more amused -than angry, more impatient than in - tated" by tho slowness of young men to realise the dreams of his Poeta.ttnd prophets," writes .Mr. H. Begbio of Di. A R. Wallaco, m tho "Chronicle. "All his endeavour is on a lofty and religious plane, whore distinctions of class and wealth vanish out of view, and society is seen as one great multitude of men and. women moving towards a spiritual destiny." . ~, Tho Now Portuguese Minister. •> .■■•'.' "Senhor-Magalhacs Lima, the Portuguese Republican Minister appointed by the Provisional Government .to the Court of St. James's, has a distinguish-; ed and varied career behind him, says tho ."Observer.." "He is not altogether a stranger to' Britain, for at the recent International Press Congress held in London ho represented the Portuguese- Press Society, of which ho is tho .president. Senhor Limn is a journalist of considerable emincuco and lnfluenco in Portugal, and founded tho powerful Republican journal'o Seculo. He has .rccentlv been' residing in Paris, .where he conducted a Republican campaign. .In Republican circles in Portugal he is 'designated 'their oldest-diplomat.

iThs Now Moc'orators-Eloct. ; . - The. Rev. Dr. Alexander Stewart, Prinoipal and Primnrhis Professor of Divinitv, St. Mary's College,. St. An.z ; tlrews, "has been nominated "as .Mbd'eraV tor-Elect of the forthcoming General YAssemblv of tho ChujTji^M^SwMancL' 1( j ; The Rev. .James Wells, D.D,, of Pol-.■ lokshields, was', at a meeting of the Standing Committees, of the united Fi»':d Cbiirch held in Lothian' Head Church, Edinburgh, nominated Moderator for the next General Assembly of tho "United Free Church of Scotland.. "He is the author of a biography cf Dr. Stewart,, of Lovedale,". says the "Scotsman." . "In tho pulpit .be is earnest, fresh, and attractive, and ho possesses a fine gift of organisation:'.'.

tha Tsar, tho Duma, arid' Tolstoy. i-Tho Russian Duma, adjourned as a -mark of respect for Count Tolstoy. In moving the adjournment tho President said:-—"A great sorrow has befallen the Fatherland. Count Tolstoy,' a great thinker, artist,, and genius, the prido of Russia and. tho glory of mani kind, is dead. May a merciful' God open to'him the Kingdom of Heaven 1 L propose that wo should rise in our places to show our deep mourning and honour to his'memory, and that wo ■ shonld.interrupt our labours to-day." M. . Samlylyvski, of 'tho.. Extreme -Right, opposed, saying that Tolstoy had died estranged from the Church, and the 'honouring of his memory -by the Duma would be a., challenge to the Church.

'■-In the margin of the Minister, of tho Interior's report on Tolstoy's death, the Tsar has in his own hand made tho following note:—"l heartily deplore tho death of the great writer who has embodied tho golden ago of his talent in his creations of types of tho Fatherland, constituting one of the most glorious years in Russian life. May he find in God a merciful judge." ':' "The Man of Ion." "Sir Joseph J. Thomson has just been presented with a History of Physical Research in Cambridge—in which the last, and-by no means the least, brilliant chapter will describe tho atomic discoveries of the recipient—in recognition of his twenty-five years' continuous, service as- Cavendish Professor at Cambridge University. "In 1906 lio received tho Nobel Prize for Physics and three years later was elected president of the meeting of tho British Association in Winnipeg. During tho whoje of his career he has always shown himself not only willing to learn, but also willing to teach others,''' says .the "Evening Standard." "Ho does tho thinking for his own researches, and is always ready to do some'more for the twenty or thirty men . whoso work he supervises; yet, in spito of it all,' he has more timo for other intercsls'than most men. How .ho does it is a mystery. When ho sleeps, or indeed, whether he over does sleep, his students cannot say; but the fact remains that in recent fiction, in tho drama, in sport,; and in politics, he is abreast'of tho times, and ready to bo i.eiitcrtnining or entertained on'one or other of these topics. Ho is ono of the most famous men' in tho sphere ot experimental physics. Ho is popularly Aiiown as •The Man of Ion! and as the man 'who split tho atom.' Tho work, dono by Professor Thomson has perhaps contributed moro towards estob- [ lisiiiiig piiysics and chemistry on' a now linsis than any other scientist."

Death of "How then, Smith," "'Now then, Smith,' tho seaman hern of tho Messina earthquake, has been drowned .at lltiuhury, West Australia," says, tho London "Evening News." "lie was walking close to tho jetty on his way to rejoin his ship, tho, Kcdbridge, when he disappeared. At tho time of the Messina earthquake in 1!!0S, Smith -.«as on board tho steamer Afonwen, which was lying in the port, and- wont ashore- with others of the crew to help in the work of rescue. Tho party camo to .1 tottering building whero a lire in the lower floors imprisoned the occupants above. Tho sailors 111 row .1 rope, which was made fast to the iop of tlm budding. The captain cried 'Now then. Smith,' and Smith climbed up. bringing down one member of the family after the other until all wore safe. Kin*.' Edward wished personally to hand Smith a modal for his bravery, but by that time ho was'on the- high seas again, and tho decoration had to bo forwarded to him."