In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 30, 4 August 1923, Page 14

In the Public Eye

POINTS OF NOTABLE

PERSONAGES

Admiral Sir Dove'ton Sturdee, whose present motto is, " Save the Victory," is nearing- seventy. His most spectacular achievement was the famous Falklands victory, but Sir Doveton's eld friends recall that brilliant exploit off Samoa—and on it as well —when, with a handful of men, he left his ship under the German guns and faced a wellarmed native host; a furious German Consul, and a blood-thirsty warrior chief, Against these absurd odds the then Captain Sturdee demanded Britain's rights—and got them. His courage saved the white population from slaughter. .

Mr. Sidney Webb is still the real controller of the Fabian Society. At its earlier meetings Mr. Bernard Shaw obtained by far the greater measure of tho cheers and laughter, but it was Mr. Webb who pulled the strings on committee. He is short and dark, with the beard that he still wears, quiet-voiced, logical, with a head crammed full of facts and statistics. In appearance he is a' typical member of the Civil Service, to which he once belonged. After his marriage he resigned his official position in the society, and he and Mrs. Webb have been busy ever since writing long, accurate, and invaluable books on trade unionism and industrial conditwns. It is only in his later life that Mr.-Webb has had Parliamentary ambitions, and. although he was for some time -a member of the London County Council, it has generally been his ambition to hide modestly behind the scene, inducing politicians of all parties to dance to the Socialistic tunes that he has piped.

Professor David' Starr Jordan, the eminent American educationist, who visited New Zealand some years' ago, at thirteen had made a series of maps of all visible stars. He was brought up on a farm, but it must not be supposed that he shirked the hard work of the big farm. From the age of fourteen he was entrusted with the family purse, and attended to all payments. When he was eleven his brother Ptufus bought a flock of thirty Dorset lambs and shortly after enlisted, only to lose his life. On departing for the camp he asked David to take care of the beasts, and for ten years he sheared the whole flock every year, and kept a careful record of the wool produced by each one.

M. Flammarion, the French astronomer, who has just expressed his belief that we are on the eve of psychic communication with the planets, was first led to take up with Spiritualism by attending the seances of Euspasia Paladino, a medium who made a stir some thirty-five years ago. M. Flammarion admitted that the lady was adept at deception—he bowled her out himself more than once—but because he was unable to detect fraud in all her manifestations he accepted her as a genuine medium, and declared he was convinced she possessed " a fluidic and condensable able to leave her body at will." M. Flammarion's eminence as a scientist gives his views on Spiritualism great weight, but he has failed to conve#, many of his scienific colleagues..

In ■ the forefront of prominent men in Empire Forestry is - Major-General lord Lovat, K.T., K.0.M.G., D.S.O. He is chairman of the Imperial Forestry Commission, which is carrying out a gigantic programme of reforestation in the British Isles. The forests of England and Scotland were subjected to serious depletion to supply war demands and the work of the Commission ia to restore as rapidly as possible the forested areas in the United Kingdom. During the war Lord Lovat was in charge of all British forestry operations, and associated with him were many prominent men. He is chief of the clan Fraaer. Not only is he a man of great energy, broad vision, and outstanding ability^ but he is possessed of a most charming personality.

Dhan Gopal Mukerjee, Hindu poet, philosopher, and author, who is now engaged in presenting to various clubs and organisations in America the art. culture, and spiritual ideals of hi 3 native land, was born in Calcutta in 1890. His ( parents were exclusive Brahmin 6, and he was brought up and educated as a citizen of the old Hindu regime. At eighteen he was graduated from Calcutta University, and ■ went to Tokio, Japan, where he began a course in. engineering in Tokio University. Without completing this course, he left for America, entered Leland Stanford Junior University, in California, and graduated there in 1914. Since then he has lectured extensively, and has addressed groups at. Leland Stanford, at Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, and other university centres, at the request of educational leaders of and America.

Joseph Conrad, the English novelist, was born in 1857 in the Ukraine. He was. christened Teodor Josef Konrnd Koraenioski.- His early years were spent in exile with his parents, who were ardent patriots at a time when Russian oppression was at its worst. Conrad nevertheless had excellent schooling and read insatiably, as he had nothing else to do. Very early he developed a hobby and a mania. The former to tell stories to his friends, the latter to go to sea. After overcoming domestic objections he won his point and his marine career began under the auspices of Provencal pilots. But he .had determined to become a British sailor, and persistence eventually landed him in Lowestoft in 1878 without a word of English. In September of the same year he sailed in the Duke of Sutherland for Australia, an able seaman before the mast. He was 16 years as mate and master in the British mercantile marine.

For many years the name of Dr. Meyer has been very familiar to a large number of New Zealancj,ers, because of his high attainments as a preacher and Biblical scholar. Although the distinguished English Baptist churchman has passed several milestones beyond the Psalmist's "allotted span," he i s still virile and enthusiastic in his proclamation of the Christian message, and has at last been able to fulfil a long-cherished hope to visit Australia, and meet many old friends. His utterances upon matters deeply affecting the life and outlook of our people will be awaited with much interest. Dr. Meyer does not think it likely that an organic union of churches can be effected. It was impossible to do more than develop those cordial relations, which had certainly been augmented of late. He had preached in more Church of England pulpits during the past year than ever before, and in a few instances he had done so ut the invitation of the bishops themselves, thus showing that there was an increase of mutual trust and affection. He thought it was very much better not to press the matter of organic union.