In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 52, 29 August 1925, Page 24

In the Public Eye

NOTABLE PERSONALITIES IN

THE NEWS

! For more than four years Abd-el-Krim has been a thorn iii^ the side of Spain's Moroccan protectorate, and a menace to France. Leader of Riff highlanders, he is the ideal of a guerilla chieftain. Daring, quick of thought, determined, and still in the vigorous 'thirties, he has practically for some time been master of the north-western portion of the Spanish zone. Since his amazing exploits in 1921, when he led a handful of Berber mountaineers to victory against a European army o£ some 15,000 men, equipped with all the latest appliances of modern warfare, Abd-el-Krim has acquired a prestige among the Musselmans of North Africa unequalled since the days of Abd-el-Kader. Abd-el-Krim, whose name means "Servant of God, the Generous," is the chosen autocrat of 400,000 people, who, in the immemorial history of their indomitable race, have never before submitted themselves to one man's leadership. They pay th e taxes he levies without fail, obey his rescripts, and observe his overy wish, though lie has, like a Berber Cromwell, dissolved the old Jemaa, or Council of Elders, and disciplined the unruly tribal bands into a trained and formidablo militia. By purchase and capture ho is in possession of ndequat« modern artillery, and ?.s his tribesmen are good shots and "bonny fighters" to .a man, he is a real menace to the authority of France and Spain. This thick-set, fair-skinned Berber, with hi 3 intelligent eyes and imperturbable tempermanent, is a master of the handling of mobile infantry in advantageous positions against slow-moving . masses of foreign soldiery in a roadless country, especially when they are accompanied by cumbrous transport and precarious communicationa.

Commander R. 0. Garsia, formerly of H.M.A.S. Sydney, has been appointed to the command of H.M.A.S. Tingira. Son of the late Captain O. Gajsia, who retired from the British Army to settle in New Zealand, Commander Garsia was educated at Christohurch, and began his naval career on H.M.S. Britannia. Having served in turn in the Channel fleet, in the Australian squadron, and in the battle-cruiser squadron, he was appointed in 1913 to H.M.S. New Zealand on the occasion of its world cruise. Joining H.M.A.S. Australia in 1914, he saw service at Babaul, and, after bringing the steamer Zambesi from that port to Sydney with a prize crew, was transferred to H.M.A.S. Sydney, in whioh ho served till the end of the war. Following the action with the Emden, Commander Gareia was deputed to arrange the terms of surrender with Captain yon Muller. It. is interesting to note that Commander Garsia's new command 13 the same vessel which brought his father to Australia in 1876, the Tingira being then a passenger ship, trading round the Cape of Good Hope.

John William Lieb, a leading American electrical and mechanical engineer, now 65 years of age, was employed in 1808-81 by Thomas Edison as a draughtsman, and was put in charge of the installation of the electrical equipment of the old Pearl street Edison station, the first electrical station in U.S.A. He assisted in the subsequent experiments in supplying current for lighting and power for an underground system, and on tho inauguration of a regular service in September, 1882, was appointed first electrician of the Edison Electric* Illuminating Co. of New York. He next installed the .mechanical equipment and dynamos for the Edison underground system at Milan, Italy. Later he installed the trolly system In Milan, and returned to America in 1894. For his work in Milan Mr. Lieb was decorated by the King of Italy.

Prince John VI., for sixty-seven .years ruler of the DucEy of Lichtenstein, is a unique figure in Europe, for in all the upheavals of tho last ten yeajs he has been undisturbed in the realm governed by his family for two centuries. The Duchy of Lichtenstein comprises about sixty-five square miles of mountain and valley with a population of something less than twelve thousand. While he draws no revenues from his own domain Princa John owns lands in Australia, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Saxony and Prussia ten times as extensive as his own principality. From the income of hig vast estates he has built Lichtenstein's publio buildings, churches, and public works. The prince is an absentee ruler and is now eighty-four years of age. He has no children, and will be succeeded by his younger brother.

James Havelock Wilson, C.8.E., general president of the National .Sailors > and Firemen's Union and secretary of the Merchant Seamen's League, who last week-end cabled Mr. S. M. Bruce, Commonwealth Prime Ministor, protesting on behalf of- English seamen against the unwarranted interference with merv visiting Australia, by Commonwealth seamen's organisations, was Liberal member of the House of Commons for South Shields from 1918 to 1922. ' He was educated at the Boys' British School at Sunderland, and his early life was spent at sea. He first entered Parliament as member for Middlesborough in 1892, occupying the seat until 1900. Ho was then defeated, but won it back again in 1906, onfy to be ousted for the second time in 1910.

Dr. Eudolph Hilferding, who this week declared that tho Security Pact was a step towards a protocol that would benefit the whole of Europe, was at one time- Socialist Minister of France in the Stresemann Government. He had a great deal to do with the stabilising of German currency during the later period! of tho wild inflation of the mark, and to him redounds most of the credit for straightening tup Germany's financial status. Hilferding is somewhere between 48 and 50 years of age, of middle height, rather stout, with dark hair, and fine eyes. The most distinguishing character, istio of.his appearance is his remarkable gentleness of manner. He is a very quiet, reserved man, and his outward appearance would never betray his tremendous energy and power. He is a student and has a big library in which, he confines himself for hours at a time without interruption. He has no personal foTtuno of any size, and is a selfmade man who ha 3 devoted himself to public life since tho war rather than to the aggrandisement of his own property. Although a naturalised German citizen, he is Austrian by birth. He was bom in Vienna, the son of a physician, andi was educated in Vienna for his father's profession. Dr. Hilferding was a member of the Social Democratic Party in Austria and learned the art of politics under tho guidance of Max Adlcr, leader of that party. When tho war canio ho served as an army doctor in the Austrian army, and tho crash in 1918 saw him on tho Italian front. Going to Berlin he quickly became a leader anion? the Republicans, Social Democrats, and Independent Socialists, mid at Halli in 1921 ho successfully defeated an attempt to ;dly German Labour wilb tho Third International in Russia. From that time he has worked persistently to liridgo the rift between the advanced political partial*