In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 39, 14 August 1926, Page 26

In the Public Eye

Mr. A. P. F. Chapman. A round-faced, . fresh-coniplexioned, ■boyish, smiling young batsman, slim and alert, comes down the pavilion stops and out on to: the field to a big burst of oxpectant ■ hand-clap-ping. People who have hitherto found the game a littlo bit dull immediately revive; for' this sunny newcomer, loosejointed and confident looking, is Mr; A. P. F. Chapman, and Mr. Chapman is held to be one of the outstanding of English'cricket. The newcaptain of England, who is leading his team in the final Test match opening at tho Oval to-day^", is . a left-handed batsman who ia of the.class of Prank Woolley, and a magnificent, sure-hand-ed, fleet-footed fieldsman. This stance is understanding, and cover-point and filid-off move deeper in anticipation of what is ia store for them. Arrestingly attractive in style, his stroke-making is forceful, flashing, fluent. There is colour in all his batsmanship;, high lights in that joyous slash through the covers, that adventurous hooking to the on-side, that clumping of good-length balls which most players would be quite glad merely to keep out of their stumps. Ho hits tho ball with liveliness —sometimes almost with gaiety—becauso ho J-.-i supreme reasons for knowing that he can hit it. The playing of cricket is a light-hearted, jolly affair with Chapman. He is not afraid to take reasonable risks. Consequently, it is also a jolly affair for those who are watching him. Many left-handers are 8 nuisance, who cause the fielding side constantly, to change over and so slow flown tho game; but'this smiling player is so vital, so perpetually on his toes for runs, that his personality and quality compensate for tho pauses he causes. It is only half an hour since he went ,to bat in that splendid sclf-suro fashion of his, yet already there are fifty runs registered under his number on jfche quick-changing score board. . Fast workj but such is .the Chapman way. He has one uncommon stroke which every now and then ho brings off to the delight of the crowd and the astonishment of the sorely tried bowlers— fin upstanding forcing shot, played at the last instant, that turns what looks like defence into attack in a perfectlytimed flash. To somo extent New Zealanders will consider that Chapman is of themselves, for ho is married to a New Zealand lady, Miss Lowry, of Hawkes Bay, and her brother is his very good friend and companion of many cricket fights. Chapman has been twice in the Dominion, once in 1920, when he took part in Archie MaeLaren's tour of the Dominion, and again last year when he came out from Homo to be married. The Eight Hon. W. Adamson, M.P. Among those who will accompany the Empire Parliamentary Association's delegation from England- is the Eight Hon. "William Adamson, who is a real ;product of the Scottish working classes. The son of a miner, he was educated at a "village dame" school in Fife, and worked as a miner for twenty - seven years. He has never lost his Srilt :"h a- cv, and is t.lie very essence of caution. .... \—^a ,1.1 nis spec ehes beforehand, and often when he appears to bo about to make a strong provocative statement he ends up in a harmless or pleasant generalisation. He is one of tho pioneers of the trade unionist movement of the West erf Scotland, and he was chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1917, and again for three years from 1918. He was Secretary for Scotland during the Labour 'Administration in 1924, and during that time manifested a deep interest in tho land question, migration, and education. He is a genial individual, 13 a favourite speaker at pleasant Sunday afternoon gatherings for young men, and he is the typo of man whom one would imagine would seldom lose his temper. Mr. Adamson is one of the big figures in. .tho Labour Party, and is a great believer in going to see conditions for himself before criticising them in order to make practical suggestions. For example, when he was Secretary for Scotland, lie went all over the Hebrides and visited the crofters personally —a thing, that very few Secretaries or men in his position have done before. He is a very soft-heart-ed man, and has a quick sense of injustice to the masses for whom he speak 3. Mr. Adamson has sat in Parliament since 1910, when he was first elected for "West Fife in the Labour interests, and is now 63 years of age. M. Georges Clemenceau. The great talents of M. Georges Clemenceau —known.to many people as "The Tiger"—are generally admitted. Some years ago he retired from the -political arena filled with years and honour, but this week he issued from his retire mc nt to break a lance with President Coolidge in regard to the French war debt. His incisive speech, a pen to bo feared, and a courage that is proverbial, have made his a iianie to bo conjured with in the Republic, and outside as well. Tears and the. Great War cured him of a great many of his early defects, of ■which he was himself conscious. Speaking in t"ho Chamber of Deputies after the war, he said: "I a«i a man who has been . made prudent and watchful through his country's perils." But it is not enough to say that experience has cured him of certain eccentricities. There still burns within, him a flame so deep that his contemporaries have been unable to perceive it, but in the light of what he accomplished for Prance in the years immediately preceding his retirement his earlier life acquires a new significance. M. Clemenceau's whole career is contained in tho protest against the cession of AlsaceLorraine, which he signed in 1871 in common, with tho Republican; members of tho National Assembly, of whom ho is now tho sole survivor. From that date forth his whole activity was dominated by one thought alone: To prepare for the day when the wrongs of 1871 should ,at last be repaired. However fierce his Radicalism may have grown, ho never for a single moment ceased to be obsessed by this, the ideal of his youth. Herein lies the explanation of his errors of judgment. He strovo with all his might against France's colonial policy, beeaiuse he thought, though wrongly, that this policy would weaken France in Europe. On the other hand, as by a sort of divination, ho perceived from 1880 onwards that tho rapprochement of Franco and England was tho solo means whereby the equilibrium should some day^ bo re-

stored, and Prussia 1 thrust back. Not all the internal political- crises; not all the campaigns of calumny launched against him personally ever caused him to swerve from that lino of thought. The future historian will pay tribute to the great heart of Clemenceaii, for his sympathies were always with the -wives and mothers who watched in tears their husbands and sons marching away to tho battlefields of Flanders. . Nor is this the only characteristic worthy of attention. Ho has always been master of his nerves on occasions of great moment, and this very mastery has restored confidence even among the mo;t vacillating. But his true greatness resides loss in Ms personal courage than in the depth of his passion, which, in the days of his zenith could, be felt behind his words and actions, even when seemingly they were least emotional. M. Joseph Stalin. Born Joseph Vissarionovieh Dzugashvilli, one of the triumvirate that ostensibly rules Soviet-Russia, Joseph Stalin is said to bo the real inheritor of Lenin's mantle. Tho "inscrutable Georgian" is the son of a peasant, and though he received bufea scanty formal education, he is regarded as one of the best -read ■ and best - informed men in tho Eussian Communist Party,.which controls the political . - destinies of Bussia, and of which he is secretary. As a mere youth ho became active in revolutionary movements, and was exiled by the Tsarist Government on half-a-dozen occasions. He was so firm in his revolutionary beliefs and so determined in their advocacy that the name "Stalin," which in Russian means "steel," has stuck to him, though it was but one of the many aliases that ho has U3ed. Stalin is described as of the order of Tammany bosses—Croker and Murphy—in that- he cares solely for power, and achieves it by sheer force of will. He is the dictator of his party, and through it of the nation. Stalin has now had hia power challenged by Trotsky and Zinovieff, and Russia is now apparently in the chrocs of a more or lesa severe revolution against the existing authority. Of all tho Soviet notables, Stalin has been the most invisible, and because of his inaccessibility many legends have been woven round his personality. He was bom in Georgia—not the American State, by the way—and was raised in the Greek orthodox faith. Stalin was once k clerk, but long ago left that life. He haa been a "stormy petrel" amidst the reactionary forces which have been playing with the fortunes of Russia for many years, and has been a prominent figure in several revolutions, his first attempt in this direction being in 1900. When Lenin died some years ago, Stalin was associated with Kykov, Trotsky, Radek, Zinovieff, and Karneni'eff, and othera in handling the reins of Government, but of recent months these men have drifted into diverse camps. Sir Oliver Lodge. There was a flutter in the dovecotes of the scientific world this week when Sir Oliver Lodge, sermonising in Manchester College Chapel, at Oxford, declared, that scientists were on the vergo of discovering the secret of life as well as solving the mystery of death. Sir Oliver Lodge is a remarkable man, and this is not the first occasion on which ho has startled scientists wrapped up in their own endeajour and turned tho world into a huge question mark. He was intended for a business career, and had he followed out his parents' wishes would doubtless now have been upsetting commercial centres with some raid into the apparently impossible. However, mercature was saved from such a calamity, and Sir Oliver's ener- j gies were directed into scientific channels, where his novelty of thought was more likely to be appreciated. He occupied several professorships at various colleges, mostly in connection with applied mechanics and physics, and his research work has been very considerable. His original work includes investigations on lighting, the seat of the elec-tro-motivejforce in the voltaic cell, the phenomena of electrolysis, and the speed of the ion, electro-magnetic waves and, wireless telegraphy, the motion of the ether near the earth, and the application of electricity to the dispersal of fog and smoke, all of which are sufficiently complex for the ordinary man to pass them by as questions of study. Of recent years Sir Oliver has become increasingly prominent as a leader .in psychical research and a strong believer in the possibility of communicating with the dead. Needless to say, he has written extensively on the subjects in which he has been interested at different periods of his life, and as he is now 75 years old he has had a considerable time in which to place his theories before the world, His earlier writings all dealt with applied mechanics—"Lightning Conductors and Lightning Guards," "Electrons," and suchlike subjects, but more recently he has applied his pen to the occult. In 1016 he wrote "Raymond; or io and Death," a memoir of liig son killed in the Great War, with an account df communications thought to have been received from him since, a book which has been followed by several dealing with similar subjects. His originality of thought has drawn considerable attention to his opinions, some people declaring, however, that while undoubtedly a scientist of ability he is also a "showman" of equal erudition.. Sir Harry Chauvel. Australia's defence problems have been brought prominently before the public of the Commonwealth as a result of a report to Parliament by the Inspector-General of Defence, Sir Harry Chauvel. When the deeds of Australians are epitomised and the history of the war is viewed down the perspective of years, probably three of Australia's generals will stand out' as pre-eminent. They are Lieut.-Gen-cral Sir John Monash, Lieut.-General Sir C. B. B. White, and Lieut.-General Sir Harry Chauvel. They were the "Big Three" in-the Australian forces —leaders of armies as well as leaders of men. In 1914 Sir Harry was on his way to London as the representative of Australia upon the Imperial General Staff. War broke out, and the Commonwealth paid him the compliment of promptly recalling him to take command of the Light Horse Brigade promised to the Imperial Government. He took over his command in Egypt, and under his personal supervision the troopers went through tlieir gruelling training in the desert. How well the Light Horse regiments did on Gnilipoli is now a matter of history. General Chauvel himself scored a brilliant record of leadership, and, after Genoral Walker was wounded, took over command of the First Division. But it was not until after the evacuation that he got his real chance, and got, it as a cavalry leader in Palestine