In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 22

In the Public Eye

Mr. Justice M'Cardie. No judge in the English Courts has acquired a more secure reputation for knowledge of feminine ways than Mr. Justice M'Cardie, who, by a curious anomaly, is a confirmed bachelor. Be-' cently ho has beon ■ trying a j case in the course ] of which his observations have furnished once again entertaining reading for the general pubwho, love a little humour mixed with their law. Mr. Justice M'Cardie's aphorismß on women nave a distinction all their own, and frequently are a source of astonishment to husbands who wpnder "how he does it." The judge himself is a handsome man, with clear-cut regular features and a lively dark eye. Looking at him you are puzzled anew by th.c problem of why some men marry or get married, and others who, you would vow are destined inevitably for matrimony remain in single harness. Women, who are often litigants in Mr. Justice M'Cardie's Court in the King's Bench Division, as they look up at him on Ma elevated seat, perhaps with his wig slightly askew—it was a. little habit of his even when a barrister —his square jaw gently chewing, probably construct many a little romance of disappointed love.around him. It would be true to say of him that the principal love of his life is the law. A dull, dry-as-dust subject for love, say the sentimentalists But as interpreted and expounded by Mr. Justice M'Cardie, clothed in his simple language, it can possess unexpected beauties for the lay man. He is probably never happier than when tracking—and eventually capturing— an elusive truth lost in a maze of legal meanderings. In private life Mr. Justice W Cardie is an extremely active man, fond of golf, shooting, fishing, swimming, and he makes- a practice of walking fromi his home in the West of London to the.Courts dally._ He is a connoisseur^ too, of old , china. Sir Philip CnnlUto-Lister. "It's the organ-grinder we want, not the monkey,'? was shouted across the floor of the House of Commons during the recent coal debate. The call came from a member, of the Labour Party during the height of the disorder whiqh ruled during that portion of the debate, when Sir Philip Cunliffe - Lister, President of the Board of Trade, was attempting to reply to the Socialist indictment of the Government's coal policy. Another sontence —this time from Mr. David Kirkwood, one of the most rabid of the Clydebankers—was: "This is a man's job, not a boy's," a reference to Sir Philip's age, 42 years,which is young for a Cabinet Minister. He has been Conservative member for the Hendon Division of Middlesex, a new seat created since the war, and which he won at its first election in 1918. His first administrative experience was gained at the Ministry of National Service during the war, while his first Government post was as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, followed by the secretaryship of the Overseas Trade Department. His success in both these offices led to his promotion in 1922 to the Presidency of the Board of Trade, which he has occupied ever since, except for a short interval in 1924 when a Labour Government was in. power. Educated at Winchester and Oxford, he was called to the Bar in 1905, serving in the army during the Great War from 1914 to 1917, and winning the M.C. In 1918 he was chairman of the- War Cabinet Priorities Committee, also serving on two Select Committees. Sir Philip Cun-liffe-Lister was previous to 1924 known as Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame, but he received Eoyal assent to change his name in December, 1924, on his wife inheriting extensive property from a relative. As President of the Board of Trade he has a great deal to do with Great Britain's trade relations with the world at large, and he has frequently been called upon to address business men in different parts of the British Isles on the question of the interchange of trade within the Empire and other equally important subjects close to the heart of the Prime Minister, Mr. Baldwin. As a speaker he always shows a comprehensive knowledge of his subject, and, in addition, is able to place any matter before his hearers in/a lucid and simple manner. Mr. G. E. Chesterton. When we think of Mr. G. K. Chesterton in this distant land of New Zealand, the mind naturally conjures up a portrait which may well be classed as Falstafflan, but this is hardly correct. Certainly he is large, but not nearly so cumbersome as caricaturists and others would have the world believo him to be. He has been described as a "han-som-cabful," and as being able to give his seat in a tramcar to three ladies, but these are quite exaggerated . statements. It would hardly be possible for his place to accommodate two ladies, even under the present-day slim conditions, though it may bo that his increasing ago is bringing about a svelteniss which was not apparent a few years back. His appearance, when delivering an address, resembles that of a huge, absent-minded, and somewhat bashful boy, the likeness being further heightened by the light and youthful quality of his rather small voice. He comes of a family of land and estate agents, and was born in London in 1874. His education was in the care of St. Paul's School, which he left in 1891 with the idea of studying art. But his natural bent was literary, and he devoted himself mainly to cultivating that means of expression, both in prose and verse. In 1900, having published a volume of clever poems under the caption "The Wild Knight," he definitely took to journalism as a career, and became a regular contributor of signed articles to the Liberal journals—the '"Speaker" and the "Daily News." He established himself from the first as a writer with a distinct personality, combative to a swashbuckling degree, unconventional and dogmatic. The republication some years ago of much of his early work in a series of volumes, characterised by much acuteness of criticism, a pungent style, and the capacity of laying down the law with unflagging impetuosity and humour, enhanced his reputation. His powers as a writer aro probably best displayed in his studies of Browning and Dickens, but theso are, after all, only rather more ambitious essays among a medley of characteristic utterances, ranging from fiction to fugitivo verse, and from artistic criticism (o discussions on. ethics and religion. But as an essayist and historian of our own times, and as a critic of numberless subjects, he is without equal among British writers of the pro•ent dajij i£not of a^-tunfe "_.',

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens. America has been startled during recent weeks by an alarming statement by Si. Edvin Landseer Lutyens, n notable British architect, that the New York sky scrapers are a menace and a danger, and that their end cannot much longer bo delayed as the internal ironwork has already started to rush away. For one who was to occupy such a commanding place in the world of architecture, Bir Edwin owes singularly little to a training and education of the usual description. After a. couple of years in the South Kensington schools be was at first placed in the office of an architect in the country, but he later returned to London, and. worked under the influence of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Ernest George. His first commission came to him at the age of nineteen, and from this and his other early experiences came the real training for'the great work he has carried on in his later life. Ho has been responsible for the designing of many notablo English homes, particularly in the southern counties, his many houses in Surrey being lasting testimonials to his genius. Much of his domestic work has been in the direction of restoration, the largest example•' of his powers in this direction being Lindisf arne Castle, Holy Island, where, during a period of nine years, he carried out very complete restoration. His city work has also been extensive, but it was, however, as principal architect of the New Delhi that the highest point of his career was reached. In 1912, as one of a Special Committee, he visited Delhi with the object of advising the Indian Government on the building and reconstruction of the new capital. The plan adopted was elaborated in detail, and, in a way, may be described aa in "the Grand Manner," by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Mr. H. Baker. Another conspicuous success of a more poular character was his design for the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Sir Edwin was elected an associate of the Boyal Academy in 1913 and a full Academician in 1920, while the Eoyal Institute of British Architects awarded him its gold medal in the following year. He was knighted in 1918. He is now 58 years old,_ and was married in 1597 to Lady Emily Lytton, a daughter of the first Earl of Lytton. Miss Margaret Beavan. There are not a great number of women who hold high office in Great Britain, and those women who have succeeded in entering the House of Parliament as representatives of the people are still looked upon with a certain amount of awe as being something that they should not rightfully be. For all that the influence of women is steadily increasing in political circles, •probably more quickly than is the case in New Zealand. The first woman ever to be nominated and elected as Lord Mayor of Liverpool is Miss Margaret Beavan, a noted citizeness of Liverpool. Miss Beavan has been famous for over twenty-five years for her philanthropic work, and is popularly known as the "Little Mother of Liverpool." Among her good works may be placed the foundation of what is now known as the Liverpool Child Welfare Association, which has already assisted more than 100,000 children. , Although she had taken a busy part in the life of the city, she had never thought seriously of succeeding to.the highest office which could be conferred upon her by her fellow citizens. Her plans and ambitions have been more in other directions, and have all been for the women and babies, but she hopes ■that her civic position will enable her to do more for the happiness of the women and children of the city. For all that she is quite capable of taking a serious and helpful interest in the commercial problems and industrial undertakings which so frequently confront a city of the size of Liverpool. As she is single it will be necessary for her to fill the duties pertaining .to the office as Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, and for this reason she will doubtless find the position a difficult one for some months to come. Miss Beavan is, now fifty years old, and her years have' been added one by one with those of the city in which she has grown up. Major Walter E. Elliot. The recent elevation of Mr. Ronald M'Neill to the peerage has left several vacant offices in the House of Commons, and though some of them have already been filled others yet remain to be occupied. Mr. M'Neill, or Lord Cushendun as he is now, was Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and this office has several very excellent aspirants. It is stated that the choice of a successor probably lies between Sir Kingsley Wood, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health, and Major Walter E. Elliot', Under-Secretary for Scotland, with the betting somewhat in favour of the latter. Major Elliot represented Lanark from 1918 till the General Election of 1923, when he was defeated by a Labour candidate on the "Preference" question, but he returned to the House of Commons after winning the by-election for the Kelvingrove Division of Glasgow in the following year, retaining the seat at the more recent General Election. He was born in 1888, educated at the Glasgow Academy and University, and is a graduate in science, medicine, and surgery. As an officer of the Boyal Army Medical Corps he was attached to the Scots Greys during the Great War, earning the. M.C. and bar during the fighting in France. Entering Parliament after the war, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Scottish Board of Health in Mr. Baldwin's first Government, and since then he has been in some office or other right through, except for the brief period he was out of Parliament. He has very decided views on the question of female franchise, and recently was very outspoken on the subject of femininity. During the course of a debate on "Is Woman Becoming Too Obtrusive?" he said: "Modern woman seems to feel that only by screaming about herself can she attract sufficient attention to her case." He added that he believed the women of England only wore silk stockings, sleeveless blouses, and kneelength skirts because they happened to be in a majority of at least a million.