In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1929, Page 26

In the Public Eye

King Alexander I.

I.he tendency in .hurope at the present time is tv have either a republic or a dictatorship, ami where changes in Government have occurred during recent years it has been cither in one direction or the other. The latest country to adopt ;i dictatorship ia Jug o. S 1.1 vi a, . where King Alexander I. lias decided (o rule without the aid .. of a Parliament, using only a military Cabinet to advise him. Jugo-Slavia is a difficult country to govern owing to the many racial o 1 c m c nts polyglot population,

hich comprise it

ncluding Sorbs, Croats, Slovenes, and ither Slav minorities. The kingdom of 'iigo-Slavia has only been in existence

a matter of ten years, and on the ■\vholo it lifis not been a very well-, "behaved country. It lifts Imd to eon--leml with internal dissatisf;ittiou »s a result mostly of external influences, such as tlm Meeedoiiian question, the Albanian question, ami the differences between Dulgaria, Italy, ami Greece. Cabinet has followed Cabinet without any settlement •of tlie difiieulties cneounteved,.. and over all liafc liovered the spectre of assassination. Prior to recent occurrences, King Alexander ruled his country as a constitutional monarch, but. on several previous occasions lie threatened to suspend the Con-r-tstiUitiim and rule as a dictator, i fhiTitt which he lias now adopted. It ■js said that he has had-a rootsd objection to doing so, but the political activities of the different parties have lirought things to such a bad state that action has been forced upon him, King Alexander 1. was born at Cettinge, capital of Montenegro, on 4th Decenv her, ISSS, and was the second son of Princess ,Zorka, the third daughter of Prince Nicholas (afterwards King) of "Montenegro, his father being Prince Peter Karajorgjevich. For eleven years he shared his father's poverty-stricken exile at Geneva, whence he went to ' Petragrad to be educated. About a year after his father had succeeded to the throne of Serbia, as King Peter, following the murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga, little Prince Alexander joined the Tsar's Corps of Pages, and 3t was live years before he went to live permanently in Serbia, i'rom that time, however, his real training for kingship began. His elder brother, bscause of an unbalanced temperament, •'was compelled to abdicate as Crown Prince in favour of Prince Alexander. Until he was summoned just before the outbreak of the Great War to be Regent, on account of his father's illness, Prince Alexander spent most of his time with the army. During the war he shared all the miseries of his troops • during their long/tragic retreat through Albania to the Adriatic, refusing a warship the Italian has sent to take him to safety. Sick and tired, he made his way to Paris and London, only to Work harder than ever for the Allied cause. He returned to Southern Europe, and for the remainder of the war remained at Serbian headquarters. He became King on 16th August, 1921, and the following year lie married Princess Mario, (I- daughter of the King of Jiumauia. Sir William Llewellyn.

After having conferred upon them the honour of being a Royal Aceilemiciiin, every artist desires the added honour of being elected president, which has now been accorded to Siv William Llewellyn,- His immediate predecessor, Sir Prank Dick, sec, was elected to the oflico in 1924. but towards the end of hist year he died, and Sir William was elected president on 10th December last. Sir William Llewellyn, 1 who w:is born in Gloucester, was the son

oti-an engineer ol Welsh national'

y. He was elected ail Associate of the

Koyal Academy in 1912, and became a full E.A. in 1920. Since his election as president of the academy, his complete set of titles will be represented I'y the letters, P.E.A., 8.1., K.W.A., X.0.V.0. He is pre-eminently a portrait painter. His most celebrated pic-

ture is the State portrait of Queen

M.ary, which has been copied over and over again, so that most even of those in close touch with such matters have, probably lost count of (lie number of copies. The total is about eighty. It imiy well be doubted whether any single pirtuvc has been officially copied so often. Sir William's appointment is not at all surprising, for lie has been

one of the most .popular of Acadernie

iaus since Ins election. To the 1927 Academy ho contributed only oae pielure, a portrait of 6. Walter Knox, which wiis painted for tlic Institute of Chartered Accountants, and was :i most successful likeness of a very paintable sitter. To the 102S Academy exhibi--1 ion lie sent no fewer than five ■ pictures, including Landscapes entitled

respectively ".Sunset," "Chateau das Loches," and "The .[{.imparts of Mou-t-reuil-sur-iuer." S3l- William married, in ISS3, .Marion, daughter of Mr. T. M. Meates, of Wimbledon. Lady Lie. wellyu died in 3020.

Sir William Bull.

Once again tlio question of the Channel Tunnel has been reopened in.England, and on this occasion with a chance of success than ever before. Some time' ago a Channel Tunnel Committee was sot up in England, its chairman boing Sir William Hull, ALP. As a result of li!s questions in Parliament the Prime Minister replied (his week that the time was ripe for a thorough re - examination of Hip irhole question, particularly in regard to its economic

. aspects. hi an interview after, the Prime Minister's speech in the House. Sir William Bull said: "Wo are well satisfied with the trend of public opinion in regard to this important matter. The fact that the subject is to be reopened by the Government indicates that we shall get to the bottom of the matter, and 1 have no doubt, that the money will bs found immediately. It will cost, roughly, £30,000,000, and will lake four and a half years to construct." The Right J[on. Sir William Bull was elected Conservative member for lfam:nersniith in 3900, and has sat for th.it dislrk-t ever since., fte is senior partner, in the legal iiniii of, Bull and Bull, .and. was admitted as a solicitor iv . 1880. [■!,<!. ivus erected in thp J;om)o>: County Council in IS!)2, and has been vice-' chairman' 6( the General Purposes' 'rfitc! Parks Committees, and clwiinnai) of th(> (lames and Bridges Committees. He occupied ..this latter office durirg thp pcrioil '4f the Ipiiikling of the Blatkwall ■'J'uimel iiiitli-i: the Thames, and took a

prominent part .in' its opening. With the late Sir John Button and tlu; late Eight Hon. John Burns lie investigated and organised the labour conditions of the council's staff- He has held public office in several other directions, including the Land Tax Commissioner for Kensington, principal of the Imperial Society of Knights, Maltravers Herald Extraordinary, and. has occupied scat? on the Eoyal Humane Society, the West London Hospital, and many other organisations. No man in England is better fitted to guide the destinies of the tunnel scheme, especially from the point of view of. educating the public to its need. Sir William was knighted in . 1905, as a tribute to his valuable local body, work, and in 1922 he was raised to a baronetcy. He is now CIS years old, and comes from a well-known London legal family, his great grandfather practising as far back as 1750.

Sir Basil Blackett.

Big tilings have been happening in the cable, world during tlic past few mouths, but only recently lias anything eiiiiite been divulged to the public lrougli the Press. The latest informadii i.« Hint Sir Basil Blnckctt has been appointed chairman of the Communications Company which has been formed to tnkc over the cable anrt. wireless services hitherto controlled by the British Government, the Pacific Cable Board, the Gable Company, the Marconi Company,

, .-'■ ...'', :uhl other concents or- a, like kind, making one of the biggest- amalgamations that lias ever occurred. Sir Basil was nominated by the .Eastern aiut Associated Telegraph Companies, two big concerns that have also .been absorbed, and is to receive a salary of £8000' a year. In July of last year Sir. Basil paid a visit to Wellington during the-course of a world tour which he was making to inquire into economic and financial conditions as well as into other matters of vital importance to the British Empire. He is still a comparatively young man to bo handling such big undertakings, even though this is the day of the young man, being only 40 years old. Already he has held many, important financial posts during his business career. He is a- son of the late Rev. W. B. Blackett. I vicar of Holy Trinity Church, Nottirghaui, and .was educated at Maryborough i College, Wilts, and University College, Oxford, where he took first-class honours in 190 i. The same year ho'entered the Treasury and there during the. next decade made a profound study of the finance of the Empire, with such success that iv 1913 he was appointed secretary to the Indian Finance and Currency Commission, which sat that year and the next. The outbreak of the Great War gave him .further opportunities for his..financial gifts. He went on a special-mission to the United States Government in October, 1914, in connection with exchange problems arising out of the war, and next year was a member of the Anglo-French "Finance Mission to America, which raised the Anglo-French loan of 500,----000,000 dollars in October; 1915. He was also a- member of the National War Savings Committee, set up in 1910, and again represented the British Treasury !in America from 1917 to 1919. His success on these important missions, , while he was still in his thirties, led to his appointment as Controller of Finance to the Treasury in 1919, a position which lie held until 1922. Afterwards ho was' for five years finance member of, the. Executive Council of tlie Government of India, and it was to his wise guidance that India owes, to some extent at least, her sound financial condition. He retained this post until 1927, and has since been unattached. Sir Basil Blackett married in 1020 Miss Beatrice Bonnor, of New York. Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Health first, and then polities,: has been the mode of life for some years of Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Governor-elect of New York State. The search for health has not been entirely for himself, though that has

line the difficult!":

been a major consideration since ho suffered 'an attack of infan-' tile paralysis in 1921 that left his legs shrunken and useless. His own calamity has made him persevere in his endeavours to help others, while he has lost no opportunity of helping si cen cc to overwhich have faced

those carrying out research work in this direction. Mr. Franklin Roosevelt is a distant cousin of the famous Theodore Roosevelt, at one time President of the United States, undj like him, has always been a man to get things done.- Ho was Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Wilson, and was largely 'responsible, for bringing that Department speedily into wartime efficiency. Up was practising law when he received the nomination for senator, making a whirlwind campaign and capturing the State seat for Die Democrats, though it had been hold for ( twenty-eight years previously by the' Republican Party. He was born at Dutchess, Columbia, in 18S2, and in his early days wanted to follow the sea as a calling,,but the strength of the family's tradition sent him to Harvard instead of to Annapolis. His love for the Navy is shown, however, by his collection of books on naval subjects, one of the largest and finest libraries of its kind in tin* world, each volume dealing with n spy subject .iml most of them having close allinity with naval defence, lie has also specialised in naval prints, a large number of which he has displayed in his home in New York. The year after graduating from Harvard. Mr. Roosevelt married his cousin, Misa Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, niece of the famous President of the same name, who said, when he gave her away, "There's nothing like keeping the name in the family." They liuve five children, including one daughter. M.r. Roosevelt was admitted to the Bar in 1907, and three years later he started out in business on his own account. Hu was first elected a Senator in 191 J. and in I'JIS President Wilson made him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, which post he held for seven years. His appointment, if it did not really carry out the dreams of his boyhood, at least placed in office an expert u-ho had spent his life in the collection of material relevant to naval matters. Although lie still walks only with the. aid of crutches, it is said tli.it his health is improving, and it: was expected that when, he mitered the executive inanion at Albany on Ist January he would be able to do so with I lie aid ■of a cane and possibly Hie aim of his . fildost son. Elliot.

I'Voibnii;. in Germany, claims to have (lie (irst and oldest woman doctor in •Europe in JJi. Matliildo Tlieysweii, who lately celebrated her 90th birthday.. Slio attended wounded soldiers on the battlefields during the l'Vanco-Prussian "War, two generations, ago, syij was twite wounded in doing so.