IN THE PUBLIC EYE.

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 1797, 18 May 1912, Page 4 (Supplement)

IN THE PUBLIC EYE.

■ ■» [ A PEER'S PROFESSIONS.

No member of the peerage has played so many parts in life as the new Marquis of Hertford. As the Earl of Yarmouth "he has been actor, playwright, journalist, sheep-farmer, wine agent, skirt-dancer, soldier, and a number of other things, in spite: of the fact that he is; only forty years of age. He made his debut as a skirt dancer twenty years ago, deputising for a young lady who had failed to appear. He subsequently adopted the stage as a profession, and scored a huge success in America. He married in 1903, Miss Alice Thaw, who inherited £200,000 from her father. Tlie marriage was not a. happy 'one, and four years ago a nullity suit was brought' in London, and Lady Yarmouth was granted a decree. SCOTTISH MINERS' LEADER. Of all the men of the coal crisis none has' taken a more prominent place than Mr Robert Smillie, President of the -Scottish Miners' Federation, and Vice-President of' the. Miners' Federation of Great Britain. Mr Smillie is not in Parliament, but .- he had made several attempts, three of them in Mid-Lanark. Though not that is not for the want of trying, fo> one of the greatest Smillie is one of the most influential of .-. the men's leaders. His connection with the miners 'unions bean in 1886, •*

■ L.--.*?*. ' ■ . . .-; when ne was appointed secretary to abranch. He has a genius for organisa-i tion, and soon became a power, wliile he brought the Scottish unions up Iq- . strength' they had never before ;. known. "DR. JIM'S" SUCCESSOR. Sir Thomas Smartt, who is expected: to succeed Sir Starr Jameson as leader of the Unionist Party in South;. Africa, is like "Dr. Jim," an instanceof a medical man successful in politics.Dr. Smartt was an ardent folio-wo-of Mr Cecil ivhoJes. He was Colonial Secretary in the Sprigg Ministry in Cape Colony for a few Months in 1898, and in .1900 he was appointed Commissioner of Public Works. In th-i Jameson Ministry in 1904 he held the same portfolio. Sir ' Thomas Smartt is an Irishman by birth, and there is a suspicion of the brogue in his speech. He has been one of the most prominent of the Opposition, leaders since the Union. THE NEW MODERATOR. The Rev. David Fotli«-ingham, minister Emeritus of Tottenham, who-. - has been elected Moderator of thePresbyterian wurcli of England, is one of the J best-known public men in Tottenham, where.he has served or*the Board of Guardians and on thoSchool Board. He was made a magistrate some years as a fitting' tribute to his public service. Mr Fotheringliam completed his jubileeof ministerial life three years ago.. He retired from the pastorate at Tottenham ) which. he nad held since--1865, but was elected minister Emeritus. The new Moderator has been h familiar figure in English Presbyter- '. ian circles for many years, and his- : election will give general satisfaction. A FAMOUS SCIENTIST. Sir Joseph Thomson,. who has been appointed to the Order of Merit, :->• one of the most eminent of living: scientists. He succeeded Lord Ra'yleigh as Cavendish Professor of Experimental Physics at Cambridge in 1884, and his work, following on thatof Clerk Maxwell and Lord Rayleigh,. has made the cavendish Laboratoryvie of th* most famous in, the world. Sir Joseph received the first part «f • his University education at OwensCollege, passing on to Cambridge!, where he had a brilliant career. He--1 was Second Wrangler and Second' Smith's Prizeman in 1880, in which.year he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College. The famous scientist hasproduced a number "of important works, dealing chie3v with electricity and magnetism. He has been honoured by many universities at home and abroad, and is a member of an enormous number cf learned scientists.'

FROM SHEFFIELD TO HONG KONG.

It is announced that Sir CharlesEliot, Vice-Chancellor of the University of, Sheffield, has accepted theGovernment appointment of Head of the University at Hong King. Sir Charles, who was born in 1864, was* formerly in the diplomatic service, and had a varied experience in St. Petersburg, Morocco, ConstantinopleBulgaria, Servia, and Washington, before becoming Special High Commissioner for Samoa. From 1900 to 1904 he was Commissioner and Com-mander-in-Chief for the East AfricanProtectorate, -and • was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University in 1905. Sir Charles was made a C.B. in 1898, and a K.C.M.G. in> 1900. '"'■.-■ ■■■ CHNA'S NEW PREMIER. The first Premier of the new Chinese Republic, Tang Shao Vi, is a ■ self-made man. Twenty years ago he was picking up an uncertain living as a clerk-interpreter.- He had studied law in the United States, and was a splendid linguist. He had the good fortune to attract the notice of Yuan Shih-Kai, who made him his secretary, and started him on the road to power. He held various Government posts after that', and during the recent upheaval in China, he was Yuan Shih-Kai's right-hand man. He has been Ambassador in Washington, and knows both America and Europe very welL He is one of the most progressive men in China. ■' THE SOUTH AFRICAN CAPTAIN. ; The captain of the South African cricket team which is to visit us this year is Mr F. Mitchell, who played for Cambridge at Lord's in, 1894, 1 1895, 1896, and 189.7, being captain in 1896. He played for England against Wales, Ireland, and Scotland at Rugby football in 1895-1896. He captained a cricket team in America in 1895, and played for Yorkshire in 1894, '95, '97, '99, and 1904. He was captain of Cambridge at Lord's when so that Oxford should not follow-on . (in those days the side which was ahead had no option), he instructed the bowler to bowl wide on purpose. Three balls went to the boundary— and Cambridge were able to bat again instead of being, obliged to field because their bowlers happened to be too good for the Oxford batsmen. The law on the point has since been altered.' The direct result of his act was that the fielding side were awarded the option of going in again of of making their *opponehtts follow-on. The affair caused a great stir, in the cricket world at the time.