A REMARKABLE CAREER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3899, 16 April 1877, Page 3

A REMARKABLE CAREER.

Mbi John P'o'fe Hbnjtessy (writes the London correspondent of the Liverpool Mercury) who is going out to Hong Kong as Governor with a salary of £5000 a-year, has had a very remarkable career. In 1859, when he was clerk in a Government office in Whitehall, about 25 years of age, and with about £80 a-year stipend, he was selected by Cardinal Wiseman to stand for "King's County at the general election which the then Lord Derby had suddenly announced. The young clerk: went down, found tliree Liberals in the field, saw that he* was sure to wiijj telegraphed, to Lc/n= don on the eve of tlie election to resign his appointment, and was returned at the head of the poll. He thus found himself, like Phineas Finn, an M.P. at five-and-twenty, with something less than Phineas Finn's income to live upon. He spoke frequently in the House, and experienced none of that nervousness endured by Mr Trollope's hero. He tried his hand at literature, and wrote, I believe, for a time iii the Athenteum. But letters were not his forte, and they would no£ have kepi i the s wolf front the ddor. He had sufficient self-confidence to inspire confidence in others, ana! there were many who believed in him. sufficiently to aid him when supplies ran short. So tilings went on, and for six years Mr Hennes"sy coritrived to keep Ms head above water, and to make a certain • amount of. reputation for himself in the House. In 1865 there was a general election, and Mr Hennessy had to go back to his constituents. Alas, he lost his. election .by seven votes. Tilings looked, very gloomy indeed at this point for the young politician. He was out in the cold, and his political friends seemed to be farther from office than they were Six years before, for the country had increased Lord Palmerston's majority from 13 to over 70. Bui we know what happened — how the veteran Premier died^ how the Adullamites broke up the RussellGladstone Ministry, and how the third Derby-Disraeli Ministry was formed. One of the first things it did was to give Mr Hennessy the governorship of Labuan. There he settled for a while and married. Then he was promoted to the West Coast of Africa, then the Leeward Islands, and now goes to Hong Kong. Everything has seemed to tell in his favor. His very mistakes have turned out to his advantage, and because he did not get on in the Barbadoes with £4000 a year, he is sent to China with £5000. This success is the more remarkable, because Mr Hennessy suffers from what is usually a hindrance to promotion, the fact that he is a Roman Catholic of ultramontane views.

The Riverine Herald says : — "A tradesman in Echuca owns a most useful dog. The animal makes a special mission of adding to its owner's wood pile, and being of great size can bring home timber of. substantial dimensions. The forages of the dog are entirely upon his own account, and it is not known which locality he visits to satisfy his peculiar appetite."

Secretary.