All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 93, 12 April 1902, Page 3

All Sorts of People

WHO is McLaughhni' Some people pretended to have never heard of him when he took charge of matters musical in connection with the wsit of the Yorks last but that cannot be urged now, seeing that the jowal musician is \evv much m evidence piloting opeia at the Empire Bazaai In his tame the pi>esent-day Government life insurance man has played many parts, and e\ov\ kind of instrument. He was born m Port Adelaide and has beefl brought up in any place at all wheiP there was a trombone or a ievs-harp to be found. Mac" has all sorts of pleasant memories, ranging from the vigorous thump of his South Australian schoolmaster to the gentle pressuie of the hand of the Princess of Wales * * * When his turn came to shake the royal fist, 'Mac" owns to have felt as it the ground was receding but when Her Royal Highness gently detained ham, and whispered hei thanks for his excellent music, then he wasn't quite suie whether lie would let a meie commoner nidely pumphandle him again. In connection with that Dukovork music, a urn is told. One lad\ belonging to Wellington's cieme de la creme was a passenger for Home immediate] v after the departure of the Ophir probably to keep up the acquaintance with rovalt-s . * * * Theie was also on board anothei wellknown lad\ with whom Mr McLaugh]in was well acquainted. To hei the member of the elite indignantly put tho question Who is McLaughhn 3 The idea of allowing a man who knows nothing of music— a dreadful creatiuc of whom the world never heard — to supph music tor io\altv Did yon f\e. hear of him J " '"'Well yes a little He is a goo<l friend of mine He trained me m opera as Serpolettc 'Mabel ' and 'Yum-Yum ' Oh yes I know the creature' a little good-b\c" It is amusing to hear ' Mac" talk with sarcasm of tho jealousy that existed among the ' stretched-neck tenois ' and the feaisome wiles oi the antedilmian fungoids" who also w anted to know " Who is McLaughhn?" Answenng the query, Mac" is the son of his father, who was a South Australian sehoolmastei, with an M.A. degree from Timity College, Dublin. 'Mac" junior, when he landed in Chnstchurch, a comparatnelv callow youth, took to the supple]dck too, as a pupil teacher, went in for mime all the time and formed amateui opera companies whete\ei he could get material. He pursued the fleeting schoolboy in Otago, got tired, and went home to have a Took at Laigs Bay, but, after eight months, he wanted to see how the Canterbuiy amateurs we're getting on, and to strike up an acquaintance with schoolboys once moie * * * He found that he »as too much of a free lance to stand comimtteedom He tried a httlo journalism in a desultory sort of fashion He went away with Phil New bury during that tenor's tour as solo pianist, and no musician from Concertina Jack to Gerardv ever asks "Who is McLaughlin?" ''Mac" is at present leader of St. Joseph's choir, in Buckle-streeit. Without any instrument at all ho is perfectly at home on the platform, as you would believe if you had heard him rebuking the Empire Bazaar Philistines for making a row and

spoiling the- open a One oi Wellington's best known and most populai pripsfrs sat shivering undei the witheimg niu'ctiu'of the fluent Mao" Oh deal "he said, I wondei what lie is o- o - mg to say next 5 " But as the compan\ liad but two lioius to hmsli the opera in Mac" adjourned himself sine die 9 ' C Mehui Vaiuman, when lie is on terra hrma is a medium-sized Amencan, with an amused expiession and a fomfoot camera. He is. in Wellington inst now , making pictures up to six feet long, and his photogiaphs aie perhaps the finest specimens of landscape w ork this country has seen He is full of anecdote and enthusiasm and if theie's a ship m harbour whose skvs'l is away up neaiei heaven than auv other in port, Melvin gets hauled up and takes a snap-shot of twenty or thirty miles of country w ith the biggest plate in the wotlcL He )?ad never heard of New Zealand a short time since but he dropped on a little book in a hotel in Honolulu, saving there was scenery here.' That settled it * # * C. MeUm Yaiiiman chaiteied a big loiry, and got his machine on boaid a Sp'reckels" right then Tlieie were twehe Americans on board that boat looking for scenery and not one (except himself) landed in Auckland The\ weie going to Australia looking for landscape 1 The San Francisco photographer is glad he came He gets better pictures in New Zealand than lie does at home 01 in Honolulu, and Wellington makes the finest picture of the lot If he cannot get a boat with a high top-mast, he gets a pole elected instead. In Honolulu a person who wanted a photograph of his ironworks put up a pole 107 ft high and the aenal artist got his four-foot negative fiom near the top of it * * * Theio is now a big enough cameia in New Zealand to effectively photogiaph the possessor of the laigest kind of swelled head. Gentlemen of upwards of twenty stone may stand on Mount Victoua, and Mr. Vanunan will snap them off from the skys'l yard of a nian-o'-war He'll get them in somehow. It took twenty horse*, and a stage coach to oanv Vaiuman and his camera from Taupo to Wanganui At least he was the onh pas^cngei Sometimes, he has, adventures. At Honolulu, he wanted to make a picture of the ciater Kilanea and Kdiison Meisenger. the local Beau B rum m ell was dying to go too Would ftdison M help drag the machine ? Why cci tainlv " And he dragged it thiough a hornet's nest' * • * The landscape, like the resultant photograph, was extiemeh pictuiescjuc. Mrs Va,imnan, who is an aitist, travels with liei husband and his gigantic photographs. She colouis those photographs until they look like the most exquisite watei colouis. Mi Vaiuman finds that the New Zealand people aie \eiv hospitable He is hawng a. 'light io\al time," and he guesses he will stay light along foi a further spell until he gatheis all the beauty spots of Now ZeaJand within the scope of his portfolio. * * * Pope Leo the Thirteenth will leave lus personal fortune to lus five nephews on condition that they shall never make the slightest claim on the Italian Government. The leason for this peculiar piovision lies in the fact that theoretically the Government pays the Pope an annual stipend of 3 000,000 lire or £120.000. But the Pope has always refused to acceipt the stipend. On the death of Pius the Ninth, however his nephews claimed the 'back pay " which their uncle had refused to touch. The claim, of course, was not allowed but the affair iniured the prestige of the Vatican and Pope Leo is determined to prevent a repetition of the scandal.

Ban oa Berthald, the teuoi \ibiato, who was here with Mi. Musgiove's. giand opera company, and won the heaits of the ladies by Ins handsome appeal ance m the Wagneiian operas, is said to have devoted all the money he eaa nod during the torn to the New York Christian Science (.'lunch. In fact, thc-\ co far a,s to sa\ that Berthald came out to the colonies solely foi the purpose of earning the money foi the church C'hnstian Science is faithhciahng wilt large " During his sta\ ir Melbourne, by the way, Berthald endeavoured to give the cult a lift by ad- \ ocating it in letters to the dailies But w hen his throat w ent back on him for a time he went straight to a healer who owned the orthodox kind of diploma * • * Which lathei lemmds one of the stoiv about the Wellington lady who was troubled with a cataract in her eve. She tried faith-healing in the incipient stages of the malady, hut when it got troublesome, she rushed off to the specialist We forget for the moment whether it was McKenzie, Van Slyke or Martindale Kendall. At any rate, he scored rather neatly when he heard of her faith-healing experiment's. "Ah Madam," he said, ''faith may move mountains, but it needs a lancet to shift a cataract." * * * Semoi Councilloi A. H. Fulltoid, one ot the angles m the thiee-corneied duel to be fought for the proud position of mayor ot Melrobe is interesting if he can be persuaded to discourse of himself. There is some little difficulty, however, in getting this modest celebnt> to go into particulars of his varied caieer. However, he allowed us to coax him out of his bashfulness. He is still young, just in the first flush of his thud decade in fact, and about sixh-four inches trom his boot soles to the top of the head that is to think out pioblems for the betterment of Melrose. He saw the light through the muik\ atmosphere of London for the first time but at SL\en years of age his paienN lieaid there weie houses to pla&tci m New Zealand, and left the modem Babylon in consequence. Young Fullford ha& spent his life 1 " among plaster, poultry, football, and boiough politics. Talking about plaster, he has spread many acies of it in Wellington, and, as for poultry, is he not vice-president of the Poultry Society of Wellington I1 '' He pla\ed junior and senior football for the Melrose Club tor thirteen years, and he has played representative football for Wellington, and in his day was a hard nut to crack at full-back. Also, he is still president ot the Melrose Football Club, and last year the senior football shield was sent along to lumi, the Melrose Club having won it outright. He played cricket, too, for the Stars," so he is a many-sid-ed man, as may be believed, and, as we before intimated, when he upends himself to do a little straight talk in matters municipal, the keenest Frost is unable to nip the bud of his eloquence. He know s the standing orders off by heart and is not afraid to meet his enemies in thp gate Also, it is not quite certain if he has any enemies, for thp air of confiding innocence about "Melrose's senior" would disarm the most evilly-dis-posed critic * * ♦ Regarded a.s a school of humour, Melrose. Borough Council still keeps up its leputiation It is ancient history now that one councillor wanted to pass a vote of "century" on another. Another councillor, too, is known to have remarked that as "soon as I was called together for this committee meeting I was there." but the palm goes to the fluent orator, who, with sparkling eye, declared "I don't care what Councillor says T don't accept his authority I tell you, Mr. Mayor, that he is ultra vires, null and void, and all wrong to blazes. I vote agin' him."

Mr. P. Hally, who has been heard and seen in Wellington lately in connection with the tailoresses' case, before the Arbitration Court, is president of the Federated Tailoresses' Union of Wellington, Christ church , and Dnnedin. He concerns himself with labour, but does not get excited about it. He cannot talk much, but what he says is clear and incisive and he doesn't rant. If he had 'got in" in the bye-election for that vacant Caversham seat, his quietness wouldn't ha\e done any harm in the House. * # * Among othei quiet things Mr. Hally mentioned in Wellington was the fact that he was neither a tailoress nor a tailor." Fact is. he is a bootmaker, He w as recently elected as a member of tlie Dunedm Conciliation Board. .He does not appear to have much time for making boots. Dunedin Labour gave him a purse of sovereigns not long ao-o As Mr Hally is quite young, he will probably be heard of yet in connection with legislative matters. * * * Last week's sitting of the Arbitration Court, in the tailoresses' dispute, w as remarkable in that two members of the Legislative Council appeared prominently on the union side. Hon. J. Rigg. who is president of the- Wellington Tailoresses' Union, elucidated many knotty points, and the Hon. W. Jennings, of the white puggaree and the spectacles, descended from Auckland, where he presides over the Tailoresses' Lmon. He came down to oppose the making of the national award. Auckland tailoresses do not want to work under conditions similar to the federated Southern unions. » * ♦ Mr. P. Hercus, general manager of the Kaiapoi Woollen Mills, clips everything he does pretty short, like his beard His general appearance denotes aggressiveness, and he is of the strong, short, and solid type of Britisher that once linking made up his mind that a blue coat was black couldn't be persuaded to alter his decision. *• « * The lengthy Mr. Garron, Secretary of tllie Otago Employers' Association, is business clean through. We should think his imagination would not be poetical, and he would make a fairly poor hand at creating fanciful surpluses, or things of that sort. He deals, like the celebrated Gradgrind, with 'Facts, Sir. hard facts," and in thf* multitude of his figures there is wisdom. + * • ' Ted" Wetzel, the Queensland swimming authority, who doesn't swim, has been speaking a few columns or so to Que-ensland papers touching the watery sport and aquatic sportsmen in New Zealand. Ted. managed for Cavill, Read, and Gailey while those sportsmen weie teaching New Zealanders how to swim. When he got back, Queensland papers turned on the swiftest phono-Qxaphers they could find, and backed them up with phonographs. No shorthand writer ever "took" Ted at top Anyhow , the lengthy Bananalander calls New Zealand sports "topnotcheis," and thinks the City Council is ' aw ay down" for demanding fifty per cent, of the takings at carnivals. He mentions that one Wellingtonian wanted the "whole boiling of them" to stay right heie in the Empire City to push swimming along at big salaries. * » • Then Ted reeled off nineteen columns of impiessions that necessitated the repair of the phonograph, and the use of another shift of phonoeraphers, and away down at the foot of one of those columns there is something about "those magnificent baths at Thorndon." Of course, the thorn in Ted's side was the cavernous Cavill. He won't train if there's a "feed" to be had, and it is stated that he would sooner swallow grmecerbeer and buns than capture a chammonship.

Land Valuer Ganott, ot Auckland, is veiv often mistaken up in that district for William McCullough, ex-honourable ot the New Zealand House ot Louis. Also, they aie both blessed with a brogue which is nch and iac\ of the ould sod " The likeness between these two sons, ot Kim-go-biaeh locals a ston which is- told at the ex-Hon. Mac s expense It is probably a fairy tale but. at any rato, is liappilv concened hili> ■the last elections, were on. and the • lavnial William" was out foi Ohmoimin Garrett dropped in unexpectedly at one of the mining townships, hlection feeling was high, and he was lecened with great honours at the puiicipal hostels as Oui candidate, AH. McCul lough." , Ot course, it was nec*>s.m to moisten him* Nothing. He chalked the ™ks up to the McC ullough election account conscious that he was moyng tl "cause along to some effect, and when ho left the town next day amidst the cheeks of the people there was a score on tU slate thai ought to haye ■ beon good enough foi >00 otes. But it a\ asn't . » Some of the Auckland pulpits aie undergoing a bit of a change The ■Rev A H. Collins has just left the Ponsonby Baptists with a purse of fovereigns and a few other keepsakes. He came down to Wellington last week fnd went on to Nelson to give ' supply theie for a shoi t period pnoi to his ieturn to the Old Country. The Re^ K. F. Macnicol, who. fortWt.-th.ee has faithfully ministered to the St. James's Presbvter.ans. has letired from the active pastorate throu-h failing haalth. and has been m ade tor with a pension of £104. H\ tne lav it is somewhat of a coincidence that Auckland and Wellington have both had cleigvmcvn to preside over t.heir Conciliation Boards. Ld in ifckland, the Conciliation Board was first of all ruled hv the Rev Georer Bureess, and after him bv the Rev. A H Colhns, while here m Weilmeton the Rev. J. Crewes ltins the show^ Bawdm^tcr King, ot Oamaiu, who makes one of the Bisley team has a very remarkable shooting lecoid. in lid annual prize firing meeting of t e N Z Rifle Association since 18 Jl. nc has «hot into a place among the chosen hrtv'who alone fire the last stage foi the championship. On nine out of the twelve occasions he has finished in the first twen+v, and during the last five Y e*us hasnevei been further away than eleventh H.s lecord reads -1891 third 1892, thiiteenth, l»9d. ntteenth 1894, m theoO , 1893, tweiitioth 189G, in the oO 189/ sixth , 1808 eleventh 1899, first 1900 no meeting 1901, fourth, 1902. fourth. * * * Mr Hogg, MHR, when in Masterton has, of course, to do as the Mastertonians do. They are at pieseiit woislnppingthe champion belt won b% then rifle marksman Hyde, and they diagthgentle craft into every banquet that crops up. The satirical Hogg had to eet his little joke off about the popular subject, and so, t'other night, at a public dinner, he remarked that. Parliamentary representatives sometimes did a hit of rifle shooting. At present, however, there was very little to rifle, for the Treasury chest, was about omptiy." As a specimen of Parliamentary facetiousness, we laugh with the Mastertonians, but, regarded as a chunk of cold fact — -well, what about surpluses and i<?misßion,s of taxation, and all that kind of thing 9

Quaiteimastei-Seigeant Mitchell, of Balclutha, who went away with tho Kighth Contingent, has been turning Ins X lavs on to that patriotic tioop. "Wilting from Albam , he says that gambling is earned on among the men to an alarming extent. We ha.\ c> with us a few men wlio aie going with + his Contingent with one object in \ lew - to make mone\ — honostlv if possible but the,\ consider themsoh c\s ]ustifiod in using any means to secure then end. Most of these men arc 'lotuins' fiom foimer Contingents We ako lia\ c with usa lot of -\oung innocent lads who have never been away from wheie tho-\ weie born and bi ought up. The^e are tho innocent victims of our soldiei sharpers, who use e\ er\ Mj>aro moment of the day and half the nio-ht oa&ine thorn of their few hard-earned and tieasured pounds One man lost £1(> last night in less time than it takes to w uto it. and another man boasts of making over £30 in two houis." * * * A Mrs Chapman has been writing to a paper up Noith uiging King Dick to send a contingent of 0000 men to South Africa to end the war Whereupon, another lady, who si^ns herself A Postponed Bride," lushes breathlessly into print and stnkes out stiaight from the shoulder after this style — I suppose she thinks because she lias got a male partner, that nobody else wants one. I wonder if she is willing to let her hubby go. I think Mr. Seddon will have to make a pension for old maids or «tart them on the land poultry fanning." That Postponed Bnde" doesn't mean to be shelved if she can help it. * * * Dr. Bakewell of Auckland, and formerly of Chnstchurch , has gone away with the Ninth Contingent, as one of its medical officers. The venerable Doctor had become one of the most thoicughly a.ppieciated of local institutions up North, Ins humorous and satirical letters to the daily press having established recognition for him as the acknow ledgod public censor of men and morals. The Doctor is an old campaigner, having sor\ed through the Cnmea, and having been piesent at some of the most stirring engagements of that w ai\ He is ivell ach anced in \ears. having passed the threescoie and ton. but, being made of tough material, he may endure the hardships at the front more successfully than some of the medical men one-third his age ■c * * King Dick made faiewelhng Gi&bornltes uncomfortable lecently bv glanng at a committee and telling them theie ]lm\ been a discoidant note- stiuck One thousand Poverty Bay faces thereat lengthened, and one thousand health beat with fear. 'I don't like Poveitv " said Dick. Then, each of those one thousand people swore he would 'anteup' handsomely to Dick's 'puise," and make amends ' The name is a disgrace to this lovely distnet. Why should people suffer for a misfortune of Captain Cook's p " At once, the people saw what Dick was hitting at and gicw glad. King Dick said he wouldn't receive an address from Poveitv Bay, and

then all the people wondered if they would got their money back. But he didn't mean that. He intended them to alter the name. He wanted to know what people at Home would think of 'Jheep grown on Poverty, and, indeed, there is reaison for deleting that name iiom th<? map of New Zealand. WTiv not call one of the riches* spots in New Zealand Seddoma 01 Ca>rrollina ; 01 something that suggests affluence ? * # * Mi H. :\JcC'aidell, of tlie Lands and Suni'v Department, received a letter the other day from Mr. Thos. H. Hamer, the Premier's Chief Private Secretary, now on furlough at Home. It was written on boaid the s.s. China, oft Colombo, and shows that Mr. and Mrs* Ham or, up to the time of its despatch, had had fine weather and good timers all round. They were glad to get awa-s fiom Sydney, where the heat ways so intense that Mr. Hamer says he was nearly melted out of his clothes almost too hot to live, in fact. They went o\ en-land to Melbourne, spent thi'ee days there, and then boarded the China, which they found to be a ei'and boat." At the time of writing, the ocean wa«s as smooth as glass, and they had not had a, single rough day. x * * But the heat was awful, and Mr. Hamer lem arks "I have not vet arnved at the stage when lean truthfully <sa,y I shall be soiry to leave the ship " And then he adds "A funny incident happened yesterday. The kids on boaid — some fifteen of them — have their meals separately, and yesterday (Sunda-\) at tea-time they went out on strike Wouldn't tackle their grub — presented petition to captain asking for change of diet. The petition was received and the strikers were rewarded bv getting their way." * * * Ugo Biondi, whose lightning changes used to draw ciowds to the Opera House, when he was vi Wellington four or five years ago, has been one of the pantomime stars in London this year, and has leaped into fame. Ugo was educated at Florence, and was intended by his parents to be a solicitor. Amateur theatricals threw him on to the stage instead. He was in Johannesburg when the war started, and tells a good story of how he helped a couple of pressmen to make good their escape. They came to Biondi's hotel in the middle of the night , explained their danger, and entreated him to suggest suitable disguises. * * * The clever Italian rose to the occasion In a couple of hours one of the journalists, a man with dark hair and beard and sallow complexion, was to be seen as a fair-skinned clergyman, with a clean-shaven face .and light, chemically d\ed hair. The second disguise was e\en moie complete, for Biondi took advantage of a slight figure and small, delicate features, and made his friend dress as a nurse. The departure and the long journey which followed it were successfully accomplished* and Bioadj lives -to snap his fingers at Oom Para], and to level in the story.