All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 124, 15 November 1902, Page 3

All Sorts of People

DR. Chappie, who may be seen any da- at nresent buzzing round in a motorcar, in pursuit of patients and politics, is an enthusiast from the top-knot of fine black hair to the ti of a shapely boot. The immaculate medico, with the complexion of an infant and the Adomis^kke form, is as sure of the majority of New town ladies' votes as The Victory is sure of his last Melbourne Cup win. And what has Dr. Chappie dame to deserve popularity? Well, apart from making a living for himself, he has striven to make living a pleasure for other people. He has bee lin Wellington, for eleven years, and it is not too long. He is an Otago boy, and took his first degree in the University in the Scotch province Then, he did the grand tour He went to Scandinavia, England, Ireland, Scotland, Russia — -everywhere. He took a degree as he passed through Dublin, attended the International Medical Conference in Moscow, with eight thousand other "sawbones," and met everybody, even Virchow. He was one of a party of two hundred doctors from London, and learnt more with them than he had previously imagined. They discussed their failures, not thensuccesses. Failures do not eet into print but tlhev are the expeiiences that ambitious medicos thirst for * * * He made soecial studies m Public Health. He is the only medico in Wellington who holds a Public Health degree. He knows typhoid when he sees it. Do \o'i remember the time he chased the fleeting microbe of enteric typhoid, typhus, or whatever you choose to call it to a system of drains in Tory -street, made' a plan of the infected area, marked it with, red dots, and BtamiDed the disease out ? We do He instituted sanitary reform when Mill. D. Bell was mayor. His interest in the health of the oublic has led him into the slough of Dohtios. He thinks the-re is need for scientific opinion in Parlia<ment and that Parliament has nled^ed the Government to do things in the alleged interests of public health of which it knows nothing. Dr CharvDle is r*oing into this nolitical business with the same vigour that he displays in medicine, or swmming, or motoring Mr C. J. Hardy, B.A. (Cambridge), has lifted ur> his voice, in praise, for St. Peter's choir, for thirt-'-one years, and the tall, nervous, grey-haired scholar, not altowjetiher weary of well-domf has resigned to gwe younger choristers a chaince. In 1871. as a Mr. Hardy came to this colony. He had studied with the intention of taking holy orders The young 8.A., however, witih the impetuosity of -^outh, tripped hither, and arrived in time to join the forces operating against the dreaded Te Kooti. The fact is, the scholar took to the life of an armed constable when the renowned Brainiean raised the force that is proud of itself to this day. » • » Mr. Hardy served undei Colonel Henrick, and between you and us the A.C. had a soft time in those days of defective Maori powder, and indifferent bullets. Certainly, the rival forces used to shoot at each other, but according to Mr. Hardy, no one >eemed to cret hit. But, the necessity for snipers having gone past Mr. Hardy h.ul an

opportunity of diffusing tihe gifts natuie held ouven him He was appointed a master of the old school on the old Hill. The fact is he has been for the past twenty-three yeais headmaster of the Mount Cook Boys' School, and he still holds that position. Fifteen years ago, Mr. Hardy weat Home to Mortolk to see his aged father. The present schoolmaster's father died at the age oi ninety-seven , and, entic nous the tall, alert, and gentlemanly ex-chorister stands a chance to reach a similar age. During his connection with school life, Mr. Haidy has taken an extraordinarily keen interest m, athletics, and he has been a. hard man to beat at a sprint between the goal posts and in the gymnasium Touching his connection With St. Petei's choir He loaned it in 1871, and has missed few choar praotioes since. It was "old" St. Peter's in those days, and the harmonium was played by Mr. W. Morshead. Later" an organ was purchased bv the Ladies of the congregation who raised the necessary £600 Afterwards a new church, and a new organ, but the same Mi Hardy in the choir. He finds that as he is not so younjg as he was Sunday morning bed is more detaining than it was, and that Wednesday evening choir practace is not so enticing: as formerly. A very handsome sovereign - ease was given the veteran soivei eign-case was given the veteran chorister as a memento of his long connection with the choir, and he is proud of it, as also is he of being the chorister with the longest service of any choirsinger in New Zealand. r Rev. W. J. Elliott, the ardent prohibit] onast, is probably regarded bv the "trade" as being the most rabid coldwater man. barring Mr Isitt, of any person in Wellington. Well, allowing he is, he is a foeman worthy of the brewers' steel. He is the chairman of the New Zealand Alliance Executive, which is tantamount to saying that he neither touches, tastes, nor handles intoxicants in any form. Is he rabid because he does not know the insidious delights of alcohol, and therefore speaks of that lie knows nothing of? Hardly. Mr. Elliott says that he has always had a strong leaning towards all kinds of intoxicants. The fact is he loves them, and he is a prohibitionist primarily foir self -protection,, and, secondarily, for tihe protection of others. He is a colonial, is Mr. Elliott, and happened on earth at the close of the Waikato War. Born in Alexandra, of honest but non-prohibi-tionist parentsi, he imbibed his love for the pewteir and its contents at the usual early ai^e. But, he regards it now m a far different light. * • * He is not very old now, and he has been a Weslevan minister for twelve years. His path has been an easy one, for, as. a candidate for his office he got five marks for his trial sermons out of a maximum of six, and finished with that maximum. Only two other colonial candidates have ever don© this. But, to return to our beer. He first ministered in Tuakau and could see no harm m beer, or any other intoxicant. He thought that prohibitionists were splitters of straws rabid extremists, and all the rest of it. In 1895. he was drafted to Christchurch, and there he heard "Tommy" Taylor and the Rev. Mr Isitt. He was strongly prejudiced .^aiust them. • • * Although he has been a total abstained- for twenty years, he is but a recent convert to prohibition and "Tomnvv" and Mr. Isitt. And the reason? He believes now that his prejudice was unfounded, and that the two gentlemen named are not given to distendina facts or figures. He went to Balolutha in 1897, still a non-prohibitionist, and that place was then sufrerina- the drought of

a, partial prohibition, as it did from 18y-± to 1899. It rejoiced at this tune in the name of ' Baiswipey," and the Balssw ipianis had a rare time. We have been in a prohibited place, and know whereof we sneak. Gemeiral crime decreased, according to statistics, by y<s per cent, during the drought, and this was encouraging. Everything in the mlace has gone aheiad by leaps and. bounds, and, although Mr. Ell ott believes it may have done so i£ everybody had still continued to get drunk, he thinks, on the whole, tihe loss of licenses may have helped. It is said that per jury, lying, sly-grog selling private drinking and all that kind of thing have gone ahead too in the prohibition area. Maybe maybe not. We believe that the statistics, showing the* increase of legitimate trade, building sobmety ,and so on, counterbalance all thesis sans. Of course, the thirsty ones of the Clutha were in the habit of going to Stirling, wheone they wet their unslaked whistles, and then went home to Clutha, and got run in, and were duly held up as an example of the sly-grog evil. After total prohibition was carried the Government still kept a license for its refreshment-room but that, of course, was all right. It always is. B- the way, when the parson let it be known that he had become a prohibition oonconveirt, some of the Balswipians were rather put out. He received twenty anonymous letters, threatening to do al l sorts of odds and ends to him. Perhaps, thisi \i as their style of practical jokinoBy the way, the reverend coldwater apostle is one of the raciest parsoiiical writers in New Zealand. He has contributed ere now to the Auckland "Observer," and, on social and daiilv paper subjects, he is "out of sight." We believe that if a football fell in front of him, he would kick it, and that if anyone hit him hard he would endeavour toi do his best under the cdrcumstamces. He looks straight at one with a light, clear, blue eye, and is not afraid to meett his enemy on the gate or on the platform. As a parson, he rather glows than flashes, as secretary of the Wellington Ministers' Association he wields a very able pen, and as nresident of the Wellin"ton Christian Endeavoureirs he ' endeavours to his utmost. He is modest withal, and is diffident where he himself is concerned. Start him about beer or prohibition, and lay back. Put a placard on door "No admittance for half-a-dav." * * * r That gruff, bluff, hearty, old "seadog," Captain Hart, ex-vice-president of the Shipmasters' Association of New Zealand, happened to be tacking this way on Saturday las^. We noticed an unusual radiance on the skipper's waistcoat, and asked him about it. It was a gold Maltese cross, that the S.A.N.Z. gave him on his 1 retirement a few days since. He has earned that bit of gold has the skipper, for he was one of the first membens to join the S.A.N.Z. when ie was formed twelve years ago.. He has been vice-president for nine yeans * * * Everybody, of course, knows that the skipper has been a Shaw Saville man for many years' and that he has been assistant marine superintendent, under Cat>tain Babot, for nineteen of them. He drifted to this country in the barque "Blundell," in 1861, and even, then he was third officer of her. When Captain Hart is in good trim he spins a yarn that is worth hearing. He knows something of tihe Waikato War, and he is chock full of reminiscences. We have threatened to expose these yarns and Captain Hart says it is not worrying him, so Waikato War and sea serpents will have to wait until he has nothing; else on hand.

Talking about those who go down to the sea m ships, reminds us that those who make them to co down in. had a mild "grog oh!" the other night. The Wellington Shipwrights Society, to be explicit, had a smoke concert on Friday, m the Carl ton Hall, and it was a gathering of much bluff heartiness. This society, of which Wellington knows so little, is a twenty-nine years' old affair. A committee of twenty-one was formed at a meeting held in the old Bank Hotel (afterwards the Clarendon), in the dim past, and of those twenty-one, only three tucked their legs under the table on Friday. These were Messrst. P. Ooffey, S. Woods, and T. S. Dixon. * * * That ancient committee made rules that have not been materially altered to this day, and they seem to be so orood that perfect harmony has reigned _ between employer and employee ever since. It has been unnecessary all this time to employ a solicitor, and there has been no need for Circumlocution Boards or Aggravation Courts. Old man Coffey, who, you will remember, was one time partner with S. D. Dixon aforesaid, on the Te Aro flat, and who has since been associated with much of public note in Wellington, was in the chair, and we noticed some grizzled old veterans there. * « * "Tom" Harous had made a long journey to see old friends, and "Tom's" father (Mr L. Harous) despite his eighty odd years, looked as fresh as a pink. "Nat" Clatworthy, J. Munro, "Will" Watt, and W. Henderson, men Wellington knows well, were around the mahogany, and. many a tale of field and flood stout oak and steel plates, was told. The main point about this Shipwrights' Society is that harmony has always prevailed. There are forty-five paying members m the society. £500 has been disbursed in benefits, and there ila a credit balance of £300. Those three old identities before mentioned look fit for many more anniversary dinners. * • • Signor Bragato, the Government viticulturist who was in Wellington last week, probably knows more about wine and vines than any other man in this country. There is a gladness about the stalwart Austrian gentleman, a lightness in his step, a sparkle in his c"* 1 and a fierce siweep in his moustache that takes you in imagination to the sunny skies of Austria, amd the vineries of romantic Italy. Thirteen years ago, when the gay and debonniair viticulturist loft the Agricultural College of Conegliano, in Italy, with the highest diploma for winemaking, viticulture, and chemistry that that institution could give him, he spoke no word of English and, as chief expert to the Victorian Government, he learnt his English ABC, and to love this end of the earth. * * • We should mention, that Signor Bragato was intended for an architect, for he s.tudied for this at Vienna, but his heart was in the vineyard, and he cannot get much higher in his profession! than he is. It says something for the application of the Austrian, that he was lecturing to the students in the School of Vitioulture in, Victoria in English after he had been, in that State for three mon/ths. and during his residence in Australia he crave altogether 1400 lectures in the science of wine-making. He siays he will ~et demonstrate that New Zealand can easily beat the Australians in the quality of her wines, and remarks that no soil or climate in all the world is more suitable than those of this colony. . • • He is educating the palate of the people of New Zealand by rivine little impromptu "wine tastings" of wine grown at Wairangi experimental vineyards and one of these "tastings" took place in Auckland last Saturday. From the experimental vineyards he has already sent out 100,000 cuttings, and in

all cases the vines are doing well. If course, he deprecates the British habit of taking heavy drinks, and says that New Zealand should be essentially a wiaie-drinkiiig country. Why don't the prohibition people boom the wine industry as a means towards their ultimate end.? The drunkards of the world are not the win© bibbers. Signor Bragato tells a story. In Victoria, a farmer, who had a mediumsized vineyard failed to get good results. He threatened to uproot the kt. The expert bade him stay his grubbing, pruned the vines, and left. Next -ear, a large crop as a result. Signor Bragato visited, him at the wine season, to give him the benefit of his training. There were two boys on the farm. The wine was pressed, and the vats were full. He instructed one boy to run the wine from the vat into a big barrel and on no account to put a bune m. The boy went to lunch, and his brother took over his job. He filled the barrel, hammered in the bung with a mallet, and also went to lunch. A sound like champagne escaping from, a gigantic bottle was heard, and the family and Mr. Bragato rushed to the cellar. * * The staves were bursting outwards with tlhe great pressure of the fermenting wine. "Knock the bung out!" said the expctrt. The old main climbed up on thio barrel and knocked the bung out. Fizz' — bang' — pop', a_d a stream of ruby wine hit the roof. The old man, in despair at tihe Ices of tl.o wine, sat on tee bung-hole, or, at l^ast, tried to. The column of wine bobbod him up and down, like a shuttlecock. The fumes intoxicated him, and the sight of a badly-scared and very druiikon farmer being tossed up like a pin^-pong ball might have been funny if it had not boen pathstie. At last, the trio made a rush, and rescued the old man. If he had been on the "tank" for a week, it would not have been a circumstance to his befog on the barrrol for five, minutes. He was put to bed. There were a few gallons of win© left only, and when the old gentleman recovered that boy got a bigger hammering tiham the bung. # * * There are few men who would have resisted the temptation offered Mr. Alfred Jolly by tihe officers and adherents of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Ohurch last week. Mr. Jolly actually refused a unanimous call to Wellington's wealthiest Presbyterian church. The complimentary ofler was weH deserved, for Mr. Jolly may easily be reckoned as the leader of the first flight of preachers in Wellington pulpits. Hi« voice is familiar to members of St. Andrew's, as he has taken the pulpit for Mr. Ogg every Sunday evening during the past three years. * # # Although Mr. Jolly is engaged in business by day — he Ob an officer in one of the Australian banks here — he h, > warn the cloth. He was for some fourteen of fifteen years in the Victorian Wesleyan ministry, and successfully worked therein until the bursting of the land boom, of which he was a victim. Then, he left the pulpit for the desk. Mr. Jolly was known only as "Supply" to many people in Wellington for many years, as that was the only intomataon which he allowed to be advertised whenever he took ai pulpit. • • • The Premier's daughter and son-in-law (Mr. and Mrs. Frank Dyer), returned from their Coronation jaunt at the end of last week. Mr. Dyer, who is a partner in the business of Messrs. Bannatyne and Co., report® having had "a real good time" — and he would be very

hard to please if this was not his wholehearted verdict. As a member of his greiat father-iinJ.aw's train, Mr. Dyer had privileges and specaal facilities at his disposal to see the best that was offering in the Old Land. Then, again, Mr. Dyer has a genial nature, which would win brim courtesy wherever he went, for he is an excellent type of the up-to-date New Zealander, and one of the smartest — for did he not succeed in winning a king's daughter for his wife? At any rate he is convinced that, though England is a grand old country, and tihiat tihe Old World has its 1 historic interest — yet, New Zealand is the land to come back and live in, even if one is a Dyer. J * * * Mr. "Dave" McLaren, who is out for a City seat as ai Labourite, with a strong leaning "agin" the Government, is wellknown to Wellington people generally, and to water-side workers particularly. He has already had experience in public life as a member of the City Council and he was for many years a prominent member of the Parliament of Labour (tihe Wellington Trades Council) His union, (the Wharf Labourers' Union) seceded from the Council just as Mr. McLaren had opened up a scheme for amalgamating the labour bodies of the city on a better basis than that under which the Council has it. organised * • • A bootmaker by trade, "Mac" had to leave the bench because his eyesight gave way, and since them he has devoted himself absolutely to bettering the condition of the unskilled labour of the city. As secretary of the Wharf Labourers' Union and the Building Trades Labourers' Union (two out of tern witih which he has had much to do), he has managed their affairs with a concilia^ tory spirit which has won the ajnoroval of masters and men. • * # Some of tlhe men have been so blind to tbeiir own and their fellows' best interests as to growl that "Dave wasn't showing enough fight with the bosses '" But, Mr. McLaren got what the men desired much more rapidly bv his method tibam did tihe aggressive leaders of unions. The strange thing is that a man. witlh the large amount of slhrewd (jammonj-eensiG possessed by Mr. McLaren does nob recognise that, in common rvarlanoe he has absolutely "no hope" of winninig a City seat. He is comparatively unknown outside of

water-side working circles. Of course, i . McLaren is nob the only member of tlie community who fails to fairly estihis vote-power with electors. ' Mr. Walter Leslie, who won the "Rheumo" poster competition last week, is a clever and versatile member of the " Hansard" staff. Whether pursuing the winged art, describing am art exhibition Dainting a landscape, composinie; musac or designing a poster — he is equajlb' expert. The design which won the patent medicine syndicate's guineas was a oleiver idea, well worked out. A second picture, by Mr. Leslie, and sent in for the same competition, was also eagerly snapped up by the proprietors of "Rheumo," and. like the prize exhibit, ■« ill, doubtless do its part in arresting the wandierantr eye of the public to the virtues of the new speoifis. •* • ♦ x ', The winner of the second prize is quite a youngster — Mr. Guy Sears, who> is stall in has teens. He is the second son of Mr. Fred. Searsi, who is mart with the pen and pencil, and who, until recently, was a member of the* Lands and Survey Department staff. Mr. Guy Sears was a surveyor, but he has left that profession to follow the camera and photo-en-graving; business. His elder brother, "Dill." also sent in a design, which caught the eye and the fancy of several of the judlges. * * * That en/tieirprasing Wellingtonian, Mx. John Baillie, who has settled in London, has made himself a medium for bringing ambitious New Zealand artists before the patrons of London. The latest mail brings news that Mr. Baillie during last month, opened ami exhibition f paintings from the brushes of New Zealandeirs. It isi interesting to note that the exhibition contained fifty-nine pictures by Miss M. 0. Stoddart, of Christchuroh. the result of a painting tour throuerh England and Europe. The Misses 1 Grace J. J. Joel and Frances Hodgkinsi, of Dunedin, had five each, all impressions of the Continent. Miss Dorothy K. Richmond, of WeUmrton, contributed three pictures, and Miss Muriel Burnett (also of Wellington) sent hailf-a-dozen. one of which represented Welkne?ton Harbour. Miss Dora Meesom (Christchurch) sent a trio, and Miss Annie T. Black (a Dunedinite), a quintette Mr. Baillie was represented by seven pictures of English scenes.