All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume VII, Issue 351, 23 March 1907, Page 3

All Sorts of People

IT was thirty years last Satundiay since Mr. W. T. Grundy, the popular headmaster of the Clyde Quay School left "good old Brummagem," whence also have oome Mr. Frank Grady and many another solid Wellington citizen. To-day Mr. Grundy is leaving per Moeraka to revisit the &cenes of .nis youth. Really, you wouldn't think to look at him tiiat he has spent more than a generation m wielding the cane and teaching the young idea how to shoot. He looks quite too mild' for a dominie. Yet it is a hard fact. He was a pupil-teaoher at thirteen, and before he had ever bothered his head about the colonies he was head-master of a school in the heart of Birmingham. More than that, the Right Hon. Josepih Chamberlain-— the people's* Joe wa& one of his School Committeemen. Tfae fa«t reminds Mr. Giundy of a characteristic little tale. One day the School Committee vasited! the school. Joe halted m front of a blackboard upon which a pupal-teacher well known to Mir. Grundy was using the Chalk. Tor the instruction of the class he was writing m bold chaiacters "Dot your eyes." Joe put up hu> monocle and' quizzically scanned 1 the sentence. There was a convulsive twitch at the corners of his mouth, but he merely used! that strange word ' Iph — m" and passed on. After next meeting that pupilteacher got his walking-ticket. Wilham Thomas Grundy made up has mmd that promotion was a bit slow at Home, and thirty yeans ago he struck out for Queensland. After three years in a Brisbane school he thought there might be cooler places on this side the Equator, and bo oame across to feel what Wellington was like. He found no difficulty in getting an appointment as first assistant at Mount Cook. After six months' trial the Board liked him so well that they mad<e him head-master at Masteiton. He hadn't been long there when tihe celebrated bamng-out case happened! at the Mount Cook School. Headmaster Haidy was absent through ii>lness and the first assistant of course took charge. But he was highly unpopular, and the big boys bandied together and looked him out. Sid. Niohdlls will doubtless lemember the incident. Some very estimable young citizens of now-a-days were in it right -up to the muzzle At any rate, the boye wouldn't have the acting headmaster at any price. • • • The Board solved the difficulty by bringing back Mr. Grundy from Masterton until Mr. Hardy got well. In 1889 the popular Grundy was placed in charge of the Clyde Quay School and, Clyde Quay has turned out its Ml quota of scholarship; boys and! gurls ever since. Do you know ttiat DavidZinxan, nominated! this year by Auckland University Cdllegie for th© Rbodles Scholarship, was a Clyde Quay schoolboy Six months after he left Mr. Grnndy he went tip to Auckland! and won a Grammar School eaholarshap there. Clyde Quay has wan its full share of Board scholarships, besudles

four Victoria College scholarships. This year it took two national s-obolar-ships, but had to surrender one of them as no one school can be allowed more than one of these plums. Mr. Grundy doesn't expect to find his old school at Brummagem. It has been wiped out by the consti uction of Cor-poration-street, one of the finest boulevards in Europe. But he hopes to grasp Joe Chamberlain by the hand and jog his memory about the order to "Dot your eyes." • * « Miss Katherine Elbert-Oiton, the beuaty actress, who has aheady capitivated Australian playgoers as Maid Mai ion m "Robin Hood," hails from one of the Southern States of America, and in her colouring and grace is typical of old Virginia. From hei childho>od''s days she had a passion for the stage, but not until she was fifteen did she really have an opportunity of gratifying it, and then only as one of the audience m the theatres of London, Pans, Berlin — indeed, all Emi opean capitals whioh she visited on a grand tour • * * When she was eighteen Miss Oiton became a member of Sargeant's School of Acting, in New York, and made several successful appearances as an amateur. Soon afterwards she found herself in London, free to follow hei own ambition, and, on the advice of Miss Gcnevi-eve Ward, she joined Mr. F. E. Benson's Shakespearian Company, one of the finest training grounds for young actresses it was ptossible to find. She remained with Mr. Benson almost until the time when she left for Australia, with only occasional interruptions in her work, which included, of course, the impersonation of all the most important heroines of classical and' modern drama. In a few months' time wei shall have the opportunity of seeing her in Wellington and fudging her for ourselves. The "Bulletin," hy the way, calls her a fine example of middle-aged beauty, and adlds that ehe is a very rich widow- • • • R Ainst, whose name has several tames of late been mentioned in Aus~ tidhan cables as a probable aspirant for sculling championship honours, is our old fuend, Dick Arnst, of Canterbury. The Arnst brothers first came into note a few yeairs ago as cycling racers of great pace and pduck. Dick went to Australia and pulled off many prizes, capping his exploits bv winning the great Sydtoey Thousand about fifteen months ago- • * * Then he decided to give cycling best and turn his attention to soulling, which promised! higher honours still for grit, stamina and physical skill and endurance. In August last he left New Zealand to put himself under the tuition of Stanbury, on the Paaramatta river, at Sydiney. Dick Arnst is a powerfully built New Zealand athlete, not far shoit of six feet in stature, and with muscles toughened by constant exercise. He has been training steads lly ever since he went across the water, and when he- makes his debut in a championship there will be a heap of New Zealand money on him. Immediately after George Towns defeated' Stanbury, it was reported that Arnst was going to challenge him. More recently the news has comei that ho wants a match with Webb for the New Zealand championship. In any case he is a coming man in the rowing world, and*, as he has youth on his side, it seems a pretty safe thing to prophesy that he will yet bear off the world's championship. Certainly, New Zealand's chances, with Webb and Dick Arnst coming on. never Tooted rosier.

Auckland owes much to the aiunihoeuce of her citizens. The latest, illustration is afforded by Mi. Henoy Brett, the wealthy senior proprietor of the Auckland' "Star," one of the richest newspaper properties in the colony. He has jutt signified to the City Council that he desires to present to his fellow-citizens an organ for the Town Hall which is about to be erected. It is to be "the finest in the colony" (so Wellington is meant to be wiped out), is to cost £6000, and the plans far it have been drawn by Mr. Edwin Lemare, the eminent oigamst. One extra stop,, which it is to have, will cost £500 alone. • -* * Mr. Henry Biett's careen is an inspiring example for the young colonial anxious to get on in the world. He arrived in Auckland forty-five yea-is ago as a young compositor, and speedily found a billet as shipping reporter of the "Daily Southern Cross." Theie were two morning dailies in those farback diays, and the English mails frequently came to hand by sailing vessels and later on by the Panama mail steamers. The arrival of the mails was a great event and the shipping reporter who could 1 beat his rival by being the first to secure the purser's files for his piapen 1 felt like a hero for the rest of the month. In this spirited competition young Brett scored again and again. ■ • • Fortune, they say, knocks at least once at every man's door. She didih'i find Henry napping. The Rev. Geo. McCullagh Reed, a Presbyterian minister from Queensland, with a ready pen and a habit of calling a spade a spade, popped up m Auckland, and, in conjunction with a young Englishman named Ferrar, started a tiny paper called "The Evening Star," in opposition to the established 1 "Evening News." The "Star" flickered, and Fe<rrar wanted to get out — £100 would' buy hie share. Henry Brett, with a wifei and young family to support, hadti'fc the money, but he felt it was a capita] opening for him. He went to old l W. C. Wilson (proprietor of the "Herald 1 " and grandfather of the present generation of "Herald" Wilsons}, put the case before him anct "the old man" found the money. • • • It was characteristic of him. He dud more. He backed up young Brett in his venture — which went behind until he was several hundred! pouadfe m debt— until it began to pay. T<he 'Star" got its first "lift" from an attempt to smash up its propraetors. It went baid-headed ror a number of prac-tical-joking well-bred young bloods called 1 "The Rollicking Rams," aaxd one of them sailed into the ''Star" to inflict personal chastisement on the proprietors. He found! Henry Brett in the front office, and, after a lively tussle, went out mxnus several teeth, which were exhibited under a big placard in the office window. • • • From that point the "Star" never looked! back. It bought out the 'News," became the sole evening paper of Auckland, and when GL M. Reed' was tempted to start a daily paper in Dunedsm to oppose the "Otago Daily Times," partner Brett bought out his share and became sole proprietor. Later on lie adtaitted Edlitor T. W. Leys to a proprietary interest. Henry Brett seived a term ac Mayor of Auckland about 1877. and for forty years past has been a leading figure in its musical circles. He was a fine bass singer and was long prominent in Auckland amateur concerts. The smart ©hipping reporter of the Sixties is now worth a coo! quarter of a million. Printers ink pays all right when you know how to use it.

Miss Ada Waid, the star actress, who gave up ilier theatrical career at the xteigut of her success to become a. Salvation lass, is now in Melbourne, embarked on a series of Gospel addresses. No wondfer Australia is flocking to hear her. Some ten years ago she was the auburn-haired Bosaiind, • more than common tall," who was charming them in "As You Like It." Now, she confines her luxurious tresses under the coal-scuttle bonnet of the Hallelujah lass, wears the full sergeuniform of her tambourine sisters, and implores the crowd to turn away from the play-house. • • • She is very emphatic on declaring that lehgious plays are a curse. ' The Sign of the Gross," she says, "made £100,000 for Wilson Barrett, but nothing for God." Ada's conversion was very sudden. While her company was playing a season of twelve nights at Portsmouth, she went, out of curiosity, to a Salvation Army meeting. Sihe< was strongly impressed; in fact, sh© declares the spiritual "call" oame to her before the meeting began. • • • "Tiiat evening," she says, "I called together all my brothers and sisters — all the actons and actiesses — «ukl' told them that I was going to leave the stage and the world for ever. I played out my season of twelve nights. Then I distributed all my dresses and all my jewels, and went away to preach the Gospel." She thinks the Amglioaai clergy an England are too worildlly. They have no right, she thinks, to piay bridge, to smoke, or even to driak a glass of champagne. Ada's chief lectures are the story of her conversion, an account of stage temptations, and her views on "religious plays." She returns to the Old Country in July. • * * "Out Tommy" was in great form at the Town Hall meeting to form a Prisoners' Aid Sooiety, and certainly made the speech of the evening. He won applause by awarding to the Sa/lvation Army the champion belt for social reclamation work. He gained another lusty round by giving it as his unfaltering opinion -that seventy-five per cent, of criminality was directly traceable to strong drink. Once a man went that way he was on the slippery road to Hell. • • « Mr. Wilford started off by raising a laugh. Dr. McArthur, as chairman, introduced him as "our leading criminal lawyer." Tommy, with mock modesty, demurred to being styled "a criminal lawyer," but in the next breath boasted without any perceptible blush, "I hare been intimately connects ed with the criminal class for years." • • • He also told a story at his own expense, which is worth repeating. It related to his sallet days when he was a green young lawyer and rather more trustful than now. One morning lie entered the Police Court and! found a bright-faced young fellow, clean and straight limbed, sturdy and' wholesome looking, with merry blue eyes and curly golden hair, standing in the dock, charged with theft. Struok with his looks, he begged the magistrate to give him a chance and he ■would l take the lad into his own service and make a man of him. • • • Tn© beak was touched and handed over the young thief to Tommy Wilford's charge. He took the youngster out to his home at the Hutt, gave him a .good square meal and a decent outfit, and handed 1 him over to his man with instructions to fix up a room for him and look after him generally. Next morning the bird had flown, and co also had Tom's best saddle and' bridle.

The Rev. Richard Coffey, Vioa.i of St. Mark's for thuty years putt, pa&sed away on Thursday last, atter a struggle for a longer life. He became subject to the most ciuel ot all physical afflictions, the paralytic crtroke, with its unsparing lightning effects, and the last one, suffered some thiee weeks ago, found! a rather enfeebled victim and left him &peeolile6s. The medical faculty saw that it was all but over, but he hung on tenaciously to life with all his old hghting spmt, and gradually sank. Right at the end lie flared up, as a dying candle will. It was his last effort, and he passed, peacefully away. • * • The Rev. Richard Coffey was a strong man — one of the soit who "'daied to be a Daniel, dared to stand alone," and his outspokenness didn't tend to make him popular. To those who knew him he was eveir the Onistian gentleman, of the type we ill can spare, the straight-speaking, bigbrained kind, whose actions were as decided as they weie just. He will never more be womed by Sunday band-play-ing on the Basin Reserve. S • • • Three weeks ago the Lance memtioned that Lady Campbell (nee Miss Isabella Caiandim) had left Wellington with her two daughters, on a tup to the Old Countiy. They were to catch the R.M.S. Marmoia on the other side, and a propos of that vessel the writer of the Ladies' Lettei in. Melbourne "Table Talk" has a little gossap to retail. "I think you are already aware," she writes, "that the number of society people, 'aspirers,' and nouveaux riches numbeied amongst the Marmora's passengers is almost phenomenal, and ail I because the Duke and Dudhess of Connaught are passengers from Colombo. Now, it so happens, mv dear Rosalind, that amongst the second saloon are Isabella, Lady Campbell, and her two daughters. • • « ' This Lady Campbell was one of the famous Carandini sisters (of whom Mrs. Palmer is another)) is tine daughter of a 10th marquis, and the- widow of a 10th baronet .and. stranger still, she once travelled from England to Bombay, and wae on terms of intimacy, with this same royal couple. That the intimacy was not just for the time being was proved by the fact that the Duchess sent Lady Campbell a congratulatory message to- New Zealand! upion the birth of her eldest da>uighter. I am told that irony of life or fate is sometimes vei-y pronounced in regard to first and second-class passengers on these large mail ships." Mi-. F. £. Willis is out as a candidate for a seat on the Feildling Borough Council. This is how he summed up his qualifications at a public meeting : — "I have a very thick skin, teeth like a shark, I can fight and hang on like a bull-dk>g, I am as tame as a rabbit I have courage I hope, and I fear no man." Mr. Willis is too modest. He should stand for Parliament. • • • General Stoeaael, who got into dosgraoe far not holding Port Arthur against the Japs, is now experiencing the bitterness of neglect. He is living in Russia, on a miserable pittance from the Government, hardly b-ufnoient to keep body and soul together. Although in the prime of life, he is a broken-down man. His hair has turned) grey, his face is furrowed with lines of care, and his shoulders are bent with the stoop of dejection. The ondy gleam of brightness in the picture is that his wife bravely shares his humble lot, just as she bravely shared the privations of the saege. • • • Air. R. B. Williams, the ex-Fisk Jubiiee singer aad Mayor of Onslow, is not sure whethea he will &tand for the mayoralty of the abbreviated) borough any more. The other day he told the councillois that he would not stand, but when tackled by a daily pressman a wave of mdecisiom soused him. His position no doubt hinges on whether Wadestown and Goldnesbrae will be taken into the city before the eleoeion, which seems highly probable. If it is, Mr. Williams' interest in Onslow practically ceases, and time may see him in the lists for the mayoralty of Wellington City itself, or, at least, a candidate for the Councdl. His experience as the Big Chief of Onslow should fit him for either position. But what about Onslow? Our suburban sparrow Rears that ex-City Engineer Rounthwaite and 'Tat" Kaiwarra Cavanagh trill contest the mayoralty of what is left of Onslow. If "Pat" as mayor were half as funny as he is in the Court, the meetings of the new council would make up for the lack of a theatre in the district. "Pat's" funniest remark was made after a recent court case, when he (a© defendant) was fined. He said there was no justice in the oounthry and he thought he would sell up and go back to Ireland. That ought to make even Martin Kennedy laugh.

liie Maheno, that sailed 1 on Thuisday aigut last week foil Aubtra.ka, via the South, took away a full complement 01 Weilingtomans among hei pa&-»engeds. j±any were in quest of pleasure in foreign lands. Some had 1 their eye on busainess. In this lattei category stood Harry Joosten, for the last eighteen months eeoretaiy of the D.1.0. in the Empire City. Perhaps, you know or have met the young man with the ample forehead, the earnest mannier and the slight foreign accent. He was well-liked among his acquaintances here, and they are locking forward to his speedy return. • • • Hariy Joosten is a good specimen ot the young man wiio is anxious to push out in lite. He was bom in SchieswigHolsteiu, at the oiObe ot the FranooGerman war, and. came out to an uncle in Central Otago at the age of fourteen. After a little schooling in the lough and ready ways 1 of life in the colonial back-blocks, he got a billet in a store at the Bluff, and soon rose to be manager of it. He remained there far eaght years, and madle himself not only a smart managed 1 but an expelrt accountant as well. Tihe D.I.C wanted a secretary for their big branch at Wellington, the eyes of Mr. Wiili .t'elfc, (himself a teaman) fell upon Harry Joofeten, and he was transplanted from the Bluff to Wellington. Lately he has had the notion that if he could manage well for other people he ought to manage just as well for himself. Hence, he goes home to pack up some lines he has in view and when he comes back there will be another merchant trying to please the pnibhc in Wellington. Mr. Frank B. Sharp is a fitting name foi a solicitor, and he who was admittea to practise in our dusty courts the other day is just about the one to be sharp in the interests of his clients. He is inteiesting beyond the appropriateness of his name, for Mr. Shaip will be recalled by those who follow stage affairs closely as the lugubnous-oounten-anced little comedian who performed so cleverly in 'What Happened', to Jones," '-Why Smith Left Home," and other shrieks staged by the late lamented Charles Arnold in this town. • • • Like the comedian who always wanted to play "Hamlet," Mi. Sharp had a leaning towards serious' study, which a tour of the world on the stage did not grind down, so on his letumn to England he continued his law studies. Then, with his native sharpness, he decided that a "greener, cleaner" land afforded better opportunities of early preferment, and so made up his mind to come to Wellington. • • * He arrived here about eighteen months or two yearn ago, lias been "swatting" hard ever since at the Law Library, and now is entitled to put up his keen-edged name on any old! doorpost he fancies. Wellington "Savages" know him as a clever comic singea-, who rattle 6 out his own accompaniment a la Spurr or "Jimmy" Dykes, his chief "hit" having been a doggy refrain in a minor key. A Mrs. Sharp arrived from England some months ago, and joined the "All Hail" chorus when "Frankie" was "admitted" the other day. "Bow-wow !"

Mr. Justice Chapman hasn't exactly an exalted' opinion of the Maon Council. Last week he was dealing with a. Ma an divorce case ,at Wangamu, and the respondent was asked whetiiei the Maori Council hadn't questioned hei' about living with the. co-respondent. Whereupon His Honor broke; in : Oh, I know something about these courts. Tney fine adulterers £10 all round, and 1 feast on the money." The Maori, you see, hasn't conquered his early bras for feasting on the other fellow. • • • A striking figure of leverend asptect has passed away in Archdeacon S. Williams, of Hawke's Bay. He was probably the oldest colonist living, having arrived in the Bay of Islands' a® early as 1822, in company with his parents, his father having been the Rev. Henry Williams, subsequentSy Archdeacon of Waimate, Bay of IsJandls. The dead clergyman was a brother of Mr. T. CWilliams, of Wellington, and is, of course, a relative of the other big landowning members of the widespread Williams family, who are dotted all over the North Island. • • • He was associated from the outset with Te Aute College, which institution has helped materially to lift the Maori to a higher intellectual plane. He knew the Maori thoroughly — his language, ways, and traditions — and was respected by the whole race as a highgrade English gentleman. He was an extensive land-owner, a rather famous breeder of stock, and. was interested l in the new dailv paper about to bo published' in Wellington. • • • Mr. John Young, the father ot bowls in New South Wales, died in Sydney a foitnight ago, at the good oldi age of eighty. In his day he was one of the best players in Australia, and the hrst Sydney green was laid down at his own residence, at Annandale. He was aJso the founder of the New South Wales Bowling Association. All the clubs in Sydney sent wreaths to his funeral. Like many other of the most expeirt skips on the bowling green, John Young was a builder by profession, and he has left monuments in Melbourne in the many fine buildings he put up under contract in the "marvellous city." One of them is the massive pile of St. Patrick's Cathedral, about the finest ecclesiastical edifice in the colonies. Mr. Young also erected Cargill's monument, in Dunedin.

Mr. Andrew Black and Miss Rosina Buokmann have gone on a concert tour through the up-country towns of New South Wales. • • • Emile Lazern, ex-Wellington composatotr, is ladling out mystery at Ealmg Hippodrome. His turn gets the largest line on the bill, and Emile is doing well. • • • Quite* a galaxy of musical talent is heading this way from the Old Land. For instance, Miss dara Butt and Kennerly Rumford, Madame Albani, Miss Jessie Maclachlan, Philip Neiwbury, Charles Saunders (the 6ilve*y tenor heard' ten years ago at WeMington's musical festival), and l the Misses Maude Powell and Marie Hall, violinistee.