All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume VIII, Issue 368, 20 July 1907, Page 3

All Sorts of People

MR. F. J. Wood, of the Wellington staff of Kemptho.nie, Prosser and Co., has gone to Auckland to take over the post of as-sistant-manager of the firm's busimelss in' tlhie Queen City of the North. Mr. Wood ha® been m WelJingtoai for several years, and' he stall has vivid neloolleotions of the night upon which' the Wellington branch took fire, and! tlie city was lit all over with the light from the great conflagration amd the citizens alarmed by the hiurtliing through the air of great lengths of burst iron-piping and the' reverberating explosions that showedi how the drug© were> operating. ♦ * * That night was a trying time for Keimipthorn© andi Prosser's staff, and the manner in whicih they aJI rose to the oceaiSion, under direction of Mr. Robert Wood, the Wellington manager, is still held to tiheiir credit by those most intimately 'oomoerned. The brothers Wood are now (brotlher-mana-gers, and if the newest manajgier rea.oheis the record of the older one, he will be successful indeed. • • • Goilden weddings arc stall in fasnion, thouigh many people have daed while waiting their turn. Thie 3 attest celebrants are Mr. and' Mrs. George Talbot, of Richmond, Nelson, a,nd the local residents are moving themselves to commemorate an event which they regard as, creditable to the township as wel] as. pleasing to the principal parties. Mr. Talbot has hod a long oareer of public service, and! for close on iartv yeans he has been identified with educational matters in Nelson. Probably be holds the longest coiloniail record) as a school oommtoeiemaii, hds services in that capacity amounting to twenty-five years without a break. • • • Mr. Talbot has been for seventeen years a member of the' Nelson Edlucatiion Board, and for twelve years he was its dhairmain. Ever since i3ie foundation of the Nelson Hlairibour Board he has been one of its members, and he was for seven years a member of the Victoria OolOege CoumoiH, Wellington. When Richmond was made a borough, he became its "first mayor, and he had thp honour of being twelve times re-elected 1 to tth.arf> office Tinopposed. Hp has now ceased from offioe-hpldinor, save in the cases of the Nelson Harbour Board and 1 tine- Nefeom Agricultural and Pastoral! Asisooiaitiion. The Richmornd citizens intfcendi to Tfresent him with come artadlp thiat will be a permanent record of appreciation of the varied erviao*: given to t.he< community by Mr. TaJibat. • • • General Hoad rosp from tfii'P smaJl begiiMiin/g; of cobbler's boy +o tlh^ h^eiad of the Commonwealtih miilfcurv foroes He was left an orphan in thif> very early staa?es of hiR oairper His parents were poor, pnd the boy hid perforce to eke out a Hiving: for bri i mi«^ I f, anid for Romp fhroe vfars was dnlv apprenticed to a lorn.l "cobbler " Tdne haif-^o/l-e-and-ihep-1 biisine^s howevipiT ni°-vf>n- hefd much fascina.tion for J.C H who ulHimateilv relinquished thp "last" in ordler to take up s.o'hool-tea.ohmig;, a vocation which war? ap-pa.rentlv more in keieiniing with the man's tempeirameet. seeing

that he succeeded in, olinibmg the higher rungs of the Victoaian Eduloationad Depart meet's ladder. • • • It was while tdms engaged that General Hoad' received ins fii-st military training, having concentrated considleraible interest in the schools cadet movement from its inception. He received his fkst commission m 1884, and three ye/ars I'atier obtained hie majority. From then on his advancement in military ciroles has been rapid 1 . Among other honours bestowed upon him is that of "The Ondler of the Rising Sum," a tribute from the Emperor of Japan, for servides rendered! during the progress of the recent Russo-Japanese' war, in which hie served as an attache. • • • Mir. John Holmes, Trade PJlanapotetiary to New Zealand!, New Zealand's Royal Commi&sionei to act as guidle, philosopher and friend' for H R.H tte Priruc|e of Wfales, aJisio father of the hiemp industry and of Garnet Holmes, trolleyhead' millionaire, has been int&rviewekl in Sydney. Whatever Mi-. Holmes goes 1 the papers dog his footsteps, and, despite his natural reluctance to come under tee eye of the public, hie native modlesty, and his vioJet4ike nature, generally^ facts are forced out of him at the point of a fountain pen. There are so many New Zealand journalists in Sydney that Mr. Holmels. d'esii-ing only rest, immediately fell into the Inky meshes. • • • Under the largest heading m tihe Sydney ''Daily Telegraph" a column is devoted to Mi . Holmes "s expert views on the phormmm tenax (aoanmonJy called "flax") of New Zealand. The papei sets out specifically that much useful information has been given it by Mr. John Holmes,, of "the new Dominion." Mr. Holmes showed to tihe "Telegraph" the enormous future that lay before hemp, and the position of affluence to which tine Dominion would attain if it took his advice. * * • Mi Holmes didi not, he siaad, advocate the growing of flax ,m New South Wales oir Victoria with .an idea of opposing or entering auto competition with the New Zealand' flax-gnoweir, but he cave both States permission to experiment, with the object of establishing if necessary a small market subsidiary and secondary to the market already held by New Zealand. * • • An old colonist died at Blenheim thie month in the person of Mr. James White, who had reached the age of ninety years. Born at London m 1817, he was educated for the teaching profession, and' eventually he established 1 a grammar school at duckdale, Wiltshire, but he emigrated to New Zealand some fifty years aj°-o. At Blenheim he was true to his bent" for he established there the first public school ever instituted in Miarilborojugh. # Eventually he took up land in the Wainra Valley district whwe lie lesided for a long term of years. * * * Mr. White was reputed, in has voungej- days, to share with Ma-. A P Seymour, who has sat m both Houses of Parliament the right to be considered the diampion cross-country walker of Marlborofugh. Tramps of torty miles m a day were mere excursions of recreation to these two Tn his younger days, Mr. mite did a lot ot mmssaon work amoixgrst the poor of London, and he retained 1 until his death a keen and helpful interest in the work of those who foWowed him in , this work.

> Mr. E. J. Fitzgiibbon, the brilliant young orator, who has Lately commemiced piacticei as a baaTistoetr and solicitor in Wellington, has ornisp, warm hair, and an, eye tnat speaks of a 'big interest in life and] an unimpaired digestion. He is aLso pihyetiloally well found. He is a West Coaster, was born at old Wainiea (Goldsborough), one of the oldest mimmg towns on the Coast, and little Fitz in his early days played around the Big Dam, a spot not unconnected with incidents in the life of the late Mr. Seddon. * • • It was at Waimea, not so very long ago, that Mr. Fitzgibbon was forced! to lecture, and he took for his subject "Daniel O'Connell." Beforte he had been on his feet five minutes an old Irishman burst out of the audience and einabbed' has hand. After that, Mir. Frtzgitabon. forpot Dan andi simply talked old' Ooaist history. His friends wlio heard him say it was the best speech he evei made. The orator bes;an his schooling in the bush vilteie whore he was born, and had no difficulty in annexing;: a Boiaird steiholianship. Thus eayie him two years .at the District High School, voider Mr. T. Gill, now inspector of secondlary schools. He was still shookiii.e'ly young: when the term expired, and he went baiHhoaded for another eieholansihip, p-ot it, andi put in two more yearn at the same school. ♦ • • In 1898, Fitz came first in New Zealand in the Junior Civil Service examination, and siuibsequentily passed the senior with distinction. In the same year he coiMared' with credit the junior university eoholarsMp. Went into the Treasury in 1898. Drifted from thence to the Agriculltuirail Department and becanie chief accountant. He has lately resigned the job to practice law. When he entered) the University College in 1902 he began to pass exams., and' secured his LL.B. sections each year. He was capped in June of last year. Was one of the editors of the "Spike," twice bhalrroran of the Debating Society, amd) was the brilliant spokesman for the students at the capping the other day. He has made a passionate appeal to the puiblic to support the College. In 1905, Mr. Fitzgibbon won the Plumket medial for oratory. "Daniel O'Connell" was the subject. He holds the Univrsrsity prize for the best debater in the College. With Mr. Kelly, another colonial Irishman, he won m 1906, for the first time, the "Joynt Challenge Scroll," gavem for debating among the colleges of tte Dominion. And, with it all Mr. Fitagibbon refuses to get "swelled head." He has the Lance's best wishes, mainly because he deserves success for being a great worker. • • • A Sydney-sade skipper, possessed of an experience unique so far as living man is concerned, is Captain Samuel Oha.rles, M.L.C., who has conversed with one of the actuaJ witnesses of the death of Captain Cook. He has been following; the sea from his boyhood', and, as he is now in his ninetieth year, it follows that his experieirioes axe varied. In 1849, he was sailing has birigantine, Seaguill, from Sydney to San Francisco, and at Owyhee he put in for provisions, anchoring off a grea/t temple built of lava and surrounded by a parapet wal. Only last month Captain Charles wj-otp for Governor Rawson, of New South Wales, an account of what he -saw on this occasion. Be relates that he met an old man native, who pointed out to him the rook on whidh .Captain Cook was killed — a crack aibout

one foot deep in a lava nock, wlhema be had jiust previously tripped. Tfo» native said be was a. witness of tibe occurrence, and added thlaifc the body wa* burnifc on a sacrificial altar to propitialte the gods. It was for offendKog against tibese that Captain Cook w«s killed, his offence Laving been that hft landed 1 spars and other artioHeiß on • salored beach andl pitched his teoita on tbe temple. Some confirmation p^ this fact was seen by Captain Ghamltee, for on the parapet walla of the temple were paintedi tbe names of ' several ships of war, and of the royall yaclht, Wandereir, owned by Benjamin, Boydy of Sydney, who also was kilileid iby native®. • • • , Professor Liohtwark, who, it was wired from Invercargill, (bad bjeei found dlead with ,his throlait teat, was ft very remarkable horse-trainer. Pop many years it has been ladhbwwr^B custom to travel the country demonstrating his great ability to tame, the worst equine outlaw in ia -very short time. His system was hasedl ob kindness, and before he hadl handled any horse for very long ihe couM dodige 'backwards and forwards between his legp, sit on him from heald to tail, and maike him folow him about the stoteikyard. / • • • But, it was thte faict that oouflki t^aoh- his own methods successfully . that was the most remarkaJWe. He bad none of the yelling, ropine. cfhok-ine-down style of work jaidlonted by mo?t horsey people and the horses he tamed' were tame for always. He has written much on the horse. Of late veifws he has been a Jitble down on W» luiek, owins ,we suppose, to the greafcer traefcabilitv of the mWaWm house, and- the settlers' aibilitiesi to hlamdle him without a horse-master's adivioe 1 . . • * * An old identity of tbe Mla/rHborough pi'ovdnoe died last month at M&bjukipawa, in ber eighty-eig|bt3i year She had been nearly sixty years in New Zealand, her arrival here dating from 1851, in whioh year she settled down at Oriental Bay, Wellington. Slhe left that present populous and' ornamental suburb long before 1 it had) been cleared of its native manuka, for fully fifty years ago she went to the M&hakipawa district and remained tbefre until the time of her death. • • • Mrs. Brown, the deceased lady, was _ the soul of hospitality, and she will be greatly missed by a very extensive circle of friends and acquaintances. Mrs. Brown was three times married, andl each of her husband's pre-decealsed 'her. Her third luuslbandl was mailman for tbe district in days when mails had to be carried! a long way round to reach a poinit that lay close across, ■tibe water. Tlbe long, wide arms of tin© sea which are comprised in thie Queen / Charlotte Sounds had no regjuiliar boat. service twenty years ago, andl to get lettei-s from an outlying bay to Mir. Brown, the Mahakipawa mailman, for * oarriagp to other planes near by, it was necessary to send them sdxty or seiventv miles around the country when Mabalkipawa was only eight or nine miles across the water from the letters' stairting point. • • • This state of affairs prevailed for many years, but in 1888 there was gold discovered at Mahakipawa, and consequently regular communi<oa.ta©» became more direct and the mailfe were delivered' at short intelrvalls. Nbw-a-days nearly eveiry settler owns an oil launch, and, as a result of this, these onoe out-of-the-way places arfe the best served, in regard to communication witli the outside world, of amy of the siparsely-settled distracts in New Zealand.

There were some interesting peirsonalities comprised m the delegates to the colonaal conference of the New Zealand Farmers' Union. Chief amongst these was Mr. J. G. Wilson, of Bulls, Rangitikei, who isi president of the conference. He is known around! Bulls as a praoiacail, levelheaded farmer, who believes firmly in the freehold' and in five shillings a bushel for wheat. Once he was a member of the New Zealand Legislature, but afterwards came voteirs who knew not Joseph, and another talked 1 in his stead so far as Parl'iaiinent was concerned. • « » But J. G., in brmginig tin© Farmers' Union to its present pitch of power and importance, gained a better reward than that of being privileged! to address sileepy-headled legislators, and, in his capacity as president of the union, he sways a powci .greater thlan that of any private member and almost a.s gnea/fc as that of a Cabinet Minister. Every year he retiree from the office of president through effluxion of time, and -just as regularly he is re-instated by an unanimous vote of the delegates. The year just over was no exception to the rule, and hie now hoilds the dual positions of president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union and president of the Wellington branch of the same body. The conference elected! as its vicepresident Mr. Laidlow, of AsMwirton, on© of the farmer kings of Oamterbiuiry. He is a close student of politics, and a strenuous upholder of the freehold tenure as regards land wfaiiidh. is not to be wondered at when one remembers that the slice of Canterbury he possesses in fee simple would imake a poultice big enough to allay the severest of earth fever ever experienced by any one man. Mr. Laidlaw is reputed to vie with the president in admiration and memory of the ancient classics, rand between them they know the characteristic* and deeds of pverv legpndary person from Arethu«a to Zeus and from MeJpomeme to Osiris. • ♦ » The treasurer of the union i* Mr. C. E. Russell of the Manaiwatu district. He is n brother of that w.eH-know-n and rjoiticjan soldier andi kmisrht-bachnlor. Sir William Russeill, of Hawke's Bay. and, to ouote the vem>aoiilai- -phrpse fo** describing a m»n we^-endnwed with la-nd or worldly trooclR 1 "hie sits very sdHd." Loquacity is n not confined to Parliament House or fish markets. The Farmers' Union has rame exponents of the process. One is Mr. McQueen, from far-away Southland. It is a queeir debate in which "Maio" fails, to oatah the eye of the president and) it is a matter of notoriety that his c&piaoity for dragging "the freehold" into whatever matter may come along for discussion ii«. unlimited. John Wesley remarked that "cleanliness was next to godlh'ness." but the probability is that if John McQueen told the truth he •would express his opinion that freehold ware before either of them, and that the leasehold was its own lendling letter. Mr. McQueen, it may be mentioned, is an uncle of thi n Minister for Lands, and it would he interesting to know which of them feefe prouder of the relationship. Per-sonall-v, they are excellent friemdis, biiifc in politics — well, pa sis the pickles! • • • Sundry retired soldiers throughout New Zealand will be mteresteidi to know that Colonel D'Axcy Cuaytor, who went to South Afiica with the First New Zealand Contingent, and there chased Boers with persistence and success, has, in recent yeairs devoted himself to farming, finding his recreation in being a school committeemam ond a member of the Marlborough Agricultural and Pastoral .association. Lately he has found these things insufficient for his contentment. In similar discontent other soldiers have rushed ajgaan to war, fighting other nations' quarrels in failure of their own country having any in stock, but the Marlborough colonel has chosen a wiser part. His old soOdier friends wffll be interested to learn that he has surrendered unconditionally to a fair besieger, and that the articles of capituilation are to be signed before a minister at an early date. • • • Dr. Emiho Borghetti, eye specialist of this city, is an Italian, as you may be aware. Until recently, there was no mistaking the fact, for, apart from the extreme picturesqueness of his English, his appearance was distinctive and alone. He possesses the swarthy oompilexion of the Latins, and the dark, soulful, eye, but, above all, he possessed, until recently, a pair of whisikers by which he could 7—7 — identified amonig a million people of all races, creeds and l colour. Under date July 10th, the "New Zealand Gazette" notifies j1 >c Dominion that among other qc j r.i'emen naturalised i«

Emilio Borghetti, doct-or of medicine. At a subsequent date it was apparent to the ordinary observer that Di . Borghetti had, with his naturalisation, decidedl to become Anglicised. Has obtrusive 1 whiskers haw been albridged by the hairdresser's implements until they now closely caress his- olive cheek, and 1 no longer blow in luxurious sable waves over his shouidteirs. Welcome, fellow Britisher! • • * Mir. Gilbert Carson, editor of the Wangaaui "Chronicle," and one-time M.H.R. for that budding metsropJis, is a trustful man. Also, knowing that

his soul might be satisfied' and his path pointed out V- Rev. J. J. North, hie went on Sunday last to hear that famous iconoclast. The reverend gentleman dissertated on the son of stealing, and! drew a couple- of columns of morails from his premises, surmises, surprises and so on. After Mir. Canson had made up his mind to go on not stealing, he went and reached) for his hat. Some other worshipper had annexed it. The tife that was left was hardly so good as the Wamganui etoyepipe, and Mr. Carson went home with an ill-fitting hat a sadder and a wiser man.