All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 707, 17 January 1914, Page 4

All Sorts of People

WELLINGTON can boast an aviator all her owu nowadays. This is Mr. J. W. H. Scotland, the 22-year-old son of the late Hon. Scotland, M.L.C. He hit out for England some nine months ago io learn all he could in the flying line., and he returned to the land of his birth only last week a duly qualified bird-man, with his pilot's certificate in his pocket, and his own flying machine amongst his baggage. Certificate and aeroplane are an expensive item. For the 'former Mr. Scotland had to learn to fly in a proper m school of instruction, where he acquired ™~his certificate, the course alone costing £75. The-certificate is not much use without the aeroplane.and aeroplanes are .i.-not to be picked up for a mere song. They range from £400 up. A fellow pupil of Mr.. Scotland's was Lieutenant Gran, mostly remembered ais one of the discoverers of the frozen remains of •Captain Scott and party in Antartica. Mr. Scotland's flying machine is a Caudron biplane—Caudron . brothers, a •couple of young Frenchmen, being the makers. It is fitted wj,th a 50-h.p. 6cylihder motor, capable of developing a speed ranging from 100 to 1400 revolutions per minute. Going at top it would travel at about 60 miles , per hour, which is a mile or two more than the New Zealand railways can cover in the same time. ♦ ***•' Though Mr. Scotland hasn?t made -any very long flights, he has soared 1500 feet into the sky, and amorigjSt notable flights he "has witnessed was that made by the Graham-White biT>lane —jokingly nick-named the £>-seater bus—when it put up a world's record at Hendon by carrying ten passengers. The fare for a couple of circuits of the aeodrome at Hendon—about 3 miles in all—is a couple of guineas, which is not such a luxurious item after all, when you consider that the delightful risk you run of breaking your neck is thrown in free. Joking apart, they think no more of taking a spin in one of these flying "machines at Hendon than the average New Zealander would in. a ride in a merry-go-round—only it costs a penny or two more. This five-seater bus is fitted with, the powerful motor from the late Colonel Cody's aeroplane, and, besides putting up a record as a passenger conveyance, it won last year's Michelin •Chip for a 300-mile flight with specified

Stops. Mr. Scotland's future plans are not definitely fixed as yet. He has the goods, as it were, but he hasn't gone to all this trouble and expense merely to provide New Zealand with a free show. He and Mr. Schaef, who is a wellknown local photographer what time he is not experimenting as an amateur bird-man, and whose home-made aeroplane has been safely at anchor for weeks past in the Vivian-street Skating Rink, are at present busily putting thenheads together to see what's best to be done. Their efforts as pioneer aviators hereabouts should be interesting and deserve success. * * * * Mr. John Hopkins, the organiser who successfully stage-managed Napier's Mardi Gras at Christmas time-, passed through Wellington at the beginning of

the week on holiday bent. Last time he was in Wellington he. was piloting the Branscombe Dandies on tour, and then he went to the City with the Marine Parade and the Thirty Thousand Club, and managed in turn both the picture-shows there. Then he was seized by some Napier citizens to run New Zealand'is first Mardi Gras. This was a big undertaking, and Napier, like Wellington, has its dismal-jimmies, those sad-eyedj long-v?teaged individuals .who seem to have a perpetual license for looking on the blue side of things. They couldn't for the life of them see how the carnival was going to be a success,and when it was announced that a performance of "The Messiah" was to be given on Christmas Night as on© of the attractions' of the big show, they croaked that no one wanted to go out on Christmas Night—everybody would pre-

fer to sit- round in a family circle, etc., etc. < * * * *. However, "The 'Messiah" was a big success. There was a £120 house—not bad for a town whose wildest dream is a population of 30,000 —and Mr. John. Hopkins conducted the performance himself, and Mr. John Prouse/ borrowed from Wellington for the occasion, was one of the soloists. Another big factor towards success was the election of the Queen of the Carnival. For this, rival candidates were run by drapery establishments and different sections of the community. Votes were purchased at 2d each, and in all 59,000 votes were recorded—about £500 worth. This contest fairly set the town talking Mardi Gras. and when the results were announced at night on a screen all Napier turned out. Altogether' the carnival panned out about £1000 wont, and at present Mr. Hopkins is in great request by envious provincial towns intent upon emulating Napier's lead. But ■Napier wants Mr. Hopkins for next y&ar. and, as for those aforesaid croakers, they now wear rose-tinted spectacles, through which they are' already looking forward to Napier's Mardi Gras for next Christmas. * * * * Mr. • Massey seems to be making a good recovery from what has been a very serious lilness. He must by this t l me J a - Te teamed a lesson that will&tand him in good stead next session. These are some things a man owes to ■ himself and politics be blowed. What- - ever the urgency or the party need a man with the Prime Minister's thickness of neck must only permit himself the indulgence of over-work up to a certain limit, and if over-excitement is bad for any man in New Zealand poliw^- 1 * bad for the m &t Honourable William Frederick Massey, P.C. * ' *'. # * Spending a holiday at Seatoun, Mr. J*eorge Henderson, head-teacher at Ohau, and own brother of Mr. Austin Henderson of the Railways, poet, eugemst, -athlete, philologist, and friend of man Brother George is an enthusiast of his underpaid profession, and a great advocate of the Maori race He says he finds that Maori boys learn more quickly than white boys and generally seem to profit more by their lessons * * * * Another "schoolmaster now in Wei may w rite him' "ex") «mW • Sh VT? r .> sometime of Wanhis friends rather expected *him to fall mtojournahsm. ■ . * * * * A narrow escape from drowning was experienced by one of three younj men b 4i e a l boat cannot have been very surprised ]& $? + ? Unt ca P slze precipitating them into the water. Two could swim well, and at once struck out for , the shore, but the third man stuck to the Wl S e ! ias l M etti *Z exhausted and. could hardly retain, his hold when a young man on shore, observing his predicament, put oft in a dinghy and res--252 T hlS aS not done without a good deal of risk, as the rescuer had pnlv one oar, and could not get the man into the boat on account of. the heavy .sea. The name, of the rescuer is Eric Brooke Taylor, and this i s the second tune he has been the means of saving a Me. He should be in the swim next time the Royal Humane Society's medals are handed round. * • * * * Mies Mary Worth, who played Agnes Lynch m "Within the Law"—the young lady who pulled the leg of the police commissioner so artistically—has remarking upon the,keen interest taken m actors and actresses off the stage bv people, in these parts. At times Miss Worth says she has been quite embaiv rassed by. the ; amount of attention bestowed upon her in public when she is Mary Worth. '1 went into a big tearOOil\^n % c l ty the ottl e>r afternoon, ,, said Miss Worth, "accompanied by some friends and we hadn't got half-way aown the aisle when someone exclaimed m an excellent imitation of an American twang 'Say, there's little - Aggie Lynch.' 'Who's she?' someone-off tE party asked. 'The woman from Bullalo, was the reply, in the words used bv Detective Cassidy in the play. Now, I didn't know which way to look, and everybody stared so that it made me nervous It wasn't five minutes before a lot of people had been introduced to me, and I had received four requests, for autographs and five /or signed photos. Say, but they, are slick here!" * *••"♦ M *ss Florence Turner, of the Vitagraph Company, is one of those pictureactresses as to whom enthusiasts differ. All agree as to her acting;hut her looks are the point of dispute. Some say she s haggard, while some declare her beautiful. The fact seems to he that fehes haggardly beautiful, or beautiful m a haggard way. She is an excellent

artist apart altogether from pictureshows. She made a striking success in the London music-halls last year; and Charlie Macmahon, who has not long returned from the Big Smoke and possibly knows, says she's one of the most charming girls he ever met. # * * * Mr. Frank Goldberg is back from his run round the world. He says he's had a great time, and it is plain that he feels that way. "Rough weather for a start, and any quantity of it. I went home in the Essex, round the Horn. We eighted the Cape at seven o'clock one morning, and had a magnificent view of it. But rough—my! it was'rough. It blew hard enough to blow-»the peel off an apple. The captan said it was the worst for forty years; but then you know what the captain always does say. It was too rough to think of Monte Video, and we headed straight for the Cape Verde Islands and put in at St. Vincent. No permission for passengers ashore that trip, but I went masquerading as purser. A quiet little place, with nothing much to see: every child in the place volunteering as guide. Glad to get out of it. **# ■ * . After that we called in at Las Palmas. I hadn't been there since my last trip four years ago, and I gladly renewed my acquaintance with the grand old Cathedral and the Bibles that date many centuries back. From there we seemed to drop back right into London, and I was kept pretty Tbusy the four or five months I was there. London traffic increases prodigiously all the time. But my American experiences were the soul of the adventure this trip. I crossed to New York in the Majestic, which is itself a big town with a resident population and main streets. The ' Americans don't exactly move; they whizz-, and they are very kind to the stranger who interests _ them. ' I found that the average American knows liternothing about what he calls the location of New Zealand, so when I had a moment to breathe in I told them a fact or two about the place I hailed from. They used to put rip big headings of surprise at the discovery that New Zealand isn't in Australia or Java. "I went comfortably across the great States, stopping off here, there, and everywhere, and getting everywhere a royal time. Dayton. Ohio, is one of the places I remember, because of the truly marvellous factory of the National Cash Register Company. They have a gymnasium there" that would do credit to the headquarters of an army. ' The workers are studied in a, thousand nleaSant ways. In America you have to work, but you're given every chance to work well. What a huge country it is. Everything to scale. I went by express elevator, to the top of the great Woolworth Building in New York City—7so feet above the roadway. There I stood as on a pivot while the whole earth seemed to swing reeling away beneath me. A great country, as I say. Lots of things new and strange, like the language: but everything vital. Business is rushed, but not scamped. Americans work in comfort and good fellowship. •They eit in their offices with their coats off, and smoke all the time; but they don't miss anything. Even in Salt Lake City you find modernity insistent —things moving steadily on, and not rusting. ' There is the great m Mormon temple, and the huge impressive dome of the Hotel Utah—things not to be forgotten. Yes. I've had a lovely trip from San Francisco in the Tahiti. Solid comfort and good company right to Wellington wharves ."• * * # » Evidences multiply that the King of Spain is ruled by the pretty women , of his court. There is no suggestion of impropriety; he merely yields to feminine influence, and the ladies take the fullest advantage of, it, greatly to the disgust of some high counsellors of State. The young Prince of Wales Beems to be developing some individuality of character. He is forming his own set, which differs at some essential points from Queen Mary's set.

In New Zealand just now two interesting young Austrians, Messrs. Z. Rinaldo and F. G. Eder. They hunt and deal in curios, which they Bell to museums and collectors. Mr. Rinaldo has been, everywhere off the 'track, and Mr. Eder runs him close. This- latter gentleman has with him an egg of the bird of paradise, which he secured after long watching in New Guinea. It is the rarest of all eggs, for the famous bird is extraordinarily secretive. The egg is. worth £50, and in New Zealand there are no buyers. That is their main difficulty. "In other countries, museums offer plenty of money for specimens; here—no." On leaving New Zealand, they pass through Australia. and so to a long collecting journey across New Guinea and on to Borneo, Sumatra, and Celebes. Mr. Rinaldo knows the great islands intimately, and knows just where the finest specimens are to be secured. Thus he knows where he will bo able to sell the rare egg--to a Chinese collector in Macassar. It is a- fine business for these matter-of-fact modern times —a with mueh old-time picturesqueness and" romance in it. * * * * There was Christmas joy in Oregon City. George Bingham, the magistrate, sentenced a man named S. W: Moore to Six months' imprisonment for drunkenness and wife-beating (which is considered a serious offence in that outlandish town), and then Magistrate Bingham went to have Christmas dinner with the sheriff. Aftei dinner, Bingham came home drunk and heat his wife. He was locked up in the same cell with Moore and six others. of the sheriff's guests. Great times! * * * * It turns out that Mr. Fred Niblo's engrossing hobby is his study of the drink question. He declares himself a prohibitionist, but says he "doesn't intend to knock off having one till all the other fellows do, too." , * * * 9 Mr. Grant 'Hervey is writing advertisements for the Government of Tasmania. This is the most humorous item of news since Aufmst. * * * » The "New Zealand Observer" has discovered an Auckland citizen who thinks that Lord Kitchener will be wasted in India when he might have taken over the New Zealand territorials for awhile. That man is the absolute champion of his line.