ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 777, 21 May 1915, Page 4

ALL SORTS OF PEOPLE

fT will be a new thing to have the Wellington Harbour Board's affairs under the pilotage of an inland business man, but Mr. C. E. Daniell, the Masterton builder, who was voted to the chairmanship, will do the work well. The interesting little three-cornered contest for the position, which was only settled .after a ballot, .-was reminiscent of the big effort made to oust Mr. Robert Fletcher from the position a year ago. The rival candidate on that occasion was the Government nominee, Mr. J. G. Harkness, and nasty people said behind their hand that politics entered into the "business. Anyhow, Mr. Harkness was not elected, and when he bobbed up serenely the. other day, perhaps expecting a walk-over without Fletcher as an opponent, he must have felt very disappointed at the way in which a comparative outsider, with no political influence, headed the list.

Mr. Daniell lias known Wellington since 1880, when he and his family landed from the Scottish Prince to a discouraging situation caused l by the collapse following the land boom induced by the Vogel public works policy. It looked as if his occupation as a builder was about the most unlikely source of profit, but, with characteristic self-reliance, Daniell, who settled in Masterton, started the first building work after the slump, and, after a few years of persistent effort, built up a business which has kept pace with the growing prosperity; of the "Wajrarapa. His service on local bodies is extensive, for education and land trust matters, as well as harbour board affairs, have come within the scope of his activities. He should prove to be a reliable and enterprising chairman.

His Excellency the Governor made such a great, success of his stirring speech to the Auckland Orphans that we hope to hear more extempore oratory from the same high source. One has grown to expect a. Governor's speech to be a> carefully edited production, typewritten beforehand, but at Auckland, under the stimulus of the military fervour which is in the de Brito_ Savile blood, His Excellency bounced into the arena with nothing but his brain to draw on. It rose to the occasion, too, for inside two minutes he had his hearers -cheering his "Play the straight game of our forefathers, by God," quite spontaneously. One gathers from his remarks, by the way, that he would rather not be a Governor, even of such a fine

place as New 'Zealand, at tlae present time. His heart is many miles away with his regiment, which is more than holding its own both in France and in' Persia.

There are men in town willing to back With hard cash their opinion that the picture theatre business is not at all overdone, and that a' lot more money can be made if it is well run. In" this they are in agreement with one of the biggest photo-play .producers in the world. Daniel Griffith, who draws his cool £20,000 a year and per centage for piloting the Mutual' movies and discovering such sweet and! clever picture stars as Mary Pickford and Blanche Sweet, both well-enough-known to be recognised in the street if ever they blew into our windy city. "It is foolish to think that the moving picture has reached its climax of development," said he. "We have the moving-picture theatre as well built and as well run as any other theatre ; we have the moving-picture show that brings two dollars a seat; we have the foremost actors and the foremost writers of the. world working for us. So people are prone to think we have gone the limit and there is nothing more to be done. But I tell you that moving pictures are still only in their swaddling clothes." Griffiths, believes, in paying more attention to the words sandwiched between the films, and if he puts masters .of good English on to that part of the performance he will improve the reputation of the pictures as an educative factor. The art of writing for the pictures is developing almost as rapidly as the art of acting for them. And the great I'ewards to be gained there by a writer will be a powerful incentive for him to learn to tell his story more crisply, more tellingly, more alluringly. than he ever could, even, in the best spoken drama.

The value of Griffith is his imagination, and the effective way in which he exercises it upon his profession. He prophesies that dry-as-dust history readers will in some happy future time give place to the all-conquering film record. ' 'Imagine a public library of _ the near future, for instance. There will be long rows of boxes or pillars, properly classified and indexed, of course. At each box a push button and before each box a seat. Suppose you wish to 'read up' on a certain episode in Napoleon's life. Instead of consulting all the authorities, '•wadine laboriously through a host of books, and 1 ending bewildered, without a 'clear idea of exactly what did happen, 'and confused at every point by conflicting opinions about what did happen, you will merely seat yourself at a probe rl>v adjusted' window, in a scientificallyprepared room, press the button, and actually see what happened.'" If ever the Griffith plan comes to pass, gentle reader, you must attend weekly at the most refined continuous shows to see your favourite Free Lance acted complete in dumb-show, .-jokes and all.

Jules BoiSj the well-known French playwright, lias endeavoured to make Americans understand that his nation has changed its character in a few short months. He objects to the idea that France is a country without faith, a land of frivolity and gaiety, cynicism and scepticism. The new France is the France that prays. Just as religion formerly gave the idea of sacrifice, this nation-wide sacrifice which France is making is breeding the idea of religion. "It is not a question of creed," he says. "This new religion is one in which all Frenchmen can. stand together—in which I feel sure they will all stand together after peace comes once more to us. Just what it is is shown by something that happened not long ago somewhere on the battle front in the North of France: There had been an attack by the Germans on the French tranches. The enemy had been driven back. All about lay dying Frenchmen. Some of them were Catholics, some Protestants, some, probably, men who had never acknowledged belonging to any religion. 'The only clergyman to be found was a Jewish Rabbi. He was asked to go among those dying men. and minister to them in their last moments. He went. He knelt down beside them, one and all. Nobody stopped to think about his creed. He was a priest—that was enough. Not long afterwards he, too, was killed. Perhaps, in his last moments, a Catholic priest knelt beside him. I do •not know. That is our new France."

What is to be the next move in the great war game? Possibly the censor will let us know a few weeks after it is all over, but meanwhile l we can quote a welL-informed prophet, Major de Martin, a Belgian delegate who is at present visiting New Zealand'. He firmly believes that when the new armies are moving in real earnest, the Germans will be> forced right back from Belgium by force majeure. He has held, and so have his uncensored' Belgian correspondents, that Holland will come in and so permit Kitchener's Army ' to pass through Holland. Then the Germans -would have to retreat from Belgium as fast as they could. That was why the loss of Antwerp was such a blow. It prevented a flank attack; From responsible men in Holland Major de Martin has had letters stating that for months past Holland has been quite ready and

waiting the moment to step in, and lie .points out that, while the new Belgian army has been trained and is massed behind their own lines ready to take part in the sweep through Flanders once it begins. Kitchener is holding; a million jnen of his new army in England ready to be shipped to the point decided on.

Mr. 'James Trevor, the bluff, wellliked Yorkshireman who was for so many years a figure in our local politics,' died last week at the age of 69 years. He had been suffering for some years past, and a motor accident on the Hutt-road at the time of the visit of the Empire Trade Commission caused further trouble. Mr. Trevor saw Wellington in its infant days, and literally helped to build up the city, for building was' his occupation, and he did well as a contractor ,all over New Zealand. He was a City Councillor for several terms, chairman of the Wellington .Hospital andi Charitable Aid Board two years ago, and' a member of the Harbour Board, retiring at last ■election. Bowlers knew him as a good .comrade, and his employees regarded ,him as just and considerate. He leaves a widow and a, large grown-up family.

A couple of active figures in Wellington newspaperdom will be absent from Lambton-quay during the next few months. Ernest G. Osborn, of the "New Zealand Times" literary staffs and Gus. Corrigan, of the. commercial department of the same paper, are off to Japan on a. mission associated' with the Japanese Trade Commission which recently displayed its polite features in the Dominion. Japan already has a glood leg-in with the fancy business here, every extension of this branch of trade being another blow to Germany 0 s chances of renewing business after the war, and Os,born, with his commercial colleague, is supposed' to be engaged on a book designed to introduce New 'Zealand buyers ,to the leading manufacturers in the land of the Rising Sun. Japanese are clever imitators, and .quick to see the opening to fresh trade. Their introduction to Western markets was due in the first place to the high reputation of their lacquer-work and other varieties of rich over-ornamented .articles of vertu. This class of article .belongs to the feudal age of» Japanese civilisation, but the benighted European persisted in regarding the. nimble-witted Japs as having a childiish regard for lavish decoration, though, as a matter of fact, they passed that stage when- they started! buying European guns years ago. However, not to disappoint his new customers, the Japanese manufacturer, in his modern machine-fitted factory driven by electric motors, continues to turn out weird and grotesque contortions in metal and wood, for export only!

Tsuchiya, the mo Ja,p. jourjialist who wandered quietly through the Dominion not long ago, is head of a concern with resources superior to all the .Wellington dailies put together, and it is he who tells the story of how his countrymen have to "play down." to the outride idea of their artistic temperament.

Jle ilustrates his point by stowing _ a wonderful pencil-case of silver decorated! with such a large metal chrysanthemum that nob'ody would think of using it for writing. "Where do you think I got that?" he asked. "It was made in Japan, but I bought it in London. They don't want such things in: Tokio!"

Mr. Harold Denham, son of the Premier of Queensland (Hon. D. F. Denham), and one of Queensland's Rhodes Scholars, in London, has been appointed on H.M.S. Lark, one of Great Britain's torpedo boat stroyers. The son of New Zealand's Premier (Sergt. Massey) is probably in the fighting line by this time.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who is lecturing in , Great Britain on the "Great Battles of the War," pays a tribute to the splendid stand made by the AustraJians in, the great Boer War, when, with their little band of three hundred and two hundred Rhodesians, they pitted themselves against a force of Boers eight .times their strength at Elands River. -He will now be able to pen two fresh .lectures —-one. on the Canadians" brilliant debut at Ypres, and another on the way in which the Australians and New Zealanders "played the game" at the Dardanelles. The Germans and the Turks ihave found out to their cost that there is no symntom of degeneracy among the jboys of the British bulldog breed.

Twenty years ago Mr. Joseph Myers, •one of the younger sons of Mr. Judah Myers, and brother of "Mick" of that ilk, who has made his mark at the Bar, /was a bright young Wellingtonian who was fast coming into prominence. He was the energetic secretary of the Wellington Hunt Olub, and he was the. first of the generation to seek and obtain election to our civic Parliament, the Wellington City Council. Ho had, a natural _ turn for debate, and soon made has influence felt there.

But his business speculations did not prosper—it was a time of "slump"— and after a season of adversity Joe Myers went away to push his fortunes on the other side of the world. In the world's metropolis he succeeded, and he made it a point of honour, as soon as he had- the means, to pay every, creditor he had had in New Zealand Ms full 20s in the pound. Mr. Joseph Myers has, durthe last few weeks, been paying a visit to his relatives and his 1 native city, looking up' old acquaintances and making new ones. The passing years have dealt lightly with him, and' his friends had no difficulty in recognising in him the Joe Myers of 20 years ago. On Sunday night he left by the express to catch the Niagara at Auckland' on his return via, Canada to the little old village by the Thames, where his business headquarters now are. Mr. Myers belongs to a firm who operate largely in real estate, both in the United Kingdom and Canada. In fact, their operations are so. large in Canada that Mr. Myei-s spends quite three months of each year there, and _ for the remaining nine months he is to be found! in London. Although living remote from New Zealand,

Hie lias never lost touch with it, and never misses an .opportunity to sound its praises.

Madame de Thebes, the French seeress who predicted the present war, has issued her almanac for 1915, in which ishe ' foretells what is in store for the : world ! this year. Her year begins on March 21st, not January Ist. She calls .1915 "the misty year." She declares that she feels, "in the mist," that the war will soon be over, that it will bring to France tremendous consequences, "entirely different from what France imagines." She counsels her countryjhen: "Surprises will follow surprises. Do not weaken through impatience or despair. The future is yours. Remain faithful, to your magnificent instincts, to your marvellous predestination, and you will be the pacific queen of the world. If not—but no, I cannot say it!"

She goes on to warn France solemnly •to be on her guard when the peace negotiations come, for then Fate will be wat chin o; for ber. "Who is the man whose sword will be broken?" she continues mystically ; "who is the woman whom vengeance will pursue, who will die miserably and . not alone?" Next summer and autumn, she foretells, will be such as Paris has never seen, for •pomp and' enthusiasm. "And one of the French nation will then be great, great as the great drama itself." > Summing •.up what 1915 will bring to France, the iseeress writes:. "It would appear that the year, will' follow a bloody and broken .course for one-third of its duration, after which it will find its equilibrium in peace, still hidden by smoke and mist, •which will continue to its end."

After indulging in an outburst of vituperation concerning Kaiser Wilhelm ■11.. Mme. de Thebes declares that "he will soon die, or, anyhow, disappear." Germany she adds, "is condemned to exist no longer,, at least as she now is." As to the empire's future, she avers that two different visions haunt her—one of a Germany torn by internal' dissension, toy rebellion against militarism and the •Prussian Junkers.; the other of a Germany suddenly yielding and declaring herself beaten in order to recuperate a.nd •again .hurl herself at her enemies with new strength. "But, in. any case, there will" be no more Hohenzollerns," says Madame. She adds : "And in the meantime, where is the man of whom I know, whose advent I foretold last year, he who : will arise in Germany, whose word will dominate all' others, who- mar save •his country from'part of the just punishment reserved for it by Providence?" Mme. de Thebes prophesies destruction of the Empire of Austria-Hungary, "which has no longer any reason for existence." and of the Austrian Emperor she says: "Francis Joseph, who has brought unhappiness to all those who have made the mistake of loving him. cannot die without bringing misfortune to his people." -A splsndid future awaits Belgium, says Mme. de Thebes, and the King of the Belgians, "if he can escape the "perils that threaten ..him." For England, too, she sees a glorious future. Russia, we hear, will emerge from the war "morally superior 5 ' to her former ■self, but "she will pay dearly for her victory/' * * * * Andrew Carnegie is an optimist. He told ail American interviewer the other day that- this war will be the last, and in future all nations will turn to his Peace Palace at The Hague to arbitrate their differences. He even_ hopes that the German Emperor will raise his voice for world peace—probably he will before the Allies have finished with him. The Pittsburg millionaire and donor of circulating libraries recalls meeting the Kaiser at The Hague. Andrew says: "I shall not forget his greeting for me. 'Hello, Carnegie,' he cried. I approached him. 'Twenty-five years of peace ■we've had,' said he, 'and we hope for /manv more.' He spoke with great enthusiasm. 'A-p. Your Majesty,' said I, 'and in this great work you are to be our chief.' His career is not yet ended. The whole world watches, wondering what it yet may bring forth. I earnestly believe that he will be found ready to work for peace, real peace after this war ends, no matter what its outcome may be." As we said before, probably we shall yet hear the Kaiser's voice raised for peace —aye, suing for. it.

New Zealand artists are familiar with the paintings of Signor G. P. Nerli, who used to reside and - ply his brush at •Christehurch and Wellington. This fine Italian painter vanished from colonial -ken some years ago, returning to his native Italy. He has, however, recently written to an artist acquaintance _in New Zealand from London, prophesying that "Italy is sure to come in" to help .the Allies crush th.e Kaiser. "I think I am too old to be called when Italy starts," he says, "but, still, you. never know what may happen."

Jean Finot, the French writer, reckons that Germany will have to pay a war indemnity of seven billions. Payment of this huge amount, stretched over a number of years, he says, will help toward keeping Germany on her •good behaviour. Germany will thus be a lesson to all future disturbers of the peace. M. Finot is not one of those pessimists who foreshadow a slump after

the war. He states that the peace of the future will give such a feeling of security to the entire world that a most amazing economic and financial activity will be its immediate result.

R. W. Kauffman, in his recently-pub-lished -book, "In a Moment of Time," saw much with his own eyes of the •miseries Belgium has been subjected to. He cites numerous atrocities committed •by the Huns during their march to Paris. He tells how the Germans took from a car driven by an American. Mr. S —. two little Belgian children whom Mrs. S— had picked un by the roadside and deliberately shot them.. He speaks of a lad tied br the Germans between two corpses and left for sixty hours lying on the ground. He quotes two old men, who were all that was left of a band of fifty villagers, who had been forced to bury the German dead and then dig their own graves before being shot.

Great and general sympathy is felt for Mr. A. A. Stuart Menteath, the wellknown solicitor of Wellington, whose elder soni, Lieutenant: Charles Bruce Stuart Menteath. was reported on-Mon-day last as killed in action at the Dardanelles on Saturday. Apparently, he had come safely through the hotly contested action in which the Australians and' New Zealanders displayed such gallantry in making good their landing and taking' the enemy's entrenchments at the point of the bayonet. 'It is a pity he wasn't spared, at 'any rate, to taste the "fruits of victory by being present at the fall of Constantinople. However, he has died a soldier's death, serving his country in the thick of battle, and his name, with that of the other brave spirits who went forth at the Empire's call, will be treasured in the annals of New Zealand.

Lieutenant Stuart Menteath was only in his 23rd year. He was born'in Wellington in 1893, and was educated at Nelson College, where lie took an active part in the College Cadets. "When his College course was over, he entered into (farming in the Rangitikei district, and very soon joined the Territorials there, becoming lieutenant in charge of the Hunterville Mounted Corps in the beginning of his 21st year. Then he exchanged from the mounted force to' the infantry battalion' of his district, and when the present war broke out he immediately applied for a commission, and was gazetted lieutenant in Company A of the 7th (Wellington) Regiment of the Main Expeditionary Force.

His latest letters home from the camp near Cairo, where he was acting ■adjutant, spoke hopefully of the chances of active service. Like many others, be was chafing at the delay, and he wrote -in the highest terms of his men and brother officers. Indirectly A Mr. Stuart Menteath, senr., has' received most flattering accounts of his son's conduct in the camp at Cairo from his superior officers.

Oscar and Victor Gallie, of Newtown, sons of Mr. John Gallie, the ex-presi-dent of the Newtown Bowling Club, were members of New Zealand's Samoan ■Contingent, whose military ardour was not extinguished by the mismanagement pf that fine force. Victor (24 years of age) was sergeant m the D Battery of artillery when he went away, and Oscar (26) was a gunner. When they returned to Wellington after service in Samoa, 'both were eager for commissions in the Reinforcements being prepared for the front. But no commissions were available, and so both these young men strongly imbued with, patriotic spirit and 'military ardour, have left for England at their own expense to enlist in Kitchener's new army.

It is surely a reflection upon our Defence administration that fine young; New Zealanders like these have to go to

■llnglaiid to get a commission instead of •being; enrolled in our own forces. Victor G'a.lie took passage in the s.s. lonic, which left Monte Video to continue her voyage on Thursday night ' last week. Oscar Gallic took his departure by the •Niagara from Auckland on Tuesday last. He will arrive Home about ten days after hisr brother, and, although Oscar is the elder boy, his ambition is to serve under his youneer brother, m whose skill in the handling of men he has the utmost 'faith. These boys of the D Battery will make their mark ?n Kitchener's army if they get a fair show.

So Captain Ateo Frandi, of the New 'Zealand Main Expeditionary Force, has fallen in action fighting gloriously at the Dardanelles for the Empire he was iproud to serve and for his adopted country. So passes a fine soldier who developed the military instinct at an early age, and devoted all his leisure enthusiastically to the profession of arms.

As captain in the cadet force in Wellington ""Arthur" Frandi, as he was called, came very; much into the public eye two years or so ago, when the Officers 5 Club in Wellington under rather liar circumstances declined his nomination for election. As a matter of fact, •it was Frandi's misfortune to be made the chopping block in the dispute between the Club and District Headquarters at Palm-erst on North. When Captain Frandi's nomination paper tvent forward to the Club, it did not bear the name of a seconder, and it was accordingly held' in abeyance as being informal. Whether or not Frandi misapprehended the point, the report seems to have reached Colonel Chaytor at headquarters that Frandi's nomina-

tion had been declined. The Colonel therefore wrote to the Officers' Club on the assumption that Frandi has been* rejected because he was a Cadet- Officer, and he ordered it to be taken as an instruction from headquarters that cadet officers were to be admitted to' the Club, and that as a consequence Frandi must be elected.

The C -ub resented this as an attempt at dictation, and' so, when Frandi's ■nomination came, it was promptly rejected. An attempt was mad© lay some of the officers to get him to withdraw his nomination, as the Question to be decided was not one of personality but ' cf principle. But he stuck to his guns, and as soon as his nomination was rejected Headquarters demanded) back the kev of the room used by the _ Club, and isiruce then it has had no meetings in the •.room. It has practically lain dormant ever since.

In civil life Ateo Frandi was head of the furniture department at the D.1.C., and a man of irreproachable character. He was also a fine soldier, and at the outbreak of war was one of the first to volunteer for active service. He was a capital pianist and well read in his chosen profession. Captain Frandi, in fact, sprang from a good fighting stock. His parents live xn Adelaide-road, and his fathei; (now over 80 years of age) was an Italian journalist who became a soldier under Gari-

bakli and. served enthusiastically in tie War of Liberation.

TV hen la bel.a Italia achieved her free<uoiii and the war was over, Signor 'Frandi with his family emigrated to u\ew Zealand, and about 40 years ago settled in VYellington. He took up a farm at Makara, and in bringing up his eons instilled into them his own admiration for British institutions. They . all became zealous members of our volunteer force, and, when the war broke out, not only did Captain Frandi enlist, but his brother and a nephew as well. They went away with the Main Expeditionary aToree, Captain" Frandi himself - going with the Second Reinforcements. Another brother has just gone into camp at Trent-ham.