All Sorts of People

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 795, 24 September 1915, Page 4

All Sorts of People

MR. Edwin Arnold, J.P., of Wellington, in. whose carriages -many of Wellington's citizens, eminent and otherwise, have spent so much of their earliest stage of existence, celebrated his 70th birthday the other day. Perhaps you mightn't, give hxm credit for carrying so many years- on his back when you look at his cheeriul fa.ce. Looking back over his 70 years, Edwin tells us he has only had eight weeks' illness in the who.e time. Lucky man I He gives most of the credit to the fact that he has always, been an optimist, and that the troubles of lirelittle or big—have never been able to ffet him down. Neither has he ever been in the habit of trying to take from his fellow-man anything that belonged to him. „ «

For instance, in his first voyage to New York —whither he worked his passage—he occupied the same bunk as a mate who was developing small-pox. But Edwin, not being of a grasping disposition, didn't take a single spot, easy though the chance was. The other tellow was allowed to keep all his variola. Referring to Mr. Arnold's activity at 70, it must be admitted he's a little bent at the shoulders, and that the frosts of winter are invading ins head and face. In these ooints he must yield the palm, to that genial fellowcitizen, Mr. F. F. Grady, who, on the borders of 80, doesn't show a single gray hair and at the same time possesses a luxuriant growth of curly auburn hair —all his own—Which is the envy and despair of all hair specialists. If they could only persuade! him to give a testimonial to one of their multifarious hair restorers, they would invoke Heaven s choicest blessings on him and his amaranthine locks.

A Wairarapa family who deserve well of their country are the MoMenamins, of Featherston. Out of this family four brothers have responded to the call. More than that, one of them has gallantly laid down his life, and another ha® been wounded. A recent casualty list broke the news that Trooper James McMenamin, of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, had been killed m action at Gallipoli. Just a few days, previously his brother Jack returned wounded in the eye from the same battlefield by the troopship Tahiti. All four enlisted with the New Zealand forces for Gallipoli. A photograph elsewhere in, this issue shows them all together in their uniform. Truly, this family has set a noble example.

Pahiatua grieves at the news that Sergeant-Major W. H. Winter has been billed in action at Gallipoli, and sympathy for the; "allant soldier's young widow is sincere and SergeantMajor "Winter, who originally nailed from Masterton, held the position of Staff Sergeant-Major in charge of the Pahiatua sub-area, and, when war broke out, he early handed in his name for active service. He left for - the front; with, the Main Expeditionary Force. He was 36 years of age, and was the eldest son of Mr. Frederick Winter, also of Pahiatua. His widow is left with four young children, the eldest ten years of age and the youngest seven months old, born, while its daddy was fighting for king and country thousands of miles away.

Sergeant E. R. V. (Ted) Petrie, reported wounded at Gallipoli, was on© of the twenty cadets chosen to represent New Zealand' at the Toronto Exhibition

in 1912. He is a keen young soldier of but 20 years of age, and he enlisted right from the jump. He was a coloursergeant in the Senior Cadets, and he was amongst that first ■ Expeditionary Force that captured Samoa from the Germans. Returning, he joined the Fourth Reinforcements for the front. He is the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. E. Petrie, of -Epuni-street, Wellington. Both the Te Aro School and Wellington College will be proud to enter Sergeant Petrie's name on their respective Rolls of Honour.

Ashburton's former farmer-member, the late John McLachlan, who made his last exit the other day, was a devout admirer of Bobby Burns, the. national poet, in whose works he was deeply read, and many of his speeches) are flavoured with apt quotations . from his country's bard. For instance, when championing the cause of the small farmer in his speech in the first Budget debate in which he took part (that of 1894), he said: "Now sir, a singular thing occurred to me when I looked back at the condition of affairs depicted by my greatest countryman, Robert Burns, when he wrote —

See yonder poor, o'erlaboured wight, . So abject, mean and vi'.e, ■ "Who begs a brother of the earth To give him leave to toil. I say. sir, it is a disgrace for a country of this sort that half of the population should be unable-to obtain land. It is a crying disgrace, not to this House, but to the previous legislators of the country, that thev have not made better provision, because they were men who ought to have seen further, and yet they did not see beyond their own noses or their own. pockets."

The German Crown Prince's ma-in-law some time ago shook the dust of Sehweinland off her shoes. On the outbreak of war this spirited grande dame, who never did hit it off with the. dominrating Kaiser and her unpleasant son-in-law, the Crown Prince, renounced them and all their plebeian ways, dropped the name of Meckienburg-Schwerin like a hot brick, and reverted to her own title of the Grand Duchess Anastasia Michailovna of Russia, retired to the Riviera, and set about turning her magnificent residence, the "Villa Wenden," at Cannes, into a home for convalescent officers of the Allies. #*• * ' *

The rush of British subjects to change their foreign-looking patronymics continues at a great rate in England. Some recent examples of the name-swapping process are rather amusing. For instance, Cohen, which is a name worn by many a worthy Briton, has suddenly been seized by a desire to change, and change it he has done for that of Christy. Wagner, which certainly has a very Teutonic sound about it, is evidently not one bit deterred by the. fact that a celebrated musical namesake was quite content with it, so Wagner now becomes Warner. Mr. Schmidt did not translate his name to plain Smith, as one might have expected. Oh, dear no. He is now Mr. Lind-Smith (don't forget the hyphen). But Goldschmid was not so particular; he is now Goldsmith.

There are hundreds of others who have likewise discarded their original names for the real British article. The following are a few more instances: — Weimar (Wallace), Vonkleist (Douglas), Sehlback (Hodson), Schneider (Taylor), Scbaumloffel (Boreham),' Rosenbaum (Knowles), Rohrbach (Hargreaves), Bamberger (Hill), Pertz (Perts), Neumann (Newman), Mantz (Mance), Lunberg (liangdon), Liebenrood (Handcock), Lewisohn (Lewis), Kuck (Cooke), Kraftmeier (Kay), Konig (King), Holzapfel! (Avey), Handel (Halden), Hahn (Hart), Grun (Green), Gruneisen (Grey), Goldman (Gilmour), Fehrenbach (Steven), Eungblut (Rogers), Baumgartner (Percy), Rosenberg (Rose).

Stated that Hilaire Belloc, whose writings and anticipations on the war have achieved world-wide fame, is one of the most highly-paid scribes agitating a pen or penciL nowodays. In round figures the amount is said to be £100 per week.

English society papers are still busily searching for a bride for the Prince of Wales. Though he is so boyish-looking, they know that he has to marry some day, so they prosecute the search for a consort with diligence and not a little interest. One paper declares that H.R.H. will seek his bride in St. Petersburg, which is( not at all unlikely, seeing that our other big ally, France, has no roval brides to offer. The Czar has three healthy-looking, marriageable daughters. The Grand Duchess Olga, the eldest of the bunch, is a sensible, though rather sedate-looking girl. Tatiana, the second daughter, is more fascinating, while Marie, the third, is both pretty and bouncing. So young Edward has quite a wide choice for the heir to the throne.

Private Henry Kildare Lynch, killed in action at Galhpoli, left for the front with the Main New 'Zealand Expeditionary Force. He was the only son of Mr.

and Mrs. P. H. Lynch, of Kumeroa, Hawke's Bay. He was a St. Patrick's College old boy.- and that well-known scholastic institution will inscribe* and perpetuate his name on its Roll of Honour with a feeling of pride. Private Lynch was a student at St. Pat.'s for four years, and while there was always a popular and keen sport. He played a prominent part on the footba.l, cricket, and tennis fields, and was also an enthusiastic membea- of the College cadets.

No nobler example of the fortitude with which the mothers of New Zealand's soldier-boys are sending forth their sons to fight for their country, honour and freedom, is afforded than by Mrs. E. Tanner, of Taranaki. One oij her sons, Private W. H. Tanner, has recently been killed in action at Gallipoli, and in a letter to the Free Lanoe she writes: "Two more of my sons have enlisted, and a brother and a cousin are at the front. I could not stand in my sons' way of going for such a noble cause, and I freely said 'Go,' though it broke my heart. But God will watch over them. I think our New Zealand boys are brave to leave their peaceful homes, where they are so happy, and go forth to battle."

The distinction of being the first colonial invalided home from Gallipoli belongs to Private J. M. Darby, of Wanganui. But he is not claiming any bouquets for that. It was not his fault, that he had, to return. He went to the front with the Maan New Zealand Expeditionary Force, attached to the Headquarters' Staff. He got as far as Gaba Tepe, landing there on April 25th at 10 o'clock at night. It was not his duty to advance into the firing-line, but he, could see his gallant comrades up on the hills fighting for their lives and the few acres of ground they had forcibly seized from the waiting Turks. His post was on the shore with General Godley's staff, and there he remained until 5 o'clock the next morning. His health having given out, he. was then returned as unfit for service.

Private Darby states that the medical arrangements for the wounded at the beginning were shockingly inadequate. He left Gaba Tepe on a ship with 500 wounded. There was only a veterinary surgeon aboard to attend to them. Private Darby and others, along with those wounded able to turn to, lent what assistance they could to the more serious cases. With a shudder, he says in cases they had to probe with their hands the wounds.—deep holes in the flesh— for bits of shrapnel. The fortitude of the poor sufferers he says he'll never forgets ' Agonising, though their wounds were, they did their best to smile and joke. In all, 62 out of the 500 died in 48 hours, and they were buried at sea, a proper service being read over each hero as his body, covered by the. Union Jack, was lowered over the side into its watery grave. At each burial the other wounded lying about on the deck would crawl to the side to pay their last respects as best they could to their departed comrade.

Private Darby came back to New Zealand 1 as batman to the late Colonel Surgeon Bachelar, of Dtmedin. The Colonel was also on the sick-list, and, while he kindly undertook to' look after young Darby, the latter returned the compliment by looking after the Colonel, massaging him, etc. The Colonel died suddenly soon after his return to Duaedin, so Private Darby's attention was not of very permanent avail. Passing through Colombo on the way home. Darby noticed that the white population of that town were all uniformed in khaki. They went about their duties in khaki, always wearing a bayonet by their side. And nobody in Colombo

is not allowed abroad in; the streets after 6.30 p.m. So all picture shows and other entertainments, etc., are out of the question _.of an evening. This is the result of; the native, rising, engineered, no doubt by Germans in Ceylon. * * * *

Gaby Deslys is appearing in a new role in London —that of a recruiting sergeant. She promises to kiss every man-in the audience'who comes forward as « new recruit during her performance. But one fellow hardly played the game. He had enlisted, .'and had been rejected many times over, and knew,that if he went up there wasn't a possible chance of him- "being accepted. So he lined up with several others and partook of the sweetness of one of aby's kisses. < It was a chance not to be missed.