ALL SPORTS OF PEOPLE

Free Lance, Volume XV, Issue 817, 25 February 1916, Page 4

ALL SPORTS OF PEOPLE

g\ OVERNMENT Printer John Mac--1 -ra kay goes out of service on superannuation at the end of March, with twenty years' good record, and apparently enough sturdiness to enable him to enjoy many years of happy leisure. Twenty years sees a tremendous change in such an active business as printing, and Mackay's experience covers some of the most notable developments of modern times m the way of machinery. The Government Printing Office, too, has changed out of all semblance to its former size and importance. When Mr. Mackay took charge, it occupied a modest corner or the block which it now monopolises. Not many years before his arrival, the permanent compositors were only a dozen—they were known as the twelve apostles. Now there is a staff of 665, and plenty to do. It was m, 1895 that he took over the control, after having been ten years in charge of the Dunedin "Star" jobbing printing department. Prior to that, Mr. Mackay had been in business on his own account in Dunedin. his partner for a time Mr. George Fenwiek, who is now the manager of the "Otago Daily Times," and one of the most prominent figures m our newspaper world. * # * * The Government Printer, looking at things from the craftsman's point of view, is rather disposed to regret the passing of the highly-trained man with the "stick." Machines have to a large extent ousted the old style of compositor. The setting up of members eloquence for publication in ' 'Hansard once occupied the constant energies of seventy compositors. To-day the same quantity of "eloquence"—probably bigger measure —is put into type by a dozen soulless machines. Of course, he is not against the machine. But for it the office could never have scored such a remarkable performance as it did in 1908, in connection with the Consolidated Statutes. Over fifty of the annual volumes of New Zealand statutes had been carved! up by a consolidation commission, and the extract of effective current law boiled down into the Consolidated Statutes of 1908. These ran to five bulky tomes, and the manuscript began to reach the printing office in March. The job had to be ready by the time Parliament met in June, and it is a tribute to the staff and the Government Printer's organising ability that the work was done in time, so that Parliament could have its usual supply of statutes to begin amending all over again. Legislators have been so busy altering and "improving" since 1908 that another consolidation of the mystifying maze of amended amendments of our Statutes is about due. a « « # Printer Mackay has been Chairman of the Public Service Tenders Board since its inauguration by the Commissioners, who must have been glad to get hold of a man with Mackay's reputation as the champion economiser -of Government's money. There are public WENT DOWN WITH COLOURS FLYING.

servants who say that Printer Mackay worries more ahout sixpennyworth of extravagance in stationery paid for by Government money than he would about ten times the amount of his household bills. But the retiring Printer loses nothing in the esteem of the Public Service because of this care for State bawbees. His readiness to head a subscription list, and his kindness to men who can benefit by a good word and a helping hand show that, when it is a case of his own money, he is generosity pe-rsonfied. *■■*■*■* "Millionaire Lebbeus Hordern, one of the well-known Sydney clan, is made of the right stuff. Having picked up a bit of experience in flying from the Frenchman, Gaillaux, when that intrepid birdman visited Australia, he went Home to join the Royal Aviation Corps, but was turned down on the score of eyesight. He now intends joining the field artillery. * » « * Amongst the biggest individual contributors to Australia's War Loan was David Mitchell, Melba's papa. His subscription was one of £40,000. The reason why Mr. Mitchell could raise so large an amount in cash at a moment's notice dates back to the Melbourne land boom. He was hit so hard when that bubble was pricked that he vowed that he would never again be caught without a little pocket-money. Accordingly > he has since kept a thousand or two at short call * * * » The rumour is passed round in Cairo that the ex-Khedive of Egypt has been in hot water. Stated that _ he has recently undergone an operation, having had a bullet extracted from his tongue. There is a woman in the case, the belief being that a fair Viennese was the person behind the gun. And behind it all there are conjured up visions of the usual scandal. * * * * The French Commander-in-Chief has been nicknamed "Papa" Joffre. There seems good reason for it. He has a real horror of losing lives by costly advances such as the Germans made when they tried getting through Tpres. He is even said to have deprived a certain General of his command because he lost too many men through neglect in preparing his second line. » # » * Andrew Carnegie passed the eightieth milestone on life's journey last November. His private and public benefactions up to then totalled £80,000,000. He is said to be accordingly only a moderately rich man nowadays. It is not likely, however, that he will have to go into the poorhouse. Now that Harry Thaw, the young American who was put away in an asylum for shooting Stanford White, has secured his freedom, he is seeking to divorce his wife. Evelyn Nesbit Thaw. At latest the latter was on the music-hall stage, performing with a male partner. Thaw had threatened, it is said, that when he got out he would settle his little account with his wife. But Mrs. Thaw should not be very distressed over the divorce proceedings, and it is not likely that she wil! defend them. * ■» * *• Sydney boasts a soldier-youngster in Major George Wootten, who runs Wellington's Colonel "Tiny" Freyberg very close for the distinction of being one of the youngest juveniles in the British Army holding elevated rank. Major Wootten is 22 and an ex-cadet of Australia's Military College. Colonel Freyberg is a year or two older, but then he is a step higher up the military ladder. * # * * German theologians of all denominations all appear satisfied that Germany was selected by a Divine Providence to chastise a wicked world. Where they got this ungodly notion from remains a mystery; possibly it is inspired by der Kaiser, who is, we have already heard, "Gott's junior partner." Some of the preachings of these clerics are truly remarkable. Here's a sample passage taken from a sermon delivered by the Rev. Fritz Phillipi, a prominent Lutheran pastor of Berlin : — "Just as the Almghty caused His Son to be crucified for redemption, so Germany is destined to crucify humanity for the renewed salvation of humanity. . . . German warriors do not willingly shed the blood of other nations, but they do it as a sacred duty which they dare not neglect without committing a sin. On account of our clean record we have been chosen as the Almighty's instrument to punish the envious, to chastise the evil-doers, to bring the sword to the sinful peoples of the world. Germany's divine mission is to crucify humanity. It is. therefore, the duty of German soldiers to strike blows of merciless violence; they must kill, they must burn, they must work wholesale destruction. Halfmeasures would be impious; there must be thorough war without compassion. The wicked, the friends, and allies of Satan must be wiped out of existence. Satan himself, who has come to the

world in the shape of a Great Power (England), must be crushed, and to Germany has been entrusted the intensely holy duty of accomplishing the destruction of the embodiment of Evil," etc., etc. » * * * Again, hearken to Professor Rheinhold Seeberg, who occupies the Chair of Theology at the University of Berlin, preaching at the cathedral there: — "We do not hate our enemies. No, we obey the Divine command to love them. When we kill them, when we inflict untold suffering on them, when we burn their homes and over-run their territories, we are performing a labour of love.*' * * # * And still another (the Rev. Dr. Lobel, of Leipzig) : — "We must fight the wicked by all possible means; their sufferings must please us ; their cries of anguish must fall on deaf German ears. There can be no compromise with the forces of hell, no pity for the slaves of Satan; in other words, no quarter for the English and the French and the Russians, who have lent themselves to the Devil, and who have been, in consequence, sentenced by Divine judgment to damnation." * * k- * Is it any wonder that the Huns commit unspeakable atrocities when they are encouraged and incited in their butchering by their clergy? The above are positive forms of religious mania. Its cure is in the hands of Britain and her Allies. •**»» itRecording Angel Charlie Wheeler hung up his fountain pen a month ago, harnessed his three-seater motor and petrolled off from Wellington with wife and heir on board to seek a threeweeks' holiday and sample the varied scenery of the North Island. He penetrated as far as New Plymouth, boiled the festive billy, by the road-side and slept by night in all sorts of village inns and taverns, and every day but one enjoyed a complete sun-bath. He has now returned to spread the glad tidings that he has discovered the very best way to spend a holiday, which shall replenish you with vitality sufficient to carry you through the most tiresome Parliamentary session that ever was. He covered 700 miles, in his three-seater, went all round and some distance up Mount Egmont, and doesn't mind confessing he wouldn't call Kaiser Bill his uncle. * * # * Barnett, whose wife sought a divorce in the Wellington Supreme Court last week—and got it —has been in the limelight before. He was formerly a Wesley an minister in this Island.

but was relieved of liis holding some years ago. He then took to spiritualism and became a medium, meantime neglecting wife and family. * * * * It is interesting to note that Dr. Karl Liebnecht, formerly leader of the German Socialists, declares that German militarism has swamped the Socialists of his country. The salvation of German Socialism depends on the smashing of German militarism. What are our New Zealand Socialists doing to help smash Prussianism ? * * *• * The death of Henry Steel, "King Edward's bookmaker," worth £643,373, recals that he is by no means the first English bookmaker to leave a tidy fortune. For instance, his partner, William Peech, left half-a-million, and Herring left £1,371,152. As in New Zealand and elsewhere, the bookmaker in the Old Country seems to prosper extremely. And no wonder, for with his fraternity the "lambing" season extends over the whole twelve months.