ALL SORTS AND PEOPLE

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 915, 25 January 1918, Page 4

ALL SORTS AND PEOPLE

Thomas Elliott Wilson, the -*•*-»• veteran journalist, who passed away in Dr. Herbert's private hospital in Wellington a fortnight ago, was in his early colonial days a pupil •at tihe Academy carried on in Dunedin by Mr. Robert Stout, now Sir Robert Stout, Chief Justice of New Zealand. It was then the late Sixties, and Mr. Wilson had just - arrived with his brother from their native town of in Wales, where their father &p.& ;uricle carried on business 7 as owners x>f harbour tugs. As they were both ambitious to inake their way in the world, they set .to work to im~bibe knowledge by attending Mr. .Stout's academy. * . # * * Their. next contact with Mr. Robert Stout happened when he had begun to practice at the Bar. The Wilson brothers/ started a paper at Milton called the "Bruce Standard" in opposition to the already established "Herald." By the way, we were in ■error'-''a. , fortnight ago in stating that Mr. T. E.. Wilson founded the "Herald." , And soon after they unfurled the "Standard," they struck 'the first and only libel action that Mr. T.-'.E. Wilson ever had in the whole course of a long newspaper career. O — 5* 4> A contributor sent along a par warning keepers of countryside hotels and boardinghouses against a certain itinerant parson, down on his uppers, who was travelling along from town to town and forgetting, at every stage to pay his reckoning. Being young and inexperienced journalists, they took the risk and published the par. Whereupon the parson served a writ upon them claiming damages for libel. The Wilsons engaged their former sehoolinaster, Mr. Stout, to defend the suit, and when it came to trial, it was quashed on some technicality, each party to pay their own costs. In course of time Mr. Stout rendered l his bill of costs, which totted up to £50, and Mr. T. E. Wilson took a trip "up to town to square up. The amount rather staggered him and so, at the interview withyoung Mr. Stout, he ruefully said the amount was a- .bit stiff for him. Mr. Stout, who was quite' sympathetic, said, yes, certainly it was a good-sized amount. How would a reduction to .£2O suit Mr. Wilson's'exchequer? This with a genial smile. Mr. Wilson gladly said it would suit him to a tee; he had brought -just that amount with him. And so the account was squared, solicitor and client being mutually pleased with each other. In fact, Mr. Wilson never forgot Sir Robert's generosity, and to the last retained the highest opinion of his fine qualities of lead and heart. **'. * ' * Horatio Bottomley, the pugnacious •editor of the London journal, "John Bull," who is given to the rude habit •of speaking his mind in plain English, has quite lately been on a visit to the British fighting front in France and Flanders and managed to get into the irst line trenches within ? 200 yards of the enemy and also into the reserve lines to see and hear things for him-

self. Listen to the result stated in his own. words: "I have sat alone with Sir Douglas Haig and talked of the great work upon which he is engaged—and have learned, many things. And now for what I learned. We will have the truth from the trenches, at last. The war is won. Germany is beaten. On every front she is weakening; and weakening—and it is now only a question of the psychological moment to; strike. That momentous decision rests with one man —at least, I hope to God it does. , If the politicians will kindly keep _out of the ring Haig will very soon administer the knockout blow. • "I know what I am saying. I do not profess to speak as any military Bxpert or prophet. .1 say that which I have learned. I mention no names—<l disclose no u secrets—l abuse no confidence. From Field Marshal Com-mander-in-Chief, right down to the rawest Tommy in the trenches, there is but one spirit—that of " absolute optimism and confidence. And there Ls not a German prisoner who does not tell the same tale. 'Es ist fertig,' said every one of them with whom I talked —'It is finished.' i "Another thing I have learned—and Learned very thoroughly —is that . the one person of whom the soldiers are apprehensive is the politician. Throughout all ranks there is a deeprooted idea that when Germany throws up the sponge the politicians will evince a tender solicitude for the welfare of the vanquished foe by agreeing to terms of peace which will deprive us of all for which we have fought and bled. I feel it my duty to convey that message to the Prime Minister. I believe we have a War Aims Committee, and that it is already on the stump enlightening the people as to what we are fighting for. I have before observed that it seems rather late in the day to inaugurate such a campaign, but if, he will take my advice I would urge him, with all the force of which I am capable, to issue a manifesto declaring in plain words, 'understanded of the people, , that we will have no official peace talk until our troops are in occupation of Berlin. Such a declaration would send an electric thrill throughout the trenches and would remove the only ugly feature I found there." * * * ■ * Caruso, the famous Italian tenor, was in Berlin at the time the Kaiser was. thinking out his opera production —the acme of megalomania—which excited much adulation from German critics, and much ridicule from the rest of the musical world, when it came to fruition. Wilhelm had heard of. Caruso, and although he wasn't a German decided that the tenor part, must be handed to him if full justice was to be given to the Great Producer. Caruso was summoned to the Presence and as he did not speak German fluently the conversation took place in English. It resolved itself largely into a question of terms, the personality of the producer leading the great singer to advance his rates several grades. Wilhelm tried to beat him down, but he wag adamant. "Take it or leave it," he said. "Why," thundered the War Lord, "it's more than I pay Hindenburg." Caruso picked up his soft felt hat. "You getta Hindenburg to singa for you," he cried, as he strode towards the front door of the Potsdam Palace. « «■ *j ** Here is a pen-and-ink portrait of Nieolai Lenine, the leader of the Bolsheviki in Petrograd (his real name is Nieolai Hvitch Ulvanor) sketched by a Russian who knows him well: — "There is nothing remarkable in the appearance of this man—a typical Russian face with rather irregular fea-

tures; a stern but not unkindly expression, something crude in manner and dress recalling the artisan rather than an intellectual and a thinker. You would ordinarily pass by a man of this kind without noticing him at all. Yet, had you happened to look into his eyes or to hear his public speech, you would not be likely to forget him. "His eyes are small, but glow with compressed fire; . they are' clever, shrewd, and alert ; they seem to- be constantly on guard, and they pierce you from behind half-closed lids. As to his speech, he is at his best in a debate with an opponent. Occasions for debating were never lacking among the warring divisions of Russian Socialists. Lenine does not reply to ah opponent,he vivisects him. He is keen as the edge of a_razor. His mind works with an amazing acuteness. He notices every flaw in a line of argument he disagrees, with. He draws the most absurd conclusions from premises unacceptable to him. At the same time he is derisive. He ridicules his opponent; he castigates him. He makes you feel that his victim is an ignoramus, a fool, a presumptuous nonentity. Andj though you may not agree with his, own syllogisms, though you may feel that his line of argument is scholastic, you are swept by the power of his logic, you are overwhelmed by his intellectual passion. This power of conviction, coupled, with a great amount of positive knowledge and a high degree of personal bravery, made Mcolai Lenine a leader of a social-democratic faction." **. * * Lenine made his debut in Russian public life 22 years ago as an economist, and'since then he has written and published a good' many Socialistic works. His first steps in revolutionary .work were connected with the socialdemocratic organisation called Iskra (Spark) formed about the end of the nineteenth century and aiming at uniting all Russian and social-demo-cratic groups and circles into one political party. The organisation published a secret paper of the same name, -of which Lenine was co-editor and one of the leading spirits. In this capacity he very early manifested a reniarkable feature of his character—his intolerance of the opinions of others, his readiness to treat comrades as enemies and traitors to the socialist cause if they happened to disagree with , him as to programme or tactics. ■ *•***■ His slogan now is "If a Republic in Russia, is secured, let us go forward, let us establish' socialism." It must be noted, however, that Lenine is by no means a personification of Russian socialism. The Russian Social-Demo-crats are only one party among many Socialist groups and parties are numerous in Russia, and the Bolsheviki are only one faction among the Social-Democrats. What lends Lenine's propaganda the greatest' notoriety is the fact that he is especially influential with the Labour masses in the capital. Those masses, however, are one small fraction of Russian labour. To-day they are on top; tomorrow they may be overthrown and overwhelmed. e 3- a- © Mr. and R. Stansell, of Lyall Bay, celebrated their fiftieth anniversary of wedded bliss on Wednesday last week. Both are early pioneers. Mrs. Stansell—nee Miss Cecilia Popplewell —landed in Lyttelton in 1851 in one of the first four ships that brought the early colonists to Canterbury, and Mr. Stansell arrived seven years later. They were married on January 16, 1868 at Geraldine, and the issue of that marriage has been seventeen children —"all singles, no doubles," which is Mr. Stansell , s characteristic

way of putting it as an , old bowling skip —and eighteen grandchildren. Of the seventeen children only ten. are alive. One son, Major L. B. Stansell, was killed in action. The eldest grandson is. at present at the front fighting \ for his country, and other members of the family follow shortly. " « * ._.* ' * ' -• Mr. Stansell, who is still hale and hearty and as active as a colt, says that when he first'landed in New Zea-. land away back in 1858, he was called a "new chum." In those early days "new chums" in New Zealand were quite inferior beings, and were regarded with scorn and. disfavour generally by the small band of pioneers who had. preceded them. Even "new chums" to-day—that is, before the war when immigrants arrived in shiploads every few weeks—-are looked upon with at least a certain amount of curiosity. •» ■ •' •» . '"« •> At the family gathering last week Mr. Stansell jokingly related a little anecdote concerning his wedding day, which proves that his memory is as fresh as ever. When he handed the minister who tied the matrimonial knot his fee the latter had no change "and," Mr. Stansell smilingly remarked, "he still owes me ten shillings." But as the reverend gentleman is now dead, Mr. Stansell's chance of collecting his change is not very promising-— not on this dust heap, at all events.