PERSONAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10836, 20 August 1898, Page 4 (Supplement)

PERSONAL ITEMS.

' The' celebrated • Rabbi ' Mohilewer, the . founder of Zionism,' died lately.at Bialy- ■ stok, Russia. ~; ; ■''.-•' . ~.'..: .-; The Bishop of Bangor, who for several months past has been suffering from a critical illness, is now regarded as being out of danger. « Mr. Frederick Weyerhaeuser, a wealthy American, is, with the probable exception of the Czar,, the owner of more timber than any man on the globe. It is estimated that, with his immediate associates, Mr. Weyerhaeuser controls 15,000,000,000 ft of standing white pine. People who have seen Mr. Balfour play, declare that lie shows on the links the same extraordinary self-control and sweetness of temper which account so largely for his success and popularity as Leader of the House of Commons. When most men would swear at a mishap, his greatest expression of disappointment is" Dear me! Well, well!" Sir George Scott Robertson, British agent in Kashmir, has had his full share of adventure as doctor, diplomatist, and soldier. On one memorable occasion he was cooped up with a mere handful of men in a tiny fort, where he was beleagured for six weeks by some thousands of the Chitrali. With remarkable skill he resisted all their assaults, and although he was knocked over by a rifle ball, he held the fort until succour arrived. Probably no oilier Britisher has Sir George's knowledge of, or power over, the hill tribes of India. There is a curious little tale about Captain Bagot, M.P. for South Westmorland, which cannot fail to interest those superstitiously inclined. It is said that, some generations ago, a witch cursed " Levens Hall," the seat of Captain Bagot, and said that there would be no direct male heir to the estate, as long as the Kent (the river which runs through the grounds) flowed. Such has indeed been the case, until in 1895, when, owing to the severe frost, the Kent was, for a time, entirely frozen up, and a few months afterwards Mrs. Bagot presented her husband ' with a little boy. Lord Mansfield, who has just passed his ; 92nd birthday, is the doyen, not only of the , House of Peers, but, now that Mr. Villiers ' is gone, of both Houses of Parliament. Ho J shares with the Duke of Northumberland and , Lord Mexborough the distinction of having , held a seat in the House of Commons before . the Reform Act of 1852, and, indeed, pre- j ceded his fellow-peers as a member by three ] years. Lord Mansfield has long withdrawn , from public, life, and finds his chief pleasure ( in being wheeled on to the lawn of the old , Palace of Some in his bath-chair, and gazing . at the beautiful scenery through which the River Tay " unwinds its silver coils." .

Mr. A. F. Hills, the head of the Thames Ship Building Company, which constructed the Albion, is one of those strange personalities that England alone produces. Heir to a considerable wealth, he was further enriched by the death of two brothers; and by the gigantic success of his own undertakings. Probably he may now be ranked among the multi-millionaires. But his 1 wcalth_has induced none of the usual consequences. He is a lover of his kind; and in the exuberance of his desire to do them good, by example as well as precept, he is a fanatical teetotaler and a, fanatical vegetarian. He backs his opinion by tireless generosity, is at the back of several vegetarian restaurants, the chief paymaster of several teetotal movements, and recently ho has taken upon himself the chief burden of the amusement department of the People's Palace. A man, therefore, of the simplest wants, lie lives in a house in the Epping Forest region, and seeks the chief beauty of his surroundings, not in luxuriant furniture, but in beautiful gardens and shining beds of flowers.