NOTES ABOUT PEOPLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12069, 12 September 1902, Page 3

NOTES ABOUT PEOPLE.

THE NEW PREMIER'S CAMBRIDGE DAYS. A tall, shy, exceedingly Scottish youth,from whose, hair his native sand seemed still to be blowiag—such was the eldest of the three Trinity J* a 1 fours in his Cambridge days. Always walking with a stoop, seldom consorting with undergraduate contemporaries outside the one, or two brothers who** time on the Cam overlapped his own. the Prime Minister of to-day gave scarcely more promise of his coming greatness than he had done at Eton. The present, writer, when meeting him oa , a visit, from the sister University, recalls, among his then eristics, a certain siuuous and rather feminine elegance, since matured into the famous charm of manner that has helped him so nni- ii in Parliamen-, , t.sry management. J Another social quality - «.*s a conversational quickness in fastening upon anything; I that approached to an economic fallacy in? ; >V-u.il argument, and almost angrily tear- | its.; to pieces any incidental remark favour* (yiVie to representative government. / .n.s chief Cambridge associates nob being i Balfour* were Lyttvltons, especially t'e J present, headmaster of Hailbury, ami ' ae then Mr. Baliol Brett, to-day Lord Eshei. Suspected of writing for the newspapers soon after he first "came up," he incurred none of the more serious imputations to ■which less wary undergraduates expose them'selves.

Tim In other with whom be had most iu common. Francis Maitiaud. a l>orn scientific researcher, whose genius still lives at Cambridge and elsewhere., lamented Arthur's later ttnvn for politics as presaging the. rui» of a genfps for physic-ism.—Free Lance.

THE MAX WHO MANAGES THE AUSTRALIAN TEAM.

hi an illustrated article on "The Australian Cricketers nt Home." in (JasseU's Magazine, lot August, Air. Randal Roberts says: — "Major Wairdill. the manager of the team, takes no act ive part in the cricket field, blithe must If well-nigh the busiest man iu England. The fixture.', of course, were arranged >i)uio time before the Australians left their native shores, but there are a, thousand and one other details to bo attended to, which would mystify any brairs less clear than the popular major's. When 1 saw him ho was busily engaged in discovering railway routes by which his charges, in their journeys from one county to another, should cover the distances in the* I shortest time possible, and should be saved any unnecessary fatigue by travelling by night. The first essential, apparently, in th«s successful management of a touring team of cricketers in Ivnglaad is an extensive and Ininnte knowledge of Bradshaw. Moreover, in odditinn to the worries of evolving brief and pleasant railway journeys, unforeseen troubles ane always turning up, such I as the injury to Mr. Tnunble's hand at the beginning of the present season, which mada it doubtful for EOjine time, whether he would be able to take part in the test matches, 'a-nd Mr. Hill's illness un 1899. To be deprived, even temporarily, of the services of the best batsman and the most dangerous bowler in a 1 team, gives food,.for thought to even the ! most optimistic manager.'' | A 'VERSATILE DUKE. j The Duke tie Stacpoole is .1 direct deI sceudant of Sir Richand de Stacpoole, who j accompanied William the Conqueror t« ! England, and was given broad lands in i Pembrokeshire, where .succeeding genera- ! tions resided, marrying into many dis.'tinguished families, and subswpiently migrat- ] ing to Inland in the thirteenth century., Genealogical students will, also recollect that the ancient barony of de la Zoucb» was laid claim to by "Count George deal Stacpoole (who at the invitation of Loni? Will, settled in Paris in. 1818), though, as a consistent Catholic he could not take the oath, then obligatory, in the House of Lords. The Duke is essentially a man of actional* His is the temperament which must be "up and doing." and his versatility is remarkable. He is very keen about engineer- , ing: is the owner of a. clever method of - filtering waver for town supplies, for which a gold medal was obtained at the Chicago 1 Exhibition ; has practically interested him-1 self in musical, theatrical, and press affairs: knows something about " companies," and shows an aptitude for busi--1 ness rare in one not early trained in the city. He is an authority on everything connected with European or American: travelling, and is thoroughly cosmopolitan in his tastes, while his friends are not limited to anj country or class. His cheery,kindly disposition ensures him popularity everywhere, and enables him to get ore'; unusually well with his subordinates, more especially with his tenantry in the west • of Ireland.

: As a small boy he was a well-known i figure at, tie Vatican, where his father! was Chamberlain to Pius IX. For several generations the tie Stacpooles have been in high favour at the Vatican, and the Duke inherited probably the largest number, of sacred relics ever bestowed on a j private family. He also possesses some valuable Stuart portraits, which came into the family through his grandmother, nee j Tulloch of Tamachie, a race noted for devotion to the ill-fated Stuarts. The Duchess de Stacpoole is the only child' of the late. Mr. McEvoy, of Tobertynau, formerly ! M.P. for Meath, and it is no exaggeration I to add that the Duke's chance hunting sea,-' son in that county was the luckiest; inci" j dent in his life. A ONE ARM BARONET. j Sir Edward Bradford, Chief Commissioner j of the Loudon Police, who has just been made a baronet, probably alone among human beings, can claim to'have had a walk j with a tigress.- It was not a long walk or I one of his seeking, but it is a fact thai, j with his left arm in the beast's mouth, he j had to step a yard or two with her walking jat his side. He was out shooting, and, alI ways a fearless sportsman, bad come to. ; close quarters with his quarry. He fired, j and either the ball failed to take effect, or. but slightly wounded the animal. % She | sprang at him. and seized his left arm above ; the elbow. The pain must have been ter- ! virile, but Sir Edward kept cool, and, realis- ' | ing that it would be death to drag his •' mangled arm away and allow her to spring ! afresh at him, lie deliberately walked a few agonising paces until his comrade was able to take aim and kill the brute. Thus his (.oarage saved bis life, though the amputation of his arm at the shoulder proved necessary. At the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, one of the remarkable sights was Sir Edward's management of his big black horse outside St.Paul's at the conclusion of the service. The ; crowd watched him with amazement take ( his bridle between his teeth, and, holding' his saddle with his right hand, get aboard,' but Anglo-Indians could have told them.' how in India many a day had he ridden out pig-sticking, guiding his galloping Arabwith his teeth while with his one arm he. got, his boar-spear home into the "tusker's" shoulder.

Like Lord Roberts and many another -. .Anglo-Indian veteran. Sir Edward is quite a small man ; like Bobs, too, he is a wonder for his size. A quiet, genial, white-haired little man with a soft voice, he is an odd" contrast as he walks with tripping gait thelength of his square to his home door, with the stalwart representative of the force striding out respectfully at his side. You look in vain, hi his face for the cunning of a M. Leeocq, or the fierce coin-age with which throughout his long Indian career he met so many dangers. But the police, love him, and he governs his army of 16.000 without friction, and so successfully fulfils his duties as guardi*n of London's millions that people almost forget he is at the helm.