WHO'S WHO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15501, 7 January 1914, Page 10

WHO'S WHO.

For the past 40 years a single workman, I Mr. Thomas Colley. has been patiently carving the capitals of the wooden columns of St. Dunstan's and other chapels in St. Paul's Cathedral. These capitals were left shapeless blocks of wood when the building was put up, and remained so until Mr. Colley with his chisel formed delicate scrolls and acanthus leaves out of them, and gave them the ornate appearance intended by the designer. Before Ihe entered on the carvings of the capitals in St. Dunstan's Chapel he carved the panels and ceiling of one of the entrance lobbies, restored part of the figure of St. Paul, and has done most of the carving in the chapel of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. For upwards of 40 years he has been busy in the Cathedral day by day finishing the work of the original builders, and even yet there remains much work for his practised hands to do. Captain A. P. Davidson, who has been appointed to the Aboukir for charge of a group of Third Fleet ships, did excellent work with the Naval Brigade during the Boer War, commanding one of the few armoured trains which did not come to grief during that struggle— not the only one. He has also to his credit an act of remarkable bravery performed in 1897, when he was serving as a lieutenant of the Acorn at Monte Video, when he went overboard on a dark and stormy night to rescue a seaman who could not swim and ; who nearly succeeded in drowning his Tescuer. Since that exploit Captain j Davidson has twice been commended by i the Admiralty for saving life at sea.

Mr William Edward Armitage Axon, LL.D., president of the- Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, has been admitted to the Honorary Degree of M.A. of Manchester University. An unusual and pathetic interest attached to the ceremony from the fact that Mr. Axon is suffering from an incurable disease, which barely allowed him to leave his bed for the occsisiou. The laws of the University had been over-ridden in order that this welldeserved recognition of Mr. Axon's valuable services to the cause of learning, in Manchester and elsewhere, might take place in his residence. Mr. Axon's career as an author and student has been both active and distinguished. His works include "Annals of Manchester," "Lancashire (.leaning?,' "Cheshire Cleanings," "Cobden as a Citizen," and countless contributions to various publications, including the "Encyclopedia Britannica." Ho has always been regarded as a great authority on the subject of public libraries, and has published a. "Handbook of the Public Libraries of Manchester and Selford." He has been connected with numerous societies, including the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, the Manchester Temperance Union, the Vegetarian Society, International Vegetarian Union, and the Manchester Statistical Society. He has also been a member of the Sal ford School Board and an honorary member of the Museum, Library and Parks Committee of Salford.

Prussia, has a lady colonel in Princess August, Wilhelm, wife of (he Kaiser's fourth son. The uniform she is wearing in the latest photograph taken of her is that of the 14th Dragoons, of which rC£imeat she is colonel. " The princess is the second daughter of Pake Friedri. of Schleswig-Holsbcin, and she is a niece of the German Empress. The storv of her marriage is quite a romance. The prince and princess were playmates from their earliest days, and their childish comradeship grew into a strong and deep affection In 1906, while Prince August was a student at Bonn University, he asked for parental sanction to the marriage which was given on condition that the wedding should be postponed for two years until both had reached their twenty-first year. For leaving the university in "order to pay a clandestine visit to the young princess the Kaiser told his son to hold himself in readiness to leave for America in order to take up his studies at Harvard. This was too much for Prince August, and his entreaties at last resulted in a coinpromise, in terms of which he went to Strasburg and undertook to remain there for a year without visiting the. princess. Princess August lives a very simple life, and devotes much, of her time to painting.