WHO'S WHO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15613, 20 May 1914, Page 12

WHO'S WHO.

Raiwatmen in Great Britain are very much- interested in the 'appointment of Mr. Cumberland Lowndes as manager to the Port of London Authority. Mr. Lowndes is yet a young man, being only 46, and his working life since his early teens has been devoted almost entirely to the handling of railway goods traffic. It ifi known that the Authority had been looking for a manager of exceptionally high qualifications, and the appointment of Mr. Lowndes is a compliment to the railway service. Mr.Lowndes since he was a boy of 15 has passed his whole career with the London and • North-Western Company. He entered their service in 1883. Ho has held successively the positions of district superintendent to the north-eastern and: the southern and assistant to the spuperintendent of the line. In 1911 ho was made outdoor goods manager to the northern section, and m January last year was made outdoor goods manager to the southern division, and last year he succeeded as chief outdoor goods manager. Mr. Lowndes's career has been an entirely practical one.

The emphatic denial by Mr. Austen lOhamberlain of the report that King George had offered a peerage to his father was scarcely necessary for those who know tho views of Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. He once professed a great admiration for Mr. Gladstone when that statesman refused a dukedom. A title never appealed to Mr. Chamberlain, and he will, no doubt, die, as his old chief did, a great commoner.

The King has selected, the title of Earl of Chester for use by, the Prince of Wales when he is travelling abroad. This title dates from 1246, when the earldom and its large • estates were taken over by the Crown. King . Edward travelled on the Continent as Baron Renfrew when Prince of Wales, and as Duke of Lancaster during his reign. Queen Victoria was known as either Countess of Balmoral, or Duchess of Lancaster.

Lord Lansdowne has made over the estates of Pitoarry and Kinneff, in Kincardineshire, extending to nearly 3000 acres, to L:>rd Kerry, who now becomes " superior" of the town of Stonehaven. He has also transferred the estates of Meikleour and Tullybeagles, in Perthshire, and Aldie, in Kinross-shire (about iO,OOO acres), to Lord Charles Fitzmaurice. All those estates canio to Lord Lansdowno from his mother, who was Baroness Keith and Naiarno in her own right. She was the daughter of the Comte and Comteese do Flahault, and her mother was the daughter and heiress of Colonel Mercer, of Aldie and Meikleour. The Meikleour Estate has been owned by tho Mercers for 500 years.

'-■- Mr. Joseph Chamberlain could hardly ask Birmingham to Teturn him again to Parliament, but if ho had asked no doubt Birmingham would have responded loyally. The fidelity of constituencies to distinguished representatives who change their views is a pleasing feature of English public life, though only an occasional one. Mr. Roebuck experienced it at Sheffield, Mr, Joseph Cowen at Newcastle But there has been no case of this kind so striking as Mr. Chamberlain's. - Ho not only carried Birmingham with him when he chancedl his patty, .but when . he was converted to protection. Apparently ho could do anything he liked with his constituents. In part ■ tliiß was .due .to .his skill 'i in :. electioneering ■; and i wire-pulling, but mainlyio. the personal admiration and affection with which he inspired his fellow townsmen. They were ready to assent to anything he raid : or thought rather than I quarrel with him,', ; .-