Personal

NZ Truth, Issue 265, 23 July 1910, Page 1

Personal

Tain Mackenzie m his. life has been' known as Thistle Tam,""Oiutha Tarn," and '"Taaeri T a rn." To become the' Hon. T a rn was perhaps pis greatest am&fcfcion. The cost of tihat, only, "Hansard" can tell.

Bobby McNab, ex-Minister of Lands, who ' was rejected at Mataura last eleption,.and is just now looming m the publia eye with his Captain cook and compulsory training lectures, is to take up his pemiaaent residence m Palmerstbn North, where he is going to took after his flaxmilling interests. Incidentally, he may also be keeping a weather eye open on Opposition Dave Buick's seat,

Andrew, Fisher, Australia's -Labor Prime Minister, is to represent the Commonwealth at the opening of the South African Union Parliament. So far, ! we have not heard of the Dominion's representative. Who will it. be'? W o doubt Sir Joseph will kill two birds with one stone, viz., do the opening of the S.A. Parliament and the Coronation. The floating of a loan is' a mere incidental. ' - .

Professor Bickerton, who has left lor Australia, en route for Britain, will probably'spend sixteen months m the wor« of .demolishing accepted conservative opinion m matters astronomical." .Th« battered remains of old beliefs will bo replaced with the theory of partial impact, and the Professor, it is hoped, will return to this country covered with star flakes and glory. All great discoveries m the astronomical world have received credit for their discoveries after deatk ; Bickerton wants the credit before he fec«U the worms.

Several West Coasters have been • r«joiciog 6f late on hearing from Tasmania that the charges of land-joWbing against the Vamdemonian Chief Justice, John Dodds, have been unproved, or, as it is put, dismissed. Why the West Coast should thus enthuse is explained \by tb* very interesting fact that John Stokeil Dodds was the first solicitor admitted to practise at the bar m jHobitika, Judge Gresson admitting him; at the first sessions held at Hokitflsa m the late six* ties. Sir John Stokell Dodd«, X. > C.M;(*., is the Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice of Tasmania. He has held several portfolios. He was born m 1848.

The farewell of JuKus Knight occurred m Sydney last week, and great was the grief of the matinee girls. Of course, Julius has farewelled — for ever — once on twice before, but this is final— perhaps. The company leaves now for. Westrafia, and, after a short season, there, Julius packs np his lovely silk tucked shirtspale greys and heliotrope, with socks to match-rand other eye-dazzling paraphernalia and returns to England. New Zealand will miss him— he entertained us excellently, and the frequent change " m his leading ladies lent a piquancy to the show. Alas '. JuKiis leaves, a bachelor, m spite of ail the- social scribes' efforts to engage him matrimonially during the 10 years he has played for us;\

Sir Joseph Ward, New Zealand's PiSraa Minister, started life as a telegraph boy, wirile Andy Fisher, the -Prime Minister of Australia, was a miner m Queensland* Some notaMe Australasian politicians— dead ' or living— are : Sir Beriry parkes, once a woodturner ■ ' Mr Joseph Cook, of the infamous Deakin-Cook "Fusion" m the Federal Parliament, once a working miner ; Mr J. C. Watson, the first Commonwealth Premier from the Labor Party, once a ; typesetter ; Mr Tom Price, jn South Australia, once a masoa.y .Sir John Quick, o nce a buttery-'bby m Victoria; lifer Duncan Gillies, a scotch clerk, and Sir .Graham . Berry, a grocer's boy, who became Premiers m Victoria ; and, not least, Dick- Seddon was once a foundry band. - ■>„-.

Laborites will regret t<p hear tbene&s^ of the death of Andy Bawsbn, one of the pioneers *? Labor organisation m Queensland. Anderson Dawson has just died at *he comparatively early age of ii- Andy, will be long remembered as ttoe Labor Minister of Defence who refused to be present at a banquet to a Japanese Admiral. Born m Rocknampton Central Queensland), Dawson organised the first Miners' Union of Charters Towers, and was one of the first Labor members of Queensland. He was elected m lUii'd, at a time when a corrupt continuous Minis,try was running the banana Sta*e. Those indeed were stirring times. The Labor .movement has since grown, and the continuous Ministry o l Queensland is now an unhappy memory of the past. To .Dawson remains the unique honor of being the first La-bor Premier of any Australian State. On the downfall of the LMcK-son-Phflp Government, Andy became Premier, but his Ministry was a short-lived one, as the corrupt crowd combined, and out went Andy. He was one of W«eenslaod's first Senators 'm tfee •Commonwealth Parliament, and . was Minister for Defence m the Watson Ministry m ISMJ-k Dawson subsequently fell on evil days, and actually^ eked out an existence as a .clerk m a Commonwealth office. He was his worst enemy^ 'and lost caste wtieti an lapsed from respectability. In 'his day. Andy was a sterling democrat, artrt tfie Labor cause of AiistcaJia owes much. Ho one who foug&t his way to tiw t/op, but who m his dog->cfofs taitfo't a single