PERSONS, – PLEBS- & PLUTES'

NZ Truth, Issue 850, 4 March 1922, Page 1

PERSONS, - PLEBS- & PLUTES'

French General Percin has recently published a war book entitled "Le Massacre de Notre Infanterie." The publication is causing 1 a heap of talk m that tho general has collected a laTge number of instances of the shelling of French troops by their own artillery. He estimates that 75,000 soldiers were killed m that way. Although such unfortunate mistakes are inevitable, with the system of corripli- - cated barrages common \o modern; warfare, the figures quoted are astounding. Were some of our New Zealand officers competent to write on the matter, candid enough to make similar revelations, "Truth" fears that the disclosures would be equally shocking. s; :: t: William. Pryor, who has been righthand man to the New Zealand Employers! Association for 16 years, passed out at his home m Hatattai, Wellington, this week. Mr. Pryor was the ideal -secretary, precise, exact and over thoughtful. His busy mind helped on more than one occasion to make complete to the minute the case of the master class against the worker, and thereby secure victory. Mr. Pryor was obliging and courteous to all classes, and was : liked and admired on all sides. Was born In Dunedin 54 yearg ago, and first' entered business on his own account as coal merchant' and contractor m the North East Valley there. Came to Wellington m 1906, when he took up tho position he held until death came. There's nothing much m being a lady's idol. Probably the handsome, debonair Earlo Williams will tell you this. Earle is m trouble again. This time with his wife. The' lady, who was formerly Florine Wal6h, a New York heiress, has filed a petition for divorce, alleging "cruelty," which is an American cant term employed by wives. or husbands when they wish to secure a severance of matrimonial ties. "Cruelty" may moan anything or nothing. The last time .Earle' Williams was heard of m the courts w„as a" couple of years ago, when Roma Raymond, a Polish screen artist, sued him for breach of promise of marriage, and secured a verdict for the neat little sum of ,£IO,OOO. The lady evidently collected** something on account, for nothing more was heard of the matter.

And still' they come'!' Another "last survivor" of Balaclava is reported to have died. The "Gallant Five Hundred" will yet go down to future generations as; the. "Gallant Five Thousand." The latest "last survivor" of the famous charge is Trumpeter Richardson, aged 91, whose 'death was re-ported-by cable last week. Trumpeter Richardson, at least, had some material evidence to back up his claim of having "entered the mouth of hell" m the famous charge for, according to the cable, m 1920 he was operated on on account of wounds received at Balaclava, seven fragments of cannister shot being removed from his body. :t j: t: ' Mr. Walter Gibson, tr.e Victorian \millionaire, of Foy, and. Uibson, Ltd., Sydney, who left an estate valued at £2,324,000 and another m New South Wales valued at £66,000, was not too generous to his son's widow and child. Litigation m the Melbourne '.courts showed that .he originally made a will, dividing his estate between his own son and four daughters. After the son's death he .added- a codicil deleting his son's name 1 , as a beneficiary, also his son's heirs and successors. The son left a widow, Henrietta Elizabeth Gibson, also a daughter Barbara Gibson, now iaged ten years. The Court decided .that the whole of the estate should be divided between the four daughters and that the son's widow and child would npt benefit. :: :: ti Remarkable, the number of New. Zealand journalists who climb up' to the top of the' tree, m Australia. The latest to reach an important editorial chair is Farmer Whyte, one time subeditor of the "New. Zealand Herald." When formerly m ' Sydney he - was on the staff of the "Sydney Morning Herald," where he was a special writer. Then he went on to Brisbane m 1918 as editor: of the "Daily News" there. Mr.\ Whyte is a great student of Shakespeare, and for a time was secretary of the Sydney Shakespearean Society. Australian newspapers are always keen to lay hands on newspaper men from Maoriland, and that they are given every opportunity to make good is proved m the case of Mr. Whyte. Mrs. T. J- Ryan, widowed by the death of her brilliant husband, was approached by many of her sex to nominate her for the Paddington plebiscite, but declined. Had she agreed to go to the ballot, it is likely that the number of nominations would have been reduced. Mrs. Ryan is a talented and cultured lady, with a personality that was peculiarly suited m partnership with a' man whose individuality impressed ?■ itself permanently .on the people. '; Mrs. Ryan is a young woman yet, and with that .knowledge of psychology gained by. momentous years m a highly, charged political atmosphere, she may some day enter politics. The suitable woman type is rare but Mrs. T. , J. Ryan would present an impressive figure,

James William Tate, who went the way of all flesh recently m London, had some claims to fame. He was the composer ,of those super-popular melodies of a few years back : "Little Grey Home m the West," and "A Broken Doll." Pleasant tinkling little melodies, nothing more, yet they were sung on the concert platform, the gramophone, m the street and m the bathroom, tens of thousands of times every day until we grew heartily sick of them, and then some other ballad composer came along with something new for the fickle fancy of the public. Tate composed numbers ofT other popular ballads, but none «o successful from a selling viewpoint, as the two mentioned. He was musical director of the Carl Rosa Opera Company. Was 47 years of age- \ ti »s ** Doing the Dominion on ft pleasure trip just now is Mr/W. Moses,*' one of the shining lights m the gee-gee world m Aussie. He and his brother "F.A." got their names m the headings of the "snoosepapers" when their donkey Poitrel paddled home m the Melbourne Cup with exactly a hun-/ dredweight and a quarter on his back. It was almost as popular a win as when Carbine did the sime trick years ago. Mr., Moses is not over here to start a loan company or a pawnbroking business, as many people might think from- reading his name. He prefers to see Rotorua and any other sights we "flute" about and then go back to Aussie, where he and his brother bree t d gee-gees at Arrowfield, on the 'Hunter- River. Amongst the matrons at the stud is .the one-time queen of the turf. Wakeful. Another star is glimmering m the world of billiards. ', Ron. Harverson, but 17 years of age, son of popular champion of . ; South .A-frica, whose brilliant billiards and very genial manners and disposition while with -us some years back, won him popularity and admiration throughout Australia and New Zealand, is the star that may some day shed his lustre upon the board of green, as he has already been breaking centuries and otherwise displaying promise of better things' to come. "Red Wi nn er" m the Johannesburg "Star. says: "It is almost needless to add that the son of Cyril Harverson is an all-round player. Though, strong m the all-red route, he has not yet developed this, department of the game with a view of emulating the exploits of Geo. Gray and Clark McConachy. / With plenty of practice young Harverson should go far. Amateurs who intend competing m next year's 'championship will find that he will give them as good practice as.can.be got, for he is as keen; as can be. The fact that Ha«v^i'son, senior, intends" to bring, out his sonas a professional^ will be considered by most readers as eloquent testimony of his promise." .

With the death of that fine old war horse, Captain W. D. H. Baillie, M.L.C, we see the end of the one-time large body of life members of the Legislative Council. ./The present system of^ election .to the Legislative Council is surely undemocratic enough for anyone, but the old system of life membership beat it to a frazzle. However, this observation is no reflection on the old captain, who although he took little or no active part m the deliberations bf the Upper. Chamber, m recent years, had a fine record of service to . the country behind him. The deceased captain came of an old Scots family, being born way back m 1827. He commenced his military career at the age of 19, later went to India, was m the Punjab campaign and was one of thd survivors of his regiment m the bloody battle of Chilian Wallah. He was promoted to his captaincy m 1854 and arrived m Noo Zee four years later. For over thirty years he was .prominently associated with tha volunteer movement here His entry into politics was made m 1881 when he was returned as a member of the Marlborough Provincial Council. He was appointed to our House of Lords, also m 1861. 8! !! ti Arrived from thd Gem Isle several months ago P. Dorgan, brother of Constable Dorgan,: who was fatally shot by an unknown midnight marauder at Timaru .last year. ■ With the idea of filling his deceased brother's place m the police ranks and with the hope that Fate might thereby place his brother's murderer m his hands, Dorgan applied to join the. Force. He was accepted as probationer, and went through two or three months' training- at the barracks. At the end of his term of training he was sadly surprised to be informed by headquarters that he was not wanted. Dorgan naturally asked. for a reason, but the only one that was given him was he "was .unsuitable for permanent appointment." Unable to get a better explanation and having passed all the necessary tests for qualification as a constable, Dorgan dropped into "Truth" office to see if we" could do anything for him. Dorgan earned our sympathy>. f or he is a fine big strapping fellow with a boyish, candid face. "Truth," however, could receive nomore definite reason for Dorgan's rejection than Dorgan received himself. ..•-• Police Commissioner Wright said that Dorgan had been taken . on .on trial, and for good and sufficient reasonsxhad been rejected- He (the Commissioner) would not say any more. , "Truth" delicately suggested that the rejection' of Dorgan might possibly have something to do with . the fact .that the young- man had been a member of the Irish Volunteers before, he left, the Ould Sod, but the' Commissioner . replied that, he was. not prepared to. say; whethJer or not this., was the. reason. Dorga.n has a brother who was wounded m the war. He "is/at .present: one of the big band' of: unemployed. .:-. ■