PEOPLE IN PERSPECTIVE

NZ Truth, Issue 882, 21 October 1922, Page 1

PEOPLE IN PERSPECTIVE

tern over , some native sailors on board the Envy. The captain of the German vessel told the port authorities that the natives had been kidnapped from a German island m the Pacific, and followed this up by demanding that they be handed' over and placed on the Seestern. Captain Strachan stoutly denied that the natives had been kidnapped;' and point-blank refused to deliver them over. Hoisting the British flag, and claiming the protection of a British warship m port, he armed his crew, and threatened all kinds of pains and, penaltiei"""if any attempt were made to take the natives. The captain won m the end; the natives remained on the Envy, and when Captain Strachan sold out they were placed on board a mission vessel and sent to the Solomon Islands. By the irony of fate, the German patrol boat Seestern, after leaving Brisbane, was never afterwards heard of. Settling down m Sydney, Captain Strachan started a business at" the Glebe, and this he retained up' to, the time_of his death. He is survived by his widow and only son. A native woman whom he, had saved as a girl from some hostile tribe m the Pacific, m one of 'his' early island cruises, remained with him throughout his many adventures. : : : : : : One of the old brigade who remembered Auckland when the A PIONEER northern city was little more. than a name has answered the Call. This was Mr John Edson, a fine old man well up m years, who for 40 years has resided at Devonport. A. chemist by profession, Mr Edson came to New Zealand way back m. 1859, and at that time Auckland could' only boast of one little "tin-pot" wharf. A couple of months after arriving at Auckland he set up business as a chemist m Queen Street, but when' he wasn't selling dope to invalids he was taking the sheep clown for their wool at a little farm at Mt. Albert. . In 18G1 he took unto himself a wife, and last year celebrated the diamond jubilee of that all-important event. During his career he figured largely m the public eye and was a prominent member of the Methodist Church, a trustee of the Pitt Street C'Aurch, also 'of the old Wesley College m Queen Street. Right up. to the time of his death he was a trustee of the Auckland Savings Bank, also a director of the South British Insurance Company, holding down the first- named position for. 52 years and the latter one for 30 years. Of ■ a cheerful disposition, he made hosts of treasured friends am? his familiar face and smile will "be greatly missed byAuckland's pioneers. He leaves behind his widow, one son, and two daughters. The saying "the good die young" was given the He direct GONE WEST when Mr Michael Foiey, at the age of 68, received the Call which we all have to answer some time. "When "Truth" reads of an all-round sportsman . the Impression conveyed ia not merely of a man In a flannel suit with a tennis racquet m his hand. But "Truth's" idea of an all-round sport fitted. "Mick" Foley. From put-and-take to tennis it Was all the same to him, so long as it was sport, and his fa-

miliar figure for many years almost came to be regarded as part and parcel of the games. In his young days he boosted the ball with the best batted a ball to the boundary for six, could handle a tennis racquet to some purpose, and as a sprinter between the tapes was a veritable Gloaming. He might have v gone as fast, but had two legs fewer than the crack New Zealand moke. In the 1 sport of kings — or "kinks — he figured largely, being one of the founders of the Avondale Jockey Club and for several years occupied the position of president. Some time back his health began to fail, and though he made every effort to remain with us a little longer it was all to no purpose, and he passed away at his residence at Bayfield. His friends were legion and his wellknown figure and cheerful disposition will be missed by -ail who can claim to have been amongst them. After forty-four years m the service of the New ZeaSUPERANNUATED land Railways,. Mr W. Stringle-. man has retired on superannuation from the position of district traffic, manager at Christchurch. His job was never a bed of roses an<\. there . were many thorns always prodding the traffic manager, because Canterbury has for years considered itself the Cinderella amongst the provinces m railway matters, with the result that the local "head" has been the butt to take all the pricks coming along. It is to the credit of the retired official that he took all the abuse and adverse criticism with philosophic calm and never resorted to official procrastination or futile promises. He never gushed or sought personal popularity, but stuck to the onerous and tedious duties his thankless office involved, and toiled patiently to redress wrongs, remove reproaches and subdue grouches against a public service that is full of , imperfections. Now that Mr Stringleman has left the service of the N.Z.R. Canterbury realises that she has lost one of the most competent and conscientious public servants she has had, while all branches of the railway service sincerely regret the retirement of an official who has always acted to those under him as a "white man." Mr Stringleman was one of the five oldest employees of the N.Z. Railways. Archie Blair, Mr*. A. W. Blair, if you insist on the full and "ARCHIE." formal, divides his time into four, between his office, Chapman, Skerrett, Tripp and Blair, barristers I and solicitors, the Supreme Court, his home m town and Eastbourne. In Wellington he is best known as a. lawyer, but over the other side of the harbour he is a free and', easy rose-and-other gardener, with, a marked leaning to tinkering . with things mechanical. Born m Dunedin, he is a son, of the late Mr. Williami 1. Blair, first secretary of the Public Works Department and one-time engineer oi tile Middle Island when North and South went their own- ways to some extent . as far as ; government was concerned. His father died m 18d'i, and when Archie was 14 years of age he started out to make his own Way as office boy with W. and G. Turnbull and Co., now Wright, Ste-

phenson and -Co. A pouple of years later he was appointed associate to Denniston, J., and went down to Christchurch to type judgments and to see, Supreme Court practice m action. After five years of associateship he moved away to a private firm of conveyancers, Martin and Richmond, arid later on to Auckland a'» assistant to the Crown Prosecutor, the Hon. J. A. Tole. A partnership with. Mr. A. Hanna claimed his energies for a time before he came back! to Wellington as managing clerk to the then firm of Skerrett and Wylie m 1903. Not long afterwards that firm amalgamated with the firm of Chapman and Tripp, and he was made p, junior partner, though /at that time he had no place m the nameplate outside the door; that came later. Now, ,of course, the firm is really six-bar-relled, three new partners being taken m not so long .ago. Mrs. Blair, by the way, comes • from a very legal family-, for her, father was the late Mr. Samuel - Jackson, one of Auckland's best known solicitors for many a day. ' Of all S-P.C.A. men Jin New Zealand Captain James S.P.C.A. HENRY. Henry is the best -. known and probably the best looking. He is a soldier of the old school, a man with 3fp years' experience behind him, and with a heart biff m proportion to the rest of him. In '1879 he Joined the . 7th Dragoon Guards,, Dublin, and worked up the ladder through the ranks of sergeant; . sergeant-major, R.Q.M.S., and th,en, m 1900, found himself transferred to the South African Constabulary. The same year he gained his lieutenancy, two years later the stars of a captain, and as captain he carried on till 190S when he resigned and shortly afterwards came on to New Zealand to take up farming m the Eketahuna distribt. In his 30 years of soldiering, ranker, non-com.' or officer, he, saw many countries, and to-day wears upon his breast i-ibbons of Egypt, 1882, the Queen's South Africa with four barsi the King's South Africa with two, the Imperial long service and the Khedive Star, but he was m other parts, India and the East, for instance. He saw , Arabi Pasha m action at Tel-el-Kebir at the end of the Egyptian war of 18S2-S3 and saw action last on 4th May, 1902, when the last fight with the Boers took place at Bloemfontein, being specially mentioned for his little bit at that final dust-up before the declaration of peace in' June, 1902. But right through his luclc held pretty well, and an odd scrap from the back of his neck was all he left behind, and that -nothing to talk about. When he joined up with the Dragoons, he says, there was' not much luxury about soldiering, for the allowance was a a day, and by the time mess allowance, 4d per day, the Government rationing being insufficient to k"eep one going, and washing allowance, library fees, pipe clay and chrome yellow, barbering and the odds and ends had been squared up at the end of the month the man who was holding 10s was the toff and' the man to be looked to. All the same, he says, if he had his time over again he would start m at the same place. He first stepped into the S.P.C.A. office m 1914, and looks like carrying on' his good work for a long time to come. He is a kindly man, but. all his •Ttel-el-Kebir and Baer war blood comes , back; wheii he sees a beast ill-treated.. It is -a pity that an S-P.C.A. inspector should be, necessary at all, but since he is the best man for the job he isthe man for the job, and the Wellington Society has found that man.