NEW YEAR HONOURS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18493, 2 March 1922, Page 8

NEW YEAR HONOURS

A POPULAR LIST, i A HITCH. /From Oub Own Correspondent.) ■ LONDON,' January 3. The Sunday pa.pers were very much annoyed that they were'not allowed to publish, on January 1, the New Year Honour’s List, as they had expecte d to be privileged to do. It is since explained that at the eleventh hour the discovery was made by Premier’s entourage that publication on Sunday would anticipate publication in Monday’s London Gazette, the official Court Circular, a stern-looking sheet which carries all official announcements. As a consequence Downing Street had to issue an S.O.S. to the Sunday newspapers, which had received the list, according to plan, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, meekly begging them not to publish it. As a possible 1 way out it was suggested to Downing Street that the publication Of the London Gazette might be accelerated to appear on Sunday, The proposal was considered, but the Office thought it could not be don© in time, and certain officials pointed out that the expense would not be tolerated by tbe Cabinet in its chastened economy mood.- : The : political correspondent of the Sunday Times relieved his feelings thus:—“The only excuse for this irritating derangement is that there is no precedent for bringing out the Gazette on Sunday, and that the Sunday publication of the Honours List here would be in front of the . overseas announcement — just the sort of footling- explanation that officialdom ever finds for its gaucheries. If there is any validity in the objection, why was the hitch only discovered yesterday.” The list is a lengthy one, that issued from 10 Downing street comprising four new peers, two Privy Councillors, 16 baronets, and 48 knights. In addition there are army, navy, Foreign Office, Irish Office, and Colo-, nial Office lists. Sir James Barrie receives the Qrder of Merit for his distinguished services to literature and the drama, knighthoods are conferred on Mr J. J. Shannon, R.A., and on Mr Charles Hawtrey and Mr Gerald du Maurier, the actor-managers. Music is recognised in the persons of Dr Ethel Smyth, who may justly claim to be regarded a® the leading woman composer, who becomes a Dame Commander of the British Empire; and Mir Landon Ronald, the wellknown conductor and composer, and principal of the Guildhall School of Music, a Knight.

New barons are Sir Robert Nivison, head of the firm of R. Nivison and Co., brokers and financial advisers to the overseas dominions; Joseph Watson, chairman of J. Watson and Sons (Ltd.), and a director of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Sir James Buchanan (head of the famous whisky firm, arid a generous benefactor to many public objects); and Mr Francis Willey (chairman of Franois Willey and Co., Bradford), who placed the services of his staff at the disposal of the Wool Control during the war. For 40 years he has been J.P. for Bradford; High Sheriff of County of Nottingham, 1908; chairman and leader of the Conservative party in Bradford for 14 years. During the war the advice of Sir R. Nivison was frequently sought both by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and by the governor of the Bank of England, as well as by the Governments of the oversea dominions. Since the war ho has been closely associated with the finance of - the .Government, housing scheme and the issue of loans connected with the housin'g bonds. He received the official thanks of H.M. Government for services resulting in the successful financing of Government schemes. The Morning Post remarks: “The honour is some 'recognition of Sir Robert’s war and postwar services to British finance in .its broadest sense, Sir Robert having a long record of responsiiblity for the conduct of colonial financial affairs in London, and the smoothness and success with which the (large colonial loans Of the past few years have been arranged has' been du© in no small measure to his meticulous car© for detail and . his sound judgment.”

Pressmen among the 16 new baronets are; Mr Charles Hyde and Mr J. J. Jarvis: The former is a member of the Management Committee of the Press Association. He entered the newspaer business with his uncle, Mr John Feeney, in 1897, and, under the terms of Mr Feeney’s will, purchased and became sole proprietor in 1913/ of the Birmingham Post, the Birmingham Mail, and the Birmingham Weekly Post. He has been associated with many philanthropic movements. Ho endowed a bed at Queen’s Hospital, Birmingham, for the use of wounded soldiers, and on the signing of the armistice lie gave , a thank offering of £SOOO to the Lord Mayor of Birmingham for the'benefit of disabled soldiers. Since then he has contributed very large sums to the local war memorial, to the Birmingham University, and towards the purchase of a hostel for uni-; versity students. He has also founded "a. lectureship in psychotherapy at the university. ' Mr Jarvis is not only a director of the Financial News.-a.nd the Argus Printing Company, but is connected with, several other City undertakings. He has been able to advise the Government in connection with various problems of financial reconstruction .and on the question. of exchange. He was useful, too, in several. other directions _during the war. He is keenly, interested in sport. NEW KNIGHTS, Well-known pressmen, too, figure among the 50 knights. They include Mr F. M, Radcliffe (proprietor of Liverpool Courier and Liverpool Express), Colonial Joseph Reed (chairman of the Press Association), Mr M. T. Whittaker (who has rendered valuable services to the provincial press for many ■ years), Mr Whittaker, who is an octogenarian, has just completed, his second term of office as Mayor of Scarborough, and is one. of the best known men in the newspaper world., He is proprietor of the Scarborough Evening News and other local papers. He has been very active in the development of Scarborough as a health resort. Himself a lifelong total abstainer, he was the elder ko ri of a famous temperance reformer Thomas Whittaker, J.P., of Scarborough,- and brother to the late Sir T. P. Whittaker, M.P., a prominent leader of the temperance party. Mr P. E. R. Becker is not perhaps a ‘ pressman, but his position as chairman and managing director of an important, wood-pulp-ing firm and a shipowner, brings him into close touch with newspaper proprietors. At a luncheon in his honour, a few days ago, Lord Burnham described him as ,a living force of the first magnitude in the paper tradie. The Daily Telegraph says that Mr Becker prorides a conspicuous illustration of what a man of strong personality and undaunted energy can accomplish in the world of business. After starting life reading law, he went into business, and spent some years in the London office of a .Norwegian ’firm, where he obtained an intimate knowledge of many phases of the business with' which he has since been so closely connected. He launched out as a wood-pulp merchant on his own account in 1893, and representing some of the leading Scandinavian mills, his business rapidly grew, new offices had to be acquired, and a branch office in Manchester was opened. About the year 1899 British papermakers began to feel that Scandinavian prices were becoming too high, and their attention was directed to the possibilities of the Canadian 1 wood-pulp industry. Mr Becker went over to .Canada and opened up important business connections with Canadian firms. He chartered 'large steamers, with the result that important cargoes of Canadian pulp began to arrive regularly in the United Kingdom. He reaped the reword of his foresight, and the company with which Mr Becker’s name is connected sold, during the first three years of its existence, some 13,000,000 tons of pulp, with orders on its books to the extent of £1,884,737, /while, according to the latest accounts, with a working capital of £300,000, the turnover at the English office alone is £6,715,000, while, if the New Nork and Paris offices are included, there is a, turnover of £10,000,000. During the war he played a national part of great importance in maintaining the supply of ■paper, not only in this country but abroad also. There are many prominent commercial men among the new Knights, among them being William Carruthefs, general manager of Barclay’s Bank; Richard Walter Jeans, general manager of the Bank of Australasia; and James Duncan, chairman of the Royal Insurance Company. As a matter of fact, the business side of the community has been more than usually considered in the distribution of these honours, which is a pregnant sign of the times. The Morning Post considers Mr Jeans’ knighthood to be thoroughly well deserved, and adds: “There must be few bankers now living who have been associated for so many years with Australian hanking as Mr Jeans, and his name is an honoured one in banking circles, both here and in‘Australia,” SCIENCE. Professor W. A. Herdman (president of the British Association for 1920) lias a worldwide reputation as zoologist and biologist, and . few great enterprises in recent years concerned with those studies have lacked his personal interest and help. He was assistant to Sir W. Thomson in the Challenger expedition, and has taken part in promoting research in connection with fisheries. One of his principal works .was accomplished when he went out to Ceylon as representative of the Government in 19011902 to investigate the pearl oyster fisheries. The results of that inquiry are embodied in five volumes of valuable reports. Professor Herdman is also keenly interested in early archaeology. ORDER OF MERIT. Of Sir James Barrie, O.M.j the Daily Telegraph remarks: “Probably no man of letters has won such general affection since Robert Louis Stevenson died as Sir James Barrie, and all that vast circle of his innumerable readers will join in congratulations on the high honour now bestowal on him.” Born in 1860, at Kirriemuir, in File, afterwards

immortalized as Thrums, he was educated ■at Dumfries Academy and Edinburgh University. He began his literary career as a leader-writer on the Nottingham Journal. He is a well-known novelist, but perhaps his, 'genius found its real scope ■in the theatfe, :many, of his plays being regarded as masterpieces. THE ACTOR-KNIGHTS. Two undoubted favourites with theatregoers are Gerald du Manner and Charles Hawtrey. The Times refers to the former's honourable record of high artistic achievement. “To his natural gifts—a distinguished personality, intellectual features, arid sound elocution—he added constant .hard work. Probably no actor has over more fully possessed or deserved the, regard and confidence of his profession; outside the profession, too, he has many attached friends. In his early years du Maurier owed a good deal to the late Sir John Hare, with whom he played in ‘A Pair of Spectacles, and also to Tree, appearing as Dodor in ‘Trilby,’ and afterwards touring with him in America. Some of his most memorable parts were in Barrie's plays. He was the original JCaptain Hook and Mr Darling in ‘Peter Pan.’ i He used to practise making faces for the part of. Captain Hook in Boxmoor tunnel, and on , one occasion, when the end of the tunnel came unexpectedly soon, an old lady sitting opposite to him made a dash for the communication cord and stopped the train.” . Lady du Maurier, daughter of Mr Harry .Beaumont, solicitor, was ‘formerly on the stage (Hiss Muriel Beaumont) but has now retired. Of Sir Charles Hawtrey The Times writes: “He is acknowledged to be the most wonderful stage liar of this age—possibly of any age. How often have we enjoyed seeing that engaging, well-groomed man of the world, with his air of innocent candour, surmounting each successive crisis only by dint of plunging deeper into a morass of deception. One does not, perhaps, fully realise his masterly technique until one has seen an ordinary actor playing a Hawtrey part. There is complete economy of effort, for Hawtrey’s slightest movement is considered and has its duo significance. Ho can make silence far more eloquent than speech; he can look utterly stupid or unutterably lazy, and yet, what keen wit ‘ and patient industry have ■ been : expended on the apparently simplq, ■effect. But Hawtrey is more than a fine artist in comedy; he is also an excellent ‘producer,’ and he is credited with an almost uncanny prevision of the fate of plays while they are still in fehearsal. . . Now, in ‘Ambrose Applejohn’s Adventure,’ at the Criterion, he is achieving What may well prove to be the greatest triumph of his career.” A musical knight, Mr Landon Ronald, principal of Guildhall School of Music since 1910, and conductor of the Royal Albert Orchestra (late New Symphony Orchestra) since 1908, is widely known- as a conductor in the musical centres of the provinces, and his publications comprise about 200 songs arid a number of orchestral works. Since 1916 he has been chairman of the Musical ■ Conductors’ Association. i SOMB'OF THE LADIES.' It is understood that Ellen Terry begged to be excused! from acceptance of the distinction of D-B-E./ The G;B.E. (Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire) has been conferred upon tbe Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston (wife of the Foreign Secretary) for services rendered during the war to the British Red Cross Society; and Mrs Mary Ethel Hughes '(wife of the Prime Minister of Australia) for services rendered in Australia during the , war. 1 . ■' The two new recipients of athe D.B.E. are Margery (“MJargo”) Lady Greenwood, for services tendered in Ireland during 1920-21; and Dr Fithel Mary Smyth, composer and conductor. , ■ Lady Greenwood is a very good public speaker, and has been most active on the platform in the support of her husband in his constituency. She is also an accomplished French scholar and,’ a splendid horsewoman. In Ireland she has been most popular with all classes. She has, from the first appointment of Sir Hamar as Chief Secretary, used all her influence in the direction of. achieving peace in Ireland. She was on© of the founders and first chairman of the woman’s section, of the Comrades of the Great War, is now a member oi the Head? . quarters Coinmittee (woman’s section), British Legion, and is a member of the Consultative Committee of women’s organisations. No name will be noted with keener interest than that of Dr Ethel Mary Smyth (says the Daily Telegraph). She receives her distinction for her services to music, which, perhaps, were recognised earlier in Germany than here. H er opera ,“The Wreckers” was brought out 'at Leipzig, though all musicians -now recognise her great powers. TWb. very interesting volumes of reminiscences have been written by her in “Impressions that Remained ” and /‘Streaks, of Life.” She enjoyed the friendship of the late Empress Eugenie. . ,