PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2412, 24 May 1900, Page 60

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Professor A. W. Rucker, one of the secretaries of the Royal Society, has been elected president of the British Association (Glasgow meeting) for next year. — Mr Thomas de Moleyns, Q.C., father of the Minister Circuit, and one of the oldest barristers in Ireland, died in March. He saw Napoleon at Gosport, where the Bellerophon. put in with the captive Emtjeror cm board. Aged 92. — H.E.H. the Duke of Cambridge was 81 on March 26. In spite of his age, H.R.H. is still as active as of yore. 'When he travels incognito he generally uses the title of Lord Cullcden. — The Ccmte cle Flanders celebrated his birthday on March 24-. He is the Queen'*first cousin, being the son of the late King of the Belgians, who was the Duchess of Kent's youngest brother. He is a general in the Belgian Army, and one of the richest men in Belgium. — The .Right Hon. W. E. H. Lecky, who h one of the few prominent men with a personal acquaintance with Oom Paul and President Steyn, wbs 62 on March 26. As befits one of the most distinguiphed literary men of our daj-, lie sits in the Trlouse of Commons as member for Dublin University." — Two famous "members of the Royal Academy celebrated, their birthday 'on March -27. They are Air W. Q. Orehardson, R.A., D.C.L., and -Mr John MaeWhirter, R.A., .By another curious coir.cidenee they were bom -not far from one another, Mr Orchardson in and his colleague near that city. — The Earl of Dunmore, who was 59 on March 2-3-. has a great reputation as a sportsman, while his tiavels in Central Asia have made hivn famous as an explorer. His' son and heir, Lord Fineastle, is remarkable for iho face that he was fie tallest man on the si at cf Lord Elgin, where the shortest wa-s over bit in height. — Old Harrovians are very numerous at the w.v. Mr L. M. Hewlett ht>s compiled a valuable list, showing ihat 350 of the officers: i;i Lord Iloberu's army- were educated at Harrow, among them being Sir Redvers Builer, Lord Erroll. Ccloncl Neeld, and Captain Congreve, who gained the Victoria Crojs for •raving poor young Roberts ftom the guns at Colcnso. — Admiral Sir Henry Keppel is a wonderful old man cf the sea. On the verge of S2, he has left, his comfortable chambers in the Albany, and has undergons a voyage to British North Borneo. Fitty years ago he was cna-sing pirates in Borr.ean waters and storming their strongholds. He has ever pince retained s:i ective interest in the British po-*-.le^ioiis oi the livr Eaf-t, and lies devoted a go. id, deal of time to his duties as a diiectcr oi i'm j\rivisli North Borneo Company". --Sir Rupert Clarke, who has just arrived I in England from Australia, represents the \ Cieatest fortune ever made in the antipodes. j jrJis inth'er, emitted to Tasmania early m the ! century, ana went into the cattle trade. Subj s..niuomly he extended his operations to Vie- , t;;rla, pnd acquired immense pastoral property. J'*ei :1 g ;i man of simple habits, he lived with > &ieai eco-iomy. and left property worth ; £5,000 ) 0'.'0. Unlike the majority of rich Australians, Sir Rupert Clarke sticks to the land of his birth, and lives chiefly at his beautiful seat in Victoria. — Sir Charles Up 11 was the best amateur conjurer in England; but it is abvurd to saythat his popularity with the Princess of Wales wa-s due lo his pleight-oi-hand. His tricks were at one time the delight of the younger children at Marlborough House; but the Princess found in him an adviser, and to some extant a confidant, ir> grave matters that came under her consideration. The conndonce which the Prince of Wales aldo extended to Sir Charles, who had served him as Duke of^ Cornwall's Attorney-general for 15 years, gave him a particularly trusted position at Marlborough Hou&e, to wlio'r-'e inmates his devotion was always unbounded. — Mnny cities cl.iimpd to have given bk'lh to Somer. Two \ illages have contended foithe honour o: being the birthplace of Sir Uec.vge "Whito. Sow Portstewart has kliociccd out Whitehall — "Derry lias disposed of .4n:i\tm — by th.2 production of the baptismal tei Uncart* iha., ]>•■; was, m<»de the goou Christian he L ot Ajj'ncrion, the chui'di of PoiUlowavt, and only a, mile away from tho cottage assigned as his birthplace. Ho neve*', it is open to the defeated comity to say that if he hud to be born, an unconscious babe, in Derry, he prelerrcd to live in Antiim j when he carae to year? cv fliav.»rtion. J •rV — Major-Ge.'.eial Aiv John Cai-rslairs ! I M'Ncill, Y.C., X.C.8., vlio i« one of tbe equerries to ths Giiea::, vrc.s born ojl Mirch \ 29, 1831. It was in 1S6 3 -, in New Ze-lard. that he won the Y.C. }Vith a private, he was charged lry abcul 50 armed Maoiis, and they had to ride for their lives, when th° private's noi'te. fell and threw him. The enemy at ones charged on him, and Sir John, then Colonel, looking round,- f-aw his plight and rode back to his aid, catching his hor-se and helping him to mount while they were under lire tho whole time. Sir John has seen seivice in many isarts of the world — in i India, Ireland, Canada. Aphani.ee, Egypt, etc. — Don Carlos, the Dake of Mrdrid, to give him hU title, completed his fifty-second year I on March 30. Jdi? cieim to the Spanish' throne is based on the fact that Isabella, the daughter of Ferdinand "VII and Christina and the mother of Alphonso XII, was, in consequence of the Salic Law, debarred from the succession. Like his grandtather and his ! uncle, he 'ought for his claims, and for a time bticcseded, but was eventually defeated by the forces of Alphonso XII, and took refuge in France. Now, Don Carlos lives in Venice, and it is expected that he, will, when the time is ripo, make aiiother attempt to obtain the crown to which he considers he has a right. — A special personal interest attaches to Colonel Alderson's book, "Pink and Scarlet," which Mr Heinemann issued in xViarch. For the greater part of hi? career the author has been closely inclentiiied with mounted iniantry, serving with that arm in the' Boer war in 1881, in the Egyptian campaigns of 1882, 1884, and 1885, and in 1896 commanding the foice sent out to quell the rising in Mashonaland, where, in addition, he organised" the local forces. On the outbreak of tho present war Colonel Alderson left England in command of a complete brigade of mounted infantry, which formed the nucleus of the-mag-nificent cavalry force witli which General French has been operating so successfully. — The" family of Colonel Baden-Powell lias so many members who are distinguished for cleverness and versatility that it is not sur- | prising they gel a little mixed in the public mind. The tendency at present is to attribute every achievement by Baden-Powell to the hero of Mafekiug. We read almost daily of his war kites and his war balloon, neither of which inventions belongs to him, i both being the property of his brother, Major F. S. Baden-Powell, of the Soots Guards, now

at the front. He -is a recognised authority on aeronautical subjects. His war kites are now in practical use in South Africa, aiding Marconi's wireless telegraphy. The major has made 26 voyages in his balloon. —"I never begin with a plot. The plofc grows out of the men and women I conjureup. I expect them' to tell me the story.'* That is Mr Pinero's self-confessed method of play-writing. Ec writes to satisfy himself, not to make money; but he writes so well that he is a rich man, who lives in a mansion, in Hamilton terrace, and entertains with something like splendour. A very charming, exceedingly well-mannered, courteous gentleman, he is extremely popular, and the profession loves him, for he makes actors and actresses almost as often as he makes plays. To his training more than one leading player owes nearly everything. Everyone knows that Mr Pinero was once an actor. Nowadays, he seldom goes to the theatre save to rehearse one of his plays. — Sir William Howard Russell, the oldest of war correspondents, was 80 on March 28. Although he began as special correspondent for The Times is the Danish- War in Schles-wig-Holstem, in 1850, and -was in the Crimean Campaign, the Indian Mutiny, the Italian. Campaign, the American Civil War, tho Franco-German War, and in Egypt and South Africa, among- others, it is said that, when, on cue cccasion, he hatf tc deliver a lecture he- was seized with .a most- extraordinary nervousness, and would, if he could, have foregone the engagement. Sir William accompanied the. Prince of Wales as honorary privaie &ecreta:y v to India in 1875-76, and was intrusted by"\N-uhar Pasha, with the selection, of the guests from England at the opening oi the Suez Canal.

— Sir Thomas Naglvtcn Fitzgerald, whose offer cf three months' service in .South Africa has been accepted, is the acknowledged head of the surgical profession in Australia. - B"i» private hospital, on the summit of Melbourne's western hill, is one of the landmarks oi the city. He has been surgeon-in-ordinary to a succession of Victorian "Viceroys, ancl that fact, in combination with his professional eminence, led to his knighthood three years ago. He is the senior turgeon to the "Melbourne Hospital, ancl although his services are in constant requisition by the rich, he devotes a considerable amount of 3iig time and skill to the alleviation of the . sufferings of the poor. He is a dapper little'Trishman, a legular playgoer on Viceregal command nights, and a very popular iigm-e in Melbourne society. Rumour estimates his income at £50,000 a year.