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Otago Witness, Issue 2429, 3 October 1900, Page 67

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Prince Adolphus of Teck,. Avho is the nearest relative of her Majesty at the front, celebrated his thirty-second birthday on August 13. His position has in no way interfered with an active military career, and Jie has faced the enemy in the field on more than one occasion.

— What Lord Hawke does not know of cricket is assuredly not Avorth knowing, for lw has been playing the game since he was a boy at Eton, and he has been captain of tlie Yorkshire EleA'en for the past 17 j'ears. He Avas. 40 on August 16, but with " W. G." still in the aA-erages at 52 there is no reason Avhy Lord HaAvke should consider himself " out of it " for many years to come. Lord HaAvke is a splendid bat, and his "generOEitjto some unfortunate cricketers has been of a princely description. — It Avould probably be difficult to find in any family two brothers more absolutely different than the German Emperor and Prince Henry, Avho Avas 38 on August 14. Prince Henry is a sailor by profession, and bears a distinct resemblance to his cousin, the Duke of York. He has always _been exceedingly popular Avith all classes ot the community, and people have even gone so far as to doclare that there Avas a time, Avhen the Emperor was Crown Prince, when he was jealous of his younger brother, and their relations became somewhat strained in consequence, but if such a thing really happened it has been forgotten long ago. —Mr Reginald Erskine Foster, Avho has become so famous as a cricketer, distinguished himself in A'arious branches of sport when he Avas at .Oxford. Soon after his name appeared on the books of University College he obtained his blue for cricket, and was much talked of for his skill at rackets and golf. He was president of Vincent's Club, a social distinction, and for some unknown reason Avas nicknamed "Tip." As an oarsman he has not had time to show himself to achantage, but he is an enthusiastic boatman, and a story is told of him that during Jiis first Eights Aveek he Avas so excited over one race that he ran into the riA'er. " — Not a feAV of the most important messpges passing through the hands of the Militaiy Censor at the front are those of Mr P. Battersby, an ' Old Westminster," Avho has so ably represented the Morning Post during the present war. Like Mr Winston Churchill. Mr Battersby has already had several thrilling adventures on and off the battlefield, though he has not once fallen into the hands of the Boers. On one occasion, however, he. together Avith one or two brother correspondents, had an extremely narroAv escape from capture. Indeed, it Avas only by a supreme effort that they managed to eluele their pursuers, not, however, before one had received a nasty wound. — The Earl of Hopetoun is the first Governor of Federated Australia. The Hopes, Earls of Hopetoun, notwithstanding their surname, which ought to be Saxon, are of French origin, springing from a De Hope who Avent to Scotland Avith Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Stuart. They Avere not admitted to the Scottish peerage until 1703. They derive their title from the same parish in West Lothian as the Hamiltons, Dukes of Abercorn, the modern Hopetoun House representing the mediEevol Abercorn Castle. Hopetoun House is a palatial mansion which has feAV equals in Scotland. The Hopetoun estates are Avorth about £45,000 a year.

— • Lord _Strathcona, the venerable and still vigorous High Commissioner pf Canada, who has been paying a visit to London, is one of the remarkable Scotsmen of the Victorian era; and he is justly revered throughout the Dominion of Canada. The Queen had no more patriotic tubject than this nobleman, who has made perhaps the most magnificent present the Empire has. received since the outbreak of the South -African Avar. Lord Stratheona, it will be remembered, payed for the enlistment and equipment in Canada of Strotchcona's Horse, for their keep, and shipment to South Africa at a critical moment, when mounted infantry Avere meat needed. Lord Stratheona has, by indomitable perseverance, raised himself from the position of a poor boy to the altitude of a millionaire renowned for his benevolence.

— ■ Politics and poetry are curiously combined in the person of Lord Tennyson, who will be 48 on August 11. ''The great English poet," as he calls him, was his father, and it is not wonderful that the present bearer of the title should be of a literary turn and combine the writing of occasional articles with poems which various magazines have published. The A'aluable memoir of Tennyson which avc posses? A\as Avritlen by the present holder of the title, who last year became Governor and Commander-in-Chief of South Auslialia, a position in which he has succeeded in winning the regard ol the people OA'cr whom he haa been called to lepreseut the Queen. — For a man Avhose father came to England from Germany ivith Diie-half crown and one friend, the Right Hon. George Joachim Gcschon, the " ruler of the Queen's NaA'ce," to use Mr Gilbert's title for tho First Lord of the Admiralty, has not done badry. He was educated at Rugby and at Oxford, and though he went into business he soon turned hi& attention tG politics, and entered the Bouse as one of the members for London m 1863. Eight years after that he was first placed in the important position Avhich he now occupies, and at the head of the navy he remained until 1874. He has, however, filled other Cabinet offices, and in Lord Salisbury's second Administration he became Chancellor oi the Escliequer, when Lord Randolph Churchill as^nished the world by resigning that office. ?ilr Go&chen Avas born in August

—To be piwatG secretary to two Prim^ Ministers of opposite political opinions is am! experience "which obviously cannot fall to the? lot of many men, yet it belongs to the Honti Francis Hyde Villiers, C.8., at present anr Assistant Under-secretary of State for Fq!jJ reign Affairs, who was 48 on August 13. Al- ( though still a comparatively young man, Mi 1^ Villiers has been for 30 years in the servica' of the country, having entered the Foreign!? Office as long ago as 1870, and has acted as; private secretary to several of Ihe Pe'rinarieiiE Undcr-secretarics for Foreign Affairs. When 1 Lord Rosebery, in 1886, assumed that depart^ ment in Mr Gladstone's third Administration^ Mr Villiers became his pm - ate secretary, as he Avas in 1892-94, Avhile in 1887 he served Lord Salisbury in the same capacity. — Captain M. F. M. Moiklejolm, of tho Gordon Highlanders, Avho has Avon his Victoria Cross in Natal soil, is a son of Professor Meiklejohn, of St. Andrews UniA-ersit y. ! He has now been through no less than three campaigns of some importance, an experience by no moans common for a man Avho is only in his thirtieth year. He entered the Gordons in 1891. His first experience of warfare was in 1895, when he served Avith the Chitral relief force, taking part in the storming of the Malakand Pass. For this he received the medal with a clasp. In the operalions on the north-west frontier of India ho Avon a couple of clasps, playinor a conspicuous part in the daring rush of the Gordons up the Dargai heights. Here he was slightly wounded. At the battle of Elandslaagte, wiiere he distinguished himself, Captain Meiklejohn lost an arm, and shortly after the engagement it was stated that six bullets had been extracted from his body.

— Giacomo Puccini, whose latest opera, "La. Tosca," A\as produced at Covcnt Garden Theatre a few Aveeks ago, is the fifth representative of a. family that lips been conspicuous in tlie musical world for 200 years. Giacomo was born in 1853 at Lucca, and took to music as a boy. He studied under Angeloni, and found means to proceed to Milan, Avhere, at the Conservatoire, he became the pupil of A.milcare Ponchielli, Avhose

"La Gioconda " is still a favourite opera in Italy. Puccini wrote his first opera, "Le Villi." in 1884, and this A\as folloAved by tho successful " Cavalleria " in 1890, " Manou Lescaut " in 1893, and " Boheme "' three years later. Puccini the man (writes an Italian correspondent), as distinct from Puccini the composer, is a curious and interesting study. When Puccini lays down the pen of the composer it is to take up the gun oi. the sportsman. Music vividly illustrate of intense passion — that is the chief characteristic of the composer. Hunting, as we call it in Italy; shooting, as you call it in England— that is the dominant note of the man. I first met Puccini in 1894, at a merry little supper party gh-en after a performance of • Manon Loßcaut" at Pisa. It was _ easy to see at a glance tha.t Puccini's essential characteristic Avns manliness. He was simple, unaffected, good-natured. Ho talked readily of travel, society, life in general ; he did not mind talking about the theatre, art. books; but he would never utter a word about him. self and his successes.