PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2436, 21 November 1900, Page 68

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Mr John Rockefeller, the American "oil" king, has the not entirely enviable reputation of being the richest man in the world. Ec is said to enjoy, or at least to have, an income greater than the combined incomes of al l the Sovereigns of Europe. His wealth, however, does not bring him happiness, for he confesses to envying the poorest of the victims of the "oil trust," while the man who could afford Lucullian feasts every day of his life is condemned by some complicated digestive trouble to a prison fare of milk and bread. — The principal secretary to the Chinese Ambassador in London is Taotai-Lew, a very clevei and accomplished Celestial who speaks English extremely well. In the capacity- of chief to Sir Chih Chen Lofengluh he is of course in close touch with all that pertains to the cause of the troubles in the Far East. Upon him has fallen some of the most delicti te negotiations with the Foreign Office, and during the more acute stage of the crisis, when grave doubts were entertained as to the safety of the Legations, his task, like j that of his chief, was by no means an easy one. —M. Bloch, the Russian banker, who has been much talked about of late m connection with his great book on war, wo.a half a century ago a humble pedlar, working hard, early and late, and reading books and learning to write in the few spare hours that came his way. At 25 he won a prize of £2000 in a lottery, and settled down to a course of study in Berlin. Returning to Warsaw he obtained a post in a "bank, married a banker's rich daughter, and is now one of the bestknown men in Russia. M. Bloch has just issued, through Mr Horace Marshall, an interesting brochure entitled "Lord Roberts's Campaign and its Consequences." — The military careei of President M'Kinley is one of the most remarkable on record. It was all comprised wiiAin. four years, was ended. at an age when most men are beginning <fcheirs, and was marked "by an almost unexampled rapidity of promotion. In 1861, when barely 18, Mr M'Kinley was a private in the 23rd Ohio Infantry, at 19 he was a sergeant, a lieutenant at 20, captain at 21, and 'he had scarcely passed his twenty-second birthday when he retired with the rank of major. As was natural to one of his intrepid nature, Mi M'Kinley was in the thick of the fighting during the Civil- War in America. — As Lord Wolseley, on coming home from the Takti expedition of 1860, went to Paris for some weeks to recreate himself in the study of water-colours, so also Prince Henry of Prussia, since returning from China as the apostle of the "mailed fist," has been devoting himself to the study of sculpture under Professor Haun, of Berlin, and has designed 'and modelled the figurehead for the new Imperial cruiser to be called after himself. It has long been a tradition of the Hohenzollerus that all their Princes must be taught' some handicraft or other, as an insurance against the- proverbial mischief which Satan 3ver finds for idle hands to do. — The Duke of Cumberland, whose reconciliation with the Kaiser is said to have taban place, is a man of whom English people know little, though he might now have been the first personage in the Empire had his father been born a week earlier than he was. He missed the throne of England by three days, having been born on May 27. 1819, exactly 70 hours after Queen Victoria. Had the Diike's father been born before the Queen, he would have been King of England instead of, merely King of Hanover, and the glorious A r ictorian era woidd never ' have dawned ! The Duke is probably the only living man who has ever threatened the Queen with a lawsuit. It was over the famous Cumberland jewels, which the Queen, after much hesitation, handed over to her ducal cousin. The Duke is married to Princess Dagmar of Denmark, younger sister of the Princess of Wales. — There is nothing about Miss Braddon which suggests the populai idea of the literary woman. She is indeed said by those who know her to be a model of domesticity, and she finds her relaxation in gardening, aj well as in rrmsie and literature. In spite of the fact that she was 63 on October 4, and that she has, of course, made a fortune by her work, she is as industrious as she used to -be when she began writing 40 years ago, when j ' her first novel, "The Trail of the Serpent," was published. She has published at least one novel every year, with two exceptions, and to make up for that there was a double output in the following year. "Lady Audley's Secret" was produced when the author was only 25. — The splendid abode now occupied in Pretoria by the Commander-in-Chief belongs to a colonial Irishman named Burke, a millionaire, who made most of his money by stage coaches. I was passing the house today, says a correspondent, with a mule conductor, who told me that he and Burke were schoolboys together ; that Burke left school a dunce, and came north as a very young man with two mules and a cart, which were in after years to multiply so largely. The railway has, of course, cut him out now, but, as he is a millionaire, he can afford to sell his mules and tnfoe his ease, although comparatively a young man, being still on the right side of 50. The house he has built in Sunnyside, and which is now the temporary home of Lord Roberts, is superbly furnished, and everything about the house and garden has an air of absolute luxury. — The Duke of the Abruzzi has got nearer the North Pole than any previous, explorer. When the Duke left Christiania in the Stella Polare on June 12 lasl year he probably never expected to- get 19 nautical miles nearer to the North Pole than his popular rival Nansen, and to do it in a little over a year, or half the time that it took the Norwegian to accomplish pretty much the same journey. The' Greely expedition occupied three years. The Duke was the favourite nephew of the late King Humbert of Italy. He was born in 1873. He is unmarried, and a man of medium Height and slight, though wiry, build. Although apparently a very reserved man he is really a brilliant companion, and exceedingly popular. On leaving college he entered the Italian Navy, and has since devoted his attention to the study and duties of his profession, particularly the scientific side of it. He now ranks as a lieutenant, and has always exhibited a passion Cor exploration and Alpine climbing. Before he was eighteen he started on a tour round the world in an Italian warship. His successful ascent of Mount Elias in Alaska in 1897 was a feat nevei previou&ly accomplished. —It is evident that King Victor Emmanuel IIT has revealed himselt as -i "surprise packet." When he was Prince of Naples everybody regarded him as an amiable but weak sort of young man, who had not much of the sternness which makes real kings. But the tragedy of Monsa has brought him out in his true light. The new King of Italy does act ialcud to be releaaled to the posi-

tion of a mere figurehead. He means to govern within proper constitutional limits ; and as a preliminary to governing he is anxious to acquire the necessary knowledge. This attitude of "wanting to know" appears to be of considerable inconvenience and trouble to Signor Saracco and the members of his Cabinet. In Jhe clays of the late King Ministers assembled at the Quirinal twice a week for the signature of decrees. The business was purely formal, and was disposed of in no time. But Victor Emmanuel ni does not manage things in this way. Before affixing the Royal signature to any document he insists upon understanding what it is all about ; and this involves the labour of exhaustive explanations, supplemented by voluminous written reports for the instruction of his Majesty. It has also resulted in the discovery on the part of the young King that his Ministers are not nearly so earnest and energetic in the discharge of their duties as he would wish them to be.