PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2471, 24 July 1901, Page 76

PERSONAL NOTES.

— The Zulu War is brought prominently to mind by the seventy-fourth birthday of Lord Chelmsford on May 31. His lordship commanded the forces in that war as well as in the Kaffir War, but it was a quarter of a century before that that he first entered the army, and he served before Sebastopol, v. here he won the medal and clasp. — The Duke of Northumberland, in his earlier days, sat in the House of Commons, for Northumberland, and was for a time Treasurer of the Royal Household. His grace, who was 55 on May 29, takes a good deal of interest in archaeology, and was for several years in succession president of the Archaeological Institute. — One of the most famous firms «f publishers in the country is undoubtedly Messrs Smith, Elder, and Co., one of the partners of which is Mr Reginald John Smith, K.C., who was 44 on May 30. So many barristers take to literature as a means of living, that it is only right that the son of one of the partners of a firm addicted to literature should take to the bar, which he did with such success that he was given "silk" in 11 years. — The present Earl of Hopetorai haß had 41 years of his life and 28 of hi 9 present style and title. He has been a good deal in his time — a traveller, and a Whip, and a lord-in-waiting, mitigated with a Lord High Commissioner of the Church ; a Paymastergeneral, a Lord Chamberlain of the Household, and a President of Naval Architects; a Brigadier-general of Archers, a Captain of Yeomanry, and a Lieutenant-colonel of Submarine Miners; a Master of Harriers and eke of Beagles; a Governor and a Governor-general. A man with many sides, truly, who yet exhibits scarcely any "side" at all. — fjord Howard de Walden, whe came of age recently, succeeded his father oiily two years ago. He was one of the first and most youthful of the elder sons to volunteer for the frbnt, and received the news of his father's death just -after he had started for South Africa. Lord Howard de Walden is very like his beautiful mother, who looks scarcely older than her son. The young peer lately purchased the splendid London mansion in Grosvenor square, once the propei ty of the late Madame de Falbe, and where she gave many .Royal dinner parties Lord de Walden is. of course, one of the greatest parties in the Upper House. Early marriages seem to hare become the fashion, and nowadays a eoming-of-age often heralds an engagement. —Dr Ludwig Mond, whose discovery of a cheap gas promises to effect a revolution in the production, is a native of Cas. a el,- who, although he came to England nearly 40 yean? ago, still retains a trace of his German accent. He has invented many wonderful chemical processes, and has thereby acquired wealth sufficient to indulge in his fancy for ancient Italian works of art. He keeps up a palace in Rome, a town and country house in England, and is a member of five London clubt;. Apart from his work in chemical renearch, his most notable deed was the founding and endowing in 1896 of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboiatory of the Royal Institution. — A distinguished company attended a complimentary banquet given to Sir Aioliihald Geikie in London on the occasion ol his retiring from the position of Director-general of the Geological Survey and Director of the Museum of Practical Geology, after 46 year*' (.ervice. Lord Avebury wa 1 - m the chair, and in propooint the health of Sir Archibald, paid he «a; oiip of the first flohl geologists to realise the value of mi-scro*copie (sections of rocki-. Besides hi« official duties, he had contributed to the progres.- of science by much original work, and had published score-, of valuable books, with sketches by himself, proving himself to be an artist both with pen and pencil. He had moreover done a gicat deal towprd*. bringing pbout the friendly relations hetwci'ii s-cieutists of Great Biitain and Kurojie. — The Uiand Duke oi Hec-e is die la 4

cf the male line of Lib family, and con<=uWable anxiety pievails at some of the German Courts on the subject of the twece*?ion. An at'empt has iust been made to get his daughter, the Princes Elizabeth, officially pioclauned as Hereditary CM and Duchess but the l.ioho.j wa* i ejected by the Darmstadt Chamber. Prinoe Lout of Battenberg would no t'se heir but for the fact that the man. age of his father, tho late Prince Alexander ol i-.e e re, v.as morganatic. Unless the Grand Dulve should leave a son, 't g-cems probable thai the succession will ultimately vrnss to Piince Frederick Charles of Hesse-CaWl, who is a brother-in-law of the Emperor William and a nephew of tho late Queen Louise of Dcnmaik. — The new Italian Ambassador to London, Signor Alberto Panza, who has just takfMi up his duties, i^ a diplomatist by profession — he has never been anything else. He is possessed of a \ery intimate knowledge of European slatesciaft, and comes to England! with the friendliest feelings and warrant admiration both for itp Sovereign and people. Born in Turin 57 years ago, Signor Panza, lming graduated as a doc'or of laws pas-sed at once into tho diplomatic ser\ice, and filed purcesoivcly junior appointments at the Embassies of Athens, Bucharest, Berlin, Belgrade, and Constantinople He distinguished himself by hia conduct of affairs during the Armenian outbreak', his counsel being gt-eatly valued by the other Ambassadors during that trying time. — If only by reason of the fact that his" mother is "Lady Henry Somerset, who has rvorked so nobly in the cause of temperance, the twenty-seventh Dirthday of Mr HenryCharles Somerset, her &on, on May 28, would be worth remembering. Mr Somerset, whois closely related to one duke throiigh hix mother, is also related to another, his (4ace> of Albaus, by his marriage five years ago to one of the daughters of that nobleman. Before his marriage he u*.ed to accompany his mother on many of her lecturing tours to the other side of the Atlantic, and he acquired a good deal of experience in sneaking in connection with the meetings, at which she was always one of the most popular of larly orators. —At the c'oi-ner of the front bench below the gangway is found (remarks the Parliamentary correspondent of the London Telegi?ph) the oldest specimen, whether of Ministerial flotsam or jetsam, the House of Commons has known. The Eight Hon. J ernes Lowther, affectionately known to two generations of Houre of Commons men a? "Jemmy," took his seat on the Tieasury bench 33 years ago next August. If it were net for the condition that makes contiuous sitting imperative, he wonld he in the running for the Fathei^hip of the House. Re is certainly one of the oMe-.t members, a fact belied by almost boykli looks, born of good temper and nathe light-heartedne^s. The number of member of the present House who were in it w'ui. the City of York sent him to Westminster, in 1865. may be counted on tho finders <£ one hand. In parliamentary age S;r "William Harcourt is three years his jinlo-. When, after what seemed long nbseo>-c— it was only three y«ars — he, in 1888, came back as member for the Isle of Thane 1 ., he found this corner seat vacant, and none disputed hip right to appropriate it. Thence,from time to time, when constitutional points are at issue, he rtees and addresses an. enthralled House with gravity that would befit the judicial bench. — Lord Howard, of Glossop, who was 42 lately, is a rich man, for he owns the greater part of the grimy but prosperous northern borough from which he derives his title, and near to which — rather too near for comfort — is situated Glossop Hall, his principal seat. A first cousin of the Duke of Norfolk (his father, the first baron, was Deputy EarlMarshal during the Duke's long minority), hs does not share his kinsman's energy or love of hard work. Nor is he a society man, for though he has a house in Rutlincl Gate, he is not often seen in London. Be nu educated at the school founded by Cardinal Newman, near Birmingham, - mid at the ill-starred Catholic University in Kensington, once "run" by Monaigncr Capel. Loid Howard has been twice married, and has by hie first wife a son and heir, now in his sixteenth year. The present Lady Howard, who owns the pretty name of Hyacinth, is a Scotswoman by birth, tall, darki, and graceful. Like her husband, she haa n3 particular love foi Loivl^u ; and tho favourite residence of both is their beautiful Highland home, Isorlin, on Locb Shiel. Dorlin was formerly the prepay of James Hope-Scott, the famous parliamentary Q.C. and the life-long friend of Gladstone and Manning. — Speuoer House, St. James s P^ace, 1a not occupied this season by t'ne '"Red Earl." who lias let his famous, town house to an American millionaire. This act on the part of Lord Speacer is due, it seems, to depreciation in his Northamptonshire estates,, which embrace an area of some 27,60 C acre*. Times have changed since the day wiu-n. his ancestor — "Jack" Spencer, the favourite. graa»LEon of Sarah, diehess of MarlbDi'ough, who bequeathed to him nearly a miliion - came to town with thiee coaches and six, attended by 200 horsemen, his own -etainors." The present peer, however, is a powerful force in Northamptonshire, of which countyhe has been Lord-lieutenant for nigh upon 3J years. His half-brother, tke popular "Bobby" Spencer, who will one day, perhaps, be Earl Spencer, is also a. prominent personage in the county. The Spencers are staunch Liberals, and the Earl, with his measured, practical jharacter, has been a steadying force in several Gladstonian Cahinets." When he was 40 years younger. Ins lordship was st trusted official at Court ri-fl was Groom of the Stole, first to the King's father, and then to the King when he was Prince of Wale?, and a very young man. Mr Gladstone sent the Earl to Dublin m 1869, with the late Sir Courtenay Boyle as his private pecretary, and the two played * prominent pait in' the svents which puccceded the ghastly tragedy in Phoenix Park. Throughout all the-e tenible days of intrigue and rebellion the hand of the "Rt-d Earl"' ne\or swerved at the helm, and if ho was hated by a section of Tiishmen, it was not because his honest, upright character was evei questioned. — h'ergeant Walter JI. Miller, of the seventh contingent, who^e portrait appears in the present iss-iu?. is probably one of tho youngest nom-oommisMoned officers in the New Zealand Mounted Infantry. He n:H a cadet in the chiof office of the Slock d<>pf«rtinont at Wellington, and when the «o\enth went into lia'iiuig at Tiontham ho was alirio«l at onre for the position he now fills. Sergeant Miller is only 21 y>.aiN old.

Raie novelties in Pelargonnims hip 0.T.-icfl In Ximmo ak! Blair, tbsiv 1901 sot bring judged the fmcsi loi e\ er teen ill jN~o\ Zeae l«uid. bond loi pArUcuUis.