PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2623, 22 June 1904, Page 70

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Lord Lansdovi ne's office of Foreign Secretary is the higlie-t (pjvs Ca "ell's Saturtioy Journal) in the gift of tho Prime Min^icr • £5000 per annum i-s the salary attached t> it. Although one of the richest of men, and having at his elbow experts well versed m foreign affairs, Lord LansdoAvne is an indefatigable wcrkoi*. A regular attendant at Downing street, he insists on being- made acquainted with irailtitudinoub details connected with hiis office. H& is not content with mere supervision; be- interests himself ia every branch. Lord Lansdowne. is 59 years of age, and, notwithstanding that for years he has bulked largely in the public oye, and that he is tho leader of the House of Lords, he is of a retiring disposition. II ; s principal recreation? is fishing.

— Mir Thomas Salt, who v.&^ formsrly M.r. for Stah'yrd, died oil Apiil 8 at Weeping Cro-s, Stafford. Sir Thomas who was tho first baronet, wag bom in 1830, and was educated at Rugby and Oxford. He married in 1861 Heb.?, daughter of Mr J. L. Anderson. He was a private banker frc m 1854-66. director cf Lloyd's Bank 186658, and el-airman of fhe =ara.-o bank 18S6-97. From 3883 !'O \iks ch?nman ol the North Staffoidshire railway. lie sat for many j oars as Ccmervatne member for Stafford, and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Uoi eminent Board from 1875 to 1880. ITe was aUo a Church Estates Commissioner, Public Woiks Loan Commissioner, Ecclesiastical Commi-.siotier, and chairman for a timo -cf the Lunacy Commiasion.

— The Marquis of Breadalbane, who celebrated his fifty-third anniversary on April 9, has a bixth of Scotland as his own from which to expect congratulations. His peerage is one of those which may reasonably be expected never to die out. As is the case with tl-e Dukedom of Argyll, so long as. there is a member of the Clan. Campbell who can prove his descent from Gilonorehy or LoeLawo, his tkle will have an heir. It has experienced strange -vicissitudes — one of them the most remarkable in tli9 history of the peerage. In tho latter part of the eighteenth century it was a toss-up whither the .title and lands would go. The poss-jssoi" was the' third Earl of Breadalbane, and he determined to thwart the pride of a kinsman, Campbell of Glenfalioch who hoped to see his own grandson succeed. The Earl sent for a lowly; relative, and ba,do him. marry with a -siew to his icy.c uiliOi.'.lr).; the- t.lle. Tbe mail Cut so, ?\i u-".a!r:.-Ciivs dr.u^litev oi l.cr.J St-onoficld accepting him. Tho Gknfalloch branch was thus kepb out, and the lowly Benedick's son became fourth Earl and first Marquis. TJU9 man's son, however, died childless, and) the peerage and possessions passed to tho great-grandson 1 of tho very man whom the marriage of convenience haji been dfignccMo b?,ujkj ~" --•"

— Sir Henry H. Scott of Hipsburn, Northumbc-rlaiyl, whose offer of £1000, the services of his son, and a horso fully equipped led to the formation of the Imperial Yeomanry in the week after tho Stormborg, Aiagersfonteui, and CoJenso disasters, was honoured on Satin-day. April 9, by his fellowNorthumbrians, who resented },m i a t Aln-ivic-k with a throe-quanter life-sizo oil protrait of hims&lf and 1 Lady Scott, with a, handsome silver candelabra. Thero were 227 subscribers to the. gift?, which, in the absence of Fail Grey, weie presented by Mr O. B. P. Bcs-anquei, of Rock. Ko said Ncrtlmmbrians had special reasons for gratitude to Sir Henry. It was through his action thac they were turned from a time of great; anxiety and dependency to a time of confidence. Sir Henry Ikul struck » note of courag-o then that was well i-psponded to, and which showed that Britain, whatever h°-v difficulties were, wa3 prepared' to face anrl overcome them. Sir H-c-nry had been called tho Father of the Imperial Yeomanry movement, and they could congratulate him on the weil-doing of Ins children, and it was fitting that some of his children and their friends should assemble to show him. their gratitude and respect in some tangible form. Sir H. H. Scott, in acknowledging t-ho gif's. taid thai- if Northumberland ancl Durhaiii had not shown an example at ai critical timo, or.d sent out thnJr volunteeis, long as tho war was, it might havo be on still more piolonged.

— Sir Francis Mow alt was, until l:.s lesignation a sliGrt time ago, a power behind the Throne. As Peiir,ancr;iL Secretary to tho Treasury, ho was the man upon whom C'lanrL-llors of tho Ev^hequor depended ior dala and for guidance in the preparation of their Budgets. The delay in presenting Ux*i year's Budget was due to the illness of Sir Francis, a. significant sidelight as to hia importance in national finance-. Sir Francis was nearly half a century in the cnil service-, and generally regarded aa one of tha iiiost bi-ill-ont men ever associated with ir. It wps one of the most regrettable things that, at the close of Lord Salisbury's career, and so near to the end of the official life of Sir Franus MowaU, there should liave> been a. misunderstanding between the two. r lhe ag-ed Premier made ii severe attack upon til e Treasury, which Sir Francis .hot.y rerouted. It wa3 generally agreed that he had the better of the argument, too. Chancellors of tho Exchequer used io swear by him, but he had a charming way of putting A. TPli&i ho was a boy lie cucc said ho was permitted to drive a. party who wore going by four-in-hnnd to their school ciicket n atch. Thank-! to the docility and intelh-g-onc© of the horses, the journey was safely accomplished, whereupon ihe youthful Jehu invited t'ho congratulatiopja of his friend?. But the coachman fell upon him. '".Sir," ho =nid. "you "aven't di-uv the 'o-scs ; h's tlioni ■wot" .5 took care of you from stait to finish." And that, Sir Fiancis declares, was rho way h^ managed to win success a.fc tlie 'lroasury, the " 'csse?" in that instance Lein:; the staff ho had under him. Genius is not Invariably so mod-e-t.

— Sir William Harcouic i^ the subject of jii" H. Begb:o's "Master Workers" paper in the iJoy number of the Fall Mail -Magazine, and in the foUowiug passage xre havo a vivid picturo of the veteran: — He siis •\cry upright in liis big chaia-. has long, straight legs stretched at full length acrtisj* tiio hearth; cue arm crooked up so^ that tho hand may toy \vj>h tho pla-sea against hi 3 carat, tho other arm lyinc;- slaclcly by Its i'Oo ; and as lie lies theiv, filling and overflovrii!" tho big chair, tha- firelight plays comfortably on his genial fnco. The coimt"nai.cc is mainve and heavy, of a deep colour, with strong lines, many puffs and' bag?, ard grout fulness of fl^sh. A frmgo of grey hni>' runs down the cheeks and under thf ample chin. The fine* and oft-rumpled 1 hair "n hi^ hfad is of that stubborn groy Tvhich refv.i9 t 'S to grow Heavy cycbi&ws o^eibang larg'C, smiling, generenslirlded oyci : the strong but not ?=serti\& rose droops over a &mall upper-lip, and the no=triis are widespread. Bis under-lip — e*pie=sing bitterness only in caricature y— Viotrudes beyond its fellow, formed fci' l&T'g-hter and fine talk rather than for pchilanco or wcarine-s. The whole counteiiancei is •expressive of good humour and 1 rich contentment; v shines with the light of an equable tiynp' rament ; it breaks easily into sirj'k's, and -shadows drift acro^ it only to become luminous ruth the warmth of his g-ei-ial .coul;. c oul ; it is th& face of a, man yrlry has done what he wished m lifo, who h?s had his way with fortune, and who ha^ carried health aud strength with him all tho lon^ journey, so that pe-aimism and 'adae-s of soul have never dulled the biighiiieso of luis zesfc for existence. A M'goroa 5 , slowliving, deep-breathing Englishman, one wl.o l:ates sentimentalism, v.ho- quotes Virgil as he ca-o--es a ploughed field, aud tells good an-ccdotes acro-s ihe nils and wine.