PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 12, Issue 2639, 12 October 1904, Page 70

PERSONAL NOTES.

— The- Earl of Ranfurly, who claims to be a great-great-great-grandson of William Perm, recently visited Philadelphia for the express purpose of examining the splendid collection of Penh documents for the safe custody of which the Quaker City is now erecting a building. These relics and manuscripts are the pioperty of the State Historical Society.

— Lord Sacldo, the eldest son of the Earl of Aberdeen, is coming out (says the Sketch) as a Liberal candidate at the general election. He is to win his spurs nofc in 'Scotland, but in an English country division. Although not yet a fluent speaker, he is a capital canvasser, for he has inherited a pleasant manner from his father and mother. Lord Hadclo is only 25 years old. -His father was never a member of the House of Commons, the last of the Gordons of his branch who sat there being Sir Alexander, a son of the Lord Aberdeen who was Prime Minister. — The Earl of Wicklow, though he is only 26, is spoken of as a probable selection of the Peers of Ireland whose names appeared in the- London Gazette in filling th© vacancy now- existing for a representative Irish' Peer in succession to Lord Powenseourt. The list of peers entitled to vote shows that there are as many as 38 Irish peers who >aa*e either minors, or who Lave not qualified to vote. The Earl of Wioklow is the Duke of Abercorn's son-in-law. The Earl of Antrim is 'an other eligible peer for the vacant position in the House* of Lords. There ai« two Plunkets on tbe lb;: — with the double "t" — Lord Dunsajiy and Lord Louth. Baron Dunsany is Sir Horace Plunbetfc" s nephew. LoTd Fingall, in the absence of Lord Plunket in New Zealand, (represents the branch of the family which has one "t," *" — The venerable Sir Josepli ' Dalton Hooker, Huxley : s life-lon.g friend and the most famous botanist of the age', recently celebrated his eighty-seventh birthday. In pursuib of the normally gentle art which brought him fame even in early life, Sir Joseph Hooker, then a young naval surgeon, entered upon a career of adventure which was full of dangers. It is just on 70 years ago that he went to the Antarctic with. Sir James Ross and the Erebus and Terror, and told the botanical story oftbafc memorable voyage in six volumes. , A little later he undertook a mission to unfamiliar regions in India, penetrated the Himalayan fastnessos, was detected botanizing on the Thibet border, and was seized, imprisoned, and beaten by an outraged. Sikkim Rajah, and came very near to losing his life. Her anticipated Darwin's "Origin of Species" in two fascinating papers, and majie some deductions from his work in Colorado and Utah, tb.e Rookies and -the Californiah coast, Syria, Palestine, and Morocco 'which threw new" and strange light' on Darwin's hypotheses.

— Kedl'eston Hall, the scat of Lord Soars;dale, whose son, Lord Curzon, lias been visiting him, is a magnificent, mansion, and well deserved 1 the encomiums ofrßcswell, who, when he* visited the place with Dr Johnson, went into raptures over its beauties. As Boswell himself tells us, his mind was "agitated and distended in a mo'sfc agreeable manner," but when he put it to the. doctor tha<fc "the proprietor of all this must bo happy," the great man ieplied in his best style, "Nay, sir, all 'this excludes but one cvil — poverty." He fur.their said that the building displayed more cost than judgment, and would make an excellent town hall: ,Be grew more, pLeasant, however, when lie found a copy of his diccionary in his Lordship's dressing room. The Curzons, who claim descent from the^ Conqueror' 9 time, have been at Kedleston since the time of Edward I. The family received its fersC* honour, a baronetcy, from Charles I, and the first weer was created in 1761.

— The first journalist who best answers the description of a war correspondent as the term ia now understood — that is to say, th-p representative of a newspaper who 'accompanies an army in the field and sends his communications from the #cene of hostilities — was Ohavles Lewis- Gruneisen, who represented the Morning Post in Spain during the CarJisfc War of 1837. A sub-editor in the Foreign Department of the Morning Post, he had interested himself in the question of the succession to the Spanish throne, and became acquainted with supporters of Don Carlos in ILondon. In March, 1837, he was asked by the manager of the Morning Pose whether he could undertake to accompany the Oarlist army ' in their proposed mai-ch on Madrid as correspondent. "Without a moment's hesitation," he says, "I accepted the mission, and two hours sufficed to take, my instructions at tho office and. get my passport, and I was off with the night- mail from Dover." He joined the headquarters of Don Carlos, and in the letters which he sent to his newspaper he described the battles^ of the campaign as an actual eye-witness. — The retirement "of Mr G. W. Palmer. M.P. for Reading-, deprives the House of Commons of one of those men that it can. least afford to spare— hard-headed' business men, whose success in their private business is a presumptive guarantee of their ability to deal with the business of tlie nation. His father, Mr George Palmer, one of the founders of "Huntley and Palmer,"_ was M.P. for Reading before him, and, in accordance with the family tradition, young Palmer was s,ent to a. Quaker eehcol at Tottenham. After leaving school and joining the biscuit business, he soon became one of the most important members of the firm, and in 1888 was elected Mayor of Reading. He is still a comparatively young man — for a successful business man and a politician — having been born in 1851. Under his regime and that of his brother and cousins, the Reading biscuit business has become one of the commercial wonders of th© provinces. It employs 650 artificers to make the utensils required by 6500 hands who ai-e engaged in the acfcuaJ making of biscuits. Everything required by the firm is made on the premises, even the office furniture. Th© only thing they import from beyond tho borders of their factory is machinery. The 6500 bisc\iit makers ai'O engaged on the manufacture of AGO varfe* ties of biscuits.

The special Gammsh Fibtilisee, made up by Nimmo and Blaib 'will fee found to give orcellent results when used for Flowers and Vegetables ; also for Pot Plants, in and out of greenhouse. It is put tip in 71b bags, at Is 6& cgch, Ask jour stfijefceepw fgr i^