Otago Witness Illustrations

Otago Witness, Volume 23, Issue 2684, 23 August 1905, Page 39

Otago Witness Illustrations

A STRANGE INCIDENT.

An incident unparalleled ii the history of the House of Commons is report sd by tb.3 Daily Express, which states that it ]

would hesitate to ask credence for so re- j markable a story but for the fact that the j occurrence is associated with two mem- | bers, Sir Gilbert Parker and Sir Henry j Meysey-Thompson, Shortly before the ' Easter resting of Parliament, Sir Came ■ Rssch, the Unionist member for Chelias- ■

ford, was attacked by influenza, which de- i veloped into neurosia. As, however, the Government was in need of every vote, 1c stuck to his post as cbsely as he could. { On the sitting prior to the rising for the holidays ho was known to b° ats nt. and Sir Gilbert Parker was therefore consider-

ably alarmed to see him seated near his usual place. Sir Came Rasch was noticed to be deadly pale, and his eyes were closed, and his chin was sunk between his hunchedup shoulders. Sir Gilbert nodded and said in a cheerful voice, " Hope you are better," but his? friend made n<? response of

any kin 1. "My friend's position was his, and yet not his," said Sir Gilbert afterwards. "His face was remarkably pallid. He sat hunched up. His expression was s raly. It was altogether a stony pre-s-ji tment—grim, almost resentful." After a momsnt's thought Sir Gilbert turned

< again towards Sir Came Rasch and found that he had disappeared. Then Sir Gilbert remembered that when he sat down Sir Came was not m his place. Puzzled by the action of the other, Sir Gilbert went out to look for him in the lobby, but could not find him. Appeals to the whip and

to Mie doorkeeper were equilly unsuccess- , fui—no one had seen Sir Came Rasch. Sir G Ibert then met Sir Henry Meysey- j -I hompson, who, although he had not seen Sir Came Rasch, had experienced a singular desire to speak to him, and had inquired for him at the post office. " Rasch

ia either dead or dying," was the remark made when the two compared ndtes, but this proved to be incorrect. Sir Came Rasch, at the time when he was seen in the House by Sir Gilbert Parker, was ill at home; but he quickly reoovered his health, and if a presentment of him did

visit the House, it apparently was not intended as a warning. Sir Gilbert Parker admits that he may have been mistaken, but Sir Came Rasch does not think he was, and is quito certain that he was present at the House in some strange evanescent form, as the result oi his constantly think-

ing of his duty to his party. If it is possible for a detachment of this sort to take place, the constant strain on members of the Conservative party, who do not know what the hour may bring forth, should be quite sufficient to produce such a phenomenon.

THE WORLD'S OLDEST INHABITANT.

Th© "world's oldest inhabitant ie said to be a giant tortoise, who spends his time near a stove in a naturalist's place at St. Louis. Tote- is his name, and w© are told that he was grown when Columus sailed. He was middle-aged and of ■family when the Puritans landed on Plymouth Rock. Age had begnin to leaden his faculties when Napoleon swept Europe. Toto may live to see Maoaulay's tiresome New Zealand explore the ruins of London. A mark was put on his shell early in the seventeenth

i century. He has carried the naked children of the^ Seychelles Islands ; he has carried , the midshipmen of the forgotten wooden 1 frigates of Nelson's days. Perhaps Drake's hardy mariners rode him. The children of j the World's Fair were his last riders. Fo\ j centuries Toto has lived and wooed. Tigers . have broken their talons on his sharded I back. Elephants have vainly tried to cruslj | him. Balls have glanced harmlessly from his shell. To-day he huddles by the fire, th« one indestructible, undying animal of earth He dozes and dreams, and only asks warmth j and a bite to eat.

GREAT ELECTRICAL SCHEME. (Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.) EDINBURGH, June 29.

Steadily, and with growing rapidity, electricity is advancing into regions which 6team has been unable to occupy, and in a few years its conquests will have made notable changes on the industrial map of Scotland. Already electric tramways are extending into country districts from all the principal towns, and the railways which,

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in the fancied security of perpetual monopoly, have starved their suburban customers, are making concessions of all kinds in order to retain the traffic which is fast slipping out of their hands. A big scheme is now on the point of being inaugurated in the west of Scotland which may further advance the mastery which electrical power seems to be gaining. Four years ago a corporation styling itself the Clyde "Valley Electrical Power Company was started by a number of leading business men in Glas-

gow and other places in the West of begun its operations, and the latter is apSootland. It obtained parliamentary preaching completion. It is also intended powers to carry on operations in the large by-and-bje to erect two other stations — the and most important area included between one in the Govan district and the other on Bolloch and Port Glasgow on the west, and the outskirts of Glasgow at its eastern exLanark and Shotts on the east, with the tremity. All the latest advances in elecexception, however, of the City of Glas- trical engineering are being utilised in the gow itself. Two large stations for the works, and much interest is taken in the supply of electrical power to manufacturing eucoess of the undertaking. If the hopes of firms have been erected at Yoker, on the the promoters are in any degree realised, north bank of the Clyde below Glasgow, a new era is evidently beginning in the and at Motherwell. The former has just industrial history of the west. People who

THE L LATZ"jMR.^A. PURDIE.

Tl'e pews of the death of Mr Alexander Purdie, Director of Technical Education, will (says the Western Jlai', West Australia, of July 22) be received with genuine feelings of regret. A few months ago Mr Purdie had occasion to visit the Murchison district in connection with the woik attached to his office, and soon after his return to the city he complained of illness. He was pronounced to be suffering from typhoid, which, however, was not regarded as seTious. Towards the end of May, Mr Purdie had a relapse, arc! peritonitis supervened with complications, and he graclua'ly sank unti". Monday afternoon, when he died at about 4 o'clock. To his work was due in large measure the successful growth of the Technical School. The deceased gentleman, who was born, in 1860, was educated in Dumedin, New Zealand, and in 1875 he obtained a scholarship, being first on the list, after which he was a student for three years at the Dunedin High (School. Mr Purdie then went to the Otago University, where he was successful in obtaining his B.A. and M.A. degrees. As a lad, he was noted for his devotion to scientific matters, particularly botany and biclo y, and in after years he gave considerable attention to chemistry, mineralogy, and geology. He was an assistant at the Otago University School of Mines, ard he subsequently went to the Thames School of M nes as assistant to the director, Mx (now Profos3or) Park Thence he proceeded to Victoria, and he was connected with the Schools of Mines in that State and in South Australia for some years. When the Technical School was estab.ished in Perth a few years ago Mr Purdie accepted the appointment of director, THE LATE ME an office which he occupied until his death. He was greatly assisted in his work by Mrs Puidie. who has received many expressions bereavement. Mr Purdie was the only son o the lato Mi University.

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ALEXANDER PURDIE.

of sorrow ar.d regret in "her A. C. Purdie, of the Otago

are not immediately concerned with engineering nevertheless hope that we are approaching the dawn of a new day, in which much less coal will be burned, and. consequently much less smoke vomited forth by factories and other works, to the pollution of the air, the injury of the buildings, "* and the destruction of the health of the citizens. With a river purified by its new sewage works, and an atmosphere freed of much of :ts smoke, Glasgow will be not i such a bad place to live in after all.

-f^omJihi'S^h&re.-- ," . _' ' T^CE MAEEIAGE OF PEINCESS MAKGAKET OF CONNAUGHT TO PRINCE GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS OF SWEDEN.

OLD GEORGE WARD Almost everybody in Dunedin, especially playgoers knows old George Ward, the erstwhile theatrical pioperty mm of our local theatres, and the "useful" man of th* stock companies which were wont to appear at our theatres some 35 years ago. At the present time he is known to those who patronise the drama as the lynx-eyed Argus of the «tage door. Amongst the associates of the green room in New Zea'.and, Waid i<- u>iogni=ed under the sobriquet of "Dad." George, unlike many ot lu<- contemporaries, doe? not come of an acting family, hi" father having been a locksnrth Born at Alders.ate stieet London m 1826. he wasappienticed, whilst yet m his teens, to a mechanical engineering firm, and was often engaged with ore of his employers wo: king at the Princess Theatre, which \\a<- i.ext door to the firm's premses. Madame Vestris and Mr Chtnles Kea-n were then appearing at the Lyceum Theatre. To use his own word 3. Ward eventually became "stage struck." and on completion of his indentures, joined the Vestris-Kean Company as assistant "pxops" In 1852 he came o\v to Victoria, aid was m Melbourne, associated as property mam with G V Brooke Barry Sullivan "Joe" Jefferson, George Coppin. ,ird others, in 1861 he visited Hobait with Sir Wfliam and Lady Don, Sir William afterwards dying in that capital. Whilst residing in the "ti°ht little island," Ward married Miss Charlotte Reynolds, the wile occasionally taking small parts when cmcr G ency required it. In the following year George came to Dunedin under en<*a°-ement, as property man, to Messrs Clarence Holt, Stuait O'Bnen. and Joe Wolfe, lessees of the old Princess Theavre. Since that year, and until some seven years ago, "Dad" was engaged immediately behind the scenes at th© Princess and Queen's Theatres. Of late years failing health has compelled him to follow a lighter description of employment, sucn as money taker, stage doorkeeper, etc. Next month the old veteran is to take a benefit, and an enthusiastic committee have the arrangements we.l in hand. The local "pros." havecome forward with promises of support; and it now remains for the public to add their qurt<i of patronage.

This latest addition to the educational institutions of the province of Otago was opened on Monday morning, August 14. Mr E. Aslin (chairman) and Mr T. S. Culling represented the Committee. A good sprinkling of parents were present. The teaching staff consists of Mr John. Whytei and Miss Chalmers, but, judging from the attendance), it will not be long before additions will require to be made. Ninety-two scholars presented themselves for enrolment, ranging from the Sixth Standard downwards. Mr Aslin introduced the headmaster and mistress, and congratulated the children on having suoh a fine building, and hoped they would look back with much pleasure on being the first pupils. Mr Culling, in addressing the children, asked them to look after the property, and strive to keep the building in first-class order, and concluded by making special reference to Mr E. Gr. Allen's (M.H.E.) energies in obtaining the school. (Photos by H. 0. Gore.)

On the right, Mr T. S. Culling, Mr E. Aslin on the left, and Mr J. Whyte and Miss Cnalmers in the centra.

created in 1900, when it liunspired th-t a platelayer named Hunt was killed when evading one train at Both n a I' Green .lunction by an express driven by Char cs Death, Inquests are never very lively functions a name that recalls a tennis match played at the best of times (remarks a writer in at Teijrnmouth some jeas. ago between Mr

PECULIAR INQUESTS.

the Pall Mall Gazette), but early in 190^ the proceedings at Shoreditch were to a modest extent enlivened by the appe? ranee in the box of a man named " Soda." who followed a witness called "Beer"; while something approaching a sensation was

Pine-Coffin. Mr Tombs. Mr Sexton, and Mr , Larson. At an inquest hold at Stepney I Work house in 1902 — by the way, the name of the deceased was Dust, — the first witness called was named Sand, and the third i Grittey; while on June 3, 1903, the jury i

A VISIT TO THE NEW BRUCE COLLIERY, NEAR MILTON

emp -lied for an inquest at the London Hos. i 1 1 had as its foreman a Mr Peacock, thre.' 'irymen each answering to the name of j i I, while in addition their ranks inoludo ' a Mr Cage and aMr Perch— a veritable i v lary ! This incident recalls the fact

that at Westminster County Court, in the summer of 1902, there appeared in one day's list of cases a Crow, a Swan, a Pigeon, a Bat, a Fox, and three Fowlers. A Midland train, it was stated a few years ago, was driven by a man named Sharpe, and

I had as its guards officials respeeth el y named t Quick and Swift; it is not recalled that the i combination broke any railway records ; while in 1901 a Great Eastern train was driven by a man named Drake, the first i guard was called Goose, the second guard i

Gander, and on one occasion an official travelling in the van rejoiced in the cognomen of Duck. The train proceeded swimmingly. In a Berkshire village church early last winter something like a titter was heard when a bride and bridegroom, the latter

(Photos by J. Bremner. Milton.)

boasting the Christian name of Ernest, attended the first Sunday after their wedding, and the vicar gave out as the te\t of his sermon, "Be earnest, behold the bride groom cometh." Early in January last The Timoe announced in two consecutive para-

I graphs of tl'c births column the advent Ow sons to gentlemen whobe honoured names were respectively Box and Cox ; and some few years ago in f he marriage announcements a paragraph appeared headed " Perfect — Brick "

(Photos by W. H. Smith.) CONTRACTOR STANDING IN THE MIDDLE. SOME VIEWS OF THE MAIL AND SORTING ROOMS, GROUP OF LETTER-CARRIERS, ETC., AT THE GENERAL POST OFFICE, DUNEDIN