PERSONAL NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2690, 4 October 1905, Page 80

PERSONAL NOTES

— Sir Timothy Car jw O'Brien, who ha=i j recently been showing at Lord's that his ] bat has not lost its cunning', enjoys a baronetcy . whi"h vas conferred on his ' grandfather by Queen Victoria when she entered Dublin in 1849. The first Sir ' Timothy O'Brien was a prominent mor- | chant of Dublin, and he was specially m- > vited to accept the Lord Mayoralty in order to welcome the young Queen. As Lord Mayor he presented the keys of Dublin ; to Queen Victoria, '•vivo on that cccav^n described Dublin as "the second city of my [ Empire" — a distinction now claimed by ' other cities. Sir Timothy C O'Brien— J who, by the way, is married to the sister ' of Mr de Trafford, the noted Leicester- j shire cricketer— succeeded bis uncle, Sir , Patrick, in the baronetcy a little over 10 ] years ago. Sir Patrick O'Brien is still well I remembered by m.my members of the J House of Commons, m which he sat continuously for King's County from 1852 to 1885. A Liberal like bis father, he did rot favour the Parnellite movement, and was in strong antagonism to Mr "Parncll's party during- his last year in Parliament.

— The death has takon place in London of tha eleventh Viscount Massaienc. Ho lost his eldest son a few weeks ago. Hjs lordship, who was well known in coui>in 3 ' circles, was a great favourite in Antrim, where the news was received with fcel ; -ig-s of sorrow. He was born on Ooicbor 9, 1842, aud was thus in iiis sixty-third year.

He was educated at Eton, was Lieutenant* oolonel commanding tho Artillery Miht.a. from ]872 till 1881, and Lord Lieuter.anfc of County Louth between 1879 and 1898. He belonged to the Irish Church, and w?s a strcng Protestant and Conservative. Among bis favourite- recrsations were rajs'c, forestry. and shooting. He took a gTeafc personal interest In the building o£ labourers' cottages. His most valued p'sssessions at Antrim Qastle included the picture of Lord Orisl, the last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, by Sir Thos. L&wrencp. also The solid silver gilt mace and Speaker's chair, <md several pictures by Lely, Godfrey, Kneller, and Gainsborough. . — The Earl of Aberdeen celebrated his birthday on August 4 by entertaining to. tea on the terrace of the Houses of Parliament four Scottish fisher-girls and a hoa<rheaded fisherman, at present engaged at the Earl's Court Naval Exhibition. It las needed no act of Parliament to permit of tea parties of this kind being given by members of both Houses. It was only the other day that Mr Will Crooks made up a tea-party of the wives and babies of Ihe unemployed who waited upon him. Lord 1 Aberdeen's guests probably never had such a tea party. His Lordship is 58, but his guests, with characteristic Scottish caution, guessed his age at 4-0. No wonder it was a mutually agreeable tea party. His Lordship's guests were privileged to see the House of Lords at work on the Aliens BUI, but one of them confessed afterward? that " she didna ken what they were speaking- aboot." She "didna ken." perhaps, that this is exactly the state of mind iv which many members, both Lords and Commons, take part in the business of both Houses of Parliament. Still, "it's a fine hoo?e !"

— Sir James Fergusson enjoyed for some time the honour of being the oldest mem-b-v of Parliament — not in point of his own years, nor continuity of tenure, but from, iho fact that he was first elected in 185. Tli at e'ect'on was a romantic one. H ; s friend and comrade was killed at his siclo in the Crimea, acid Sir James was elected hi his stead. He has known many men and positions, and does not forget them. The Parliaments of the great old day?, which are but legends to the bulk of il ;ose I'ving. were real to him. He is old enough to remember the guns of Edinburgh Castle firing for Queen Victoria's accession, airtd to have seen the walls of that House building in which he was destined to pass 50 years of his life. He sat by the coffin of the Duke of Wellington and took part in the great funeral pageant, and after his Crimean experiences eamo home to St. Stephen's to know Palmerstort as Premier. " popular, ready, and witty; Lord John Russell, " experienced, ruse, inf?uent:a'" : Disraeli, "not yet attained io ■public confidence, but eloquent, quick of fence, never daunted" ; Gladstone and the Fceltfccs, aloof and smarting from the defeat of the Ocalition Government, and! Bright. Cobden, and the late Lord Salisbury, fast making their reputations.

—Tn serin years M. Deleasse has done more for France than any other Foreign Minister of the Third Republic. Compare the position of France in 1898,' the year of his appointment to the Ministry of the> Quai d'Orsay, with that which she holds to-day (writes Mr Frederick Lees in tie Pall Mall Magazine). Exercising a statesmanlike tact and judgment on various occasions, ranging from the time of the settlement of the Fashoda difficulty to that of the appomtment of the North Sea Commission, he placed her relations with England on ani amicable footing, his efforts being crowned, as all of us know, by the entente cordiale, of which ho was one of the leading promoters. At tho same time, he restored the old feeling of friendship between Franca and America, which had been momentarily chilled by the expression of French sympathy for Spain during the Cuban war. He strengthened the Franeo-Russ ; an Alliance ; made friends with Italy and Spain; and, 'iv bringing the Sultan to terms, recovered much of iiis country's previously-decayed influence in the East. In short, he transformed the isolated position of France into one of union and strength. The secret of his sucoess. while it lasted, lay in an amazing combination of qualities — broadmindedness, openness of character, tact and judgment, but most of all, patriotism, the mainspring of all his actions.

— Sir Ambrose Shea, formerly Governor of the Bahamas, died at his London residence on August 1, aged 90. Sir Ambrose was a fine type of those colonial statesmen who play such an important part iru the scheme of Empire by untiring labours to advance the interests and develop the resources of those colonies with which thoy are connected. A native of Newfoundland, having been born at St. John's in 1818, lie spent the most strouuous years of his life in behalf of the oldest colony, andl achieved much for which Newfoundlanders will hold his name in grateful remembrance. It was not until he had made a mark iii commercial Jife, however, that Sir Ambrose, then plain Mr Shea, entered the political arena. At the early age of 22 h<» was already recognised as one of the sn.artost business men in St. John's, and when he entered the Newfoundland Assembly it was soon made manifest that he was destined for political distinction. Five years later his undoubted talents and his scund penetration and commonsense had won for him the position of Speaker of thit turbulent Assembly, and he retained Ws ]-.ost for six years. His lengthy and <!>«- lnlerosted services on behalf of 'his nafi\e island won for Sir Ambrose the reward of the K.C.M.G. in 1883, and four yeais after tins he was selected by the Secret-irr ot State for the Colonies to fill the posfc of Governor and Conimandor-in-Chicf of the Bahamas. He occupied this post until 1895, and the manner in which he discharged his duties while in the Bahamas can be gauged from the fact that on hi<? departure he was presented by the inhabitants with a service of plato "as a testimony of his signal services to tl.ei colony by the establishment of the now famous fibre industry, and of the markorfl ability of his general administration." After his retirement from ih& Colonial Civil Service Sir Ambrose wp>nt to live in London, wheve he retained wide commercial) interest', being a director of several companies and in some instances chairman oS tho board of directors.