PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2757, 16 January 1907, Page 81

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Lieutenant-generald Lord dc Ros, who recently completed his «ixty-fir«t year of service in the army, is premier Baron of England, and although he is 7d year* jf age, he still- taices his turn as Gold Stick-in-Waiting to the King. — Colonel William Temple is one of the four survivors of the fifteen who gained their Victoria Crosses in New Zealand in the war of 1864. . He was then serving with the Royal Artillery, and when sill others hesitated he wae the man who ran into the firo-zone at Rangiriri with water tor the fallen.

— For the third time Mr Dadabhai Naoroji has been elected President of the Indian National Congress, which was held this year in Calcutta. Mr Naoroji stands easily first in several important directions. For example, he was the first Irjdian member of Parliament, the first native Professoi of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy m India, and he is the only Indian who has been a member of a Royal Commission. — The knighthood of "Lieutenant-colonel Frederick Louis Nathan establishes a remarkable record, for this the the third brother of one Jewish household who has earned knighthood in the public service, Sir Frederick's elder brothers being Sir Nathaniel Nathan, K.C., late acting Chief Justice of Trinidad, and Sir Matthew Nathan, K.C.M.G., the popular Governor of Hongkong.

— The Prime Minister, Sir H. CampbellBaxinerman, confesses to an average of nine hours' sleep ; Mr Asquith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is gifted with an automatic command of eight hours ; and the Lord Chancellor is a seven-hour sleeper. Mr Burns never exceeds 6ix hours. Mr Balfour is able to command nine hours. — A man who is said to have been the richest organ-grinder in the world died re cently at New Rochele. His name was Melcher Wideman, and for 28 years he played at the entrance to Glen Island, a famous summer resort at New Rochelle. Wideman consistently refused to play anything but hymns, and the musio wae so doleful that, several times the millionaire owner of Glen Island tried to force the old man to change his location, but i-e refused to move. — The Marquess of Donegall, ' "Hereditary Lord High Admiral of Lough Neagh,' 1 and the youngest member of the peerage, has reached the mature age of three years. In accordance with custom, a place is already reserved in the House of Lords* cloak-room whereon he will hang hi« hat and coat what time, 18 years hence, ne legislates for his country. Between the Marquees and Lord Gwydyr, the oldest living peer, there is a difference 1 of 03 years. — The Marquis of Ripon, as leader of the House of Lords in the Campbell-Ban-nerman Ministry, is one of the chief figures in that assembly. People with a taste for political prophecy are talking of Lord Ripon'e coming retirement. It is obvious that a man of 80 has not an immense political future, but rumours of this withdrawal have been flying about for so long that the public have ceased to pay much attention to them. Lord Ripon will be much missed in politics, for he haa been actively concerned in them ever since he became Undersecretary for War in 1859. Almost always <n or out of office, he has made people respect hie ability. — Admiral Sir Albert Markham, who retired from the navy on November 11, is the hero of at east two adventures — a trip "Farthest North" and a. desperate fight with Chinese pirates. Polar exploration is his hobby, and he has written several books on Arctic research, including a life of Sir John Franklin. He commanded an Arctic expedition in 1875-6, when he succeeded in planting the Union Jack in a higher northern position than anyone had reached up to then. When the Admiral was a you/>g officer on the China station he was sent in a. Chinese junk, with a crew of 12 men and a fighting force of 20, to capture a piratical junk manned by 80 desperadoes armed with matchlocks, gingalls, and other weird an<d wonderful weapons. After a most desperate encounter, lasting four and a-}uiL[ houre, Markha-m accomplished hb mission with, the loan ot five men. For this he was promoted by the Admiralty, who ftJao abused a letter to \m teftd oa, <M

quarter-deck of Markham's chip setting forth their lordships' approvals of the dasbing young lieutenant's pluck and resource. The feat for which he was irhanked- by the Canadian Government was equally remarkable. He journeyed, on behalf of a railway company, from Halifax through. Hudson's Strait to York Factory in his old! Arctic ship, the Alert, and thence in a birch-bark canoe, accompanied only by a couple of Indians to Winnipeg — a distanco of about 1000 miles. During this extraordinary voyage, which lasted four months, food ran so short that for three days he and his Indians had to live solely on tea and tea-leaves. Yet, notwithstanding innumerable hardships and miserable diet, the mission was eminently successful.