PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 82

PERSONAL NOTES.

—To maintain his position in a proper and dignified manner, the Archbishop of York receives a stipend of £10,000 a year, an amount which barely covers the expenses; while it is regarded as inevitable that in the future Farnham Castle, the residence of the Bishop of Winchester, will hava to be sold, and his lordship live in the cathedral city, for he cannot make both ends meets on £6500 per annum. Both the Bishop of E'y and the Bishop of Salisbury, whose incomes are £5500 and £5000 respectively, can scarcely save a penny from their salaries, while the Bishop of Herefcid, in spite of the fact that' he is paid £4200 ajear, cannot afford to .keep a dozen servants.

— The Emperor of Austria during his illness insisted on traruacting State business as usual, As soon as he left the nursery he began a course of training to fit himself for the high position he was to fill. Ac 16 he was an accomplished linguist and a scientific expert of no mean degree. He could ride and hunt with the tireless energy of a hardy sportsman, and his studies in literature and jurisprudence were conducted under the most celebrated scholars of Continental Europe. That such a course* of training did not react upon his health is doubtless due to his remarkable memory, which even now is said to enable him to Tecall the face of the humblest of his subjects, no matter how long the lapse of time. It is a tradition of the Austrian Royal House that no Emperor must die lying down. He must stand up to receive the last dread messenger. .. — The Kaiser has been able to solve the difficult problem of being a generous employer and at the same time earn substantial profits in connection with the Imperial pottery works which be established a». Cadinen tome jears ago. His workmen live in neat little cottages built for them by their Imperial master, which they are enab'ed to occupy at low rents. Each cot- I tage has a garden, and is conetructed on ] the most approved sanitary methods. Every workman receives an old-age pension, or a life-long pension from the time at which he becomes, through accident or ill-health, incapable of working. The widows and orphans of the workmen are provided for on the same eenerous scale, all the funds

required for these purposes being taken from the profits of the business. The workmen are thus made to feel that they have a direct interest in the concern, while they, on their side, do their utmost to turn out the best possible products. . —The Hon. Paul Ayshforf Methuen, eldest son of General. Lord Methuen, who attained his majority on September 28, is a lieutenant in the Royal Wiltshire Imperial Yeomanry. He derives the name of Ayshford through his mother, who is daughter of the late Mr William Ayshford Sanford, of Nynehead Court. The family sprang from a clerical source. The founder of it was- the Rev. Paul Methuen, Prebendary of Wells, who fled from Scotland because of the prominent part he had taken in promoting the Reformation. The grandfather of the Hon. Paul Methuen wa* aioVde-camp arid later -Tjord-inr-Waiting to Queen Victoria. His 'father, whose- distinguished military career is well known, has recently been appointed Commanderin Chief in South Africa, whither he goes soon after the celebration of his son's coming of age. Lord and Xady Methuen are much beloved in the neighbourhood of Corsham Court, their fine place in Wiltshire, where the news of his lordship' 3 South African appointment was received with mixed feelings, involving as it do** prolonged absence from home. — The recent appointment of Lord (Joe Yidge, K.C., to the vacant High Court, judgeship ad-is yet another to the J;*t of judges' sono ■ who have themselves attained .the same hifh office. Ltivd Coleridge ._ is .the son of the famous Lord Chief Justice 'of 1880-94, and enjoyed the distinction of being the only peer actually engaged in practice *t the English Bar. Other instances of distinguished -eons following in the footsteps of distinguished fathers in the legal profession include the present Sir Henry Bargrave Deane, judge of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Court, whose father was the well-known Sir James Parker Deane, judge of the now practically defunct Ecclesiastical Court; Mr Justice Phillimore, eon of Sir Robert Phillimore. and Mr Justice Channell, son of the late judge of that name. - Mr Biron, the magis traie, whose appointment dates from last v year, furnishes another instance of a son succeeding to a similar office to hie father, he, being son of the late popular London 'magistrate of that name, as well is a nephew of Lord Justice M&thew. — Lord Portsmouth has a notable personality. He is now TTnder-Secretary for War, and is remarkable for his courtesy and for bk high sense of duty both social and political. Music seems his chief pleasure and. like Lord Howe, he has his own stall .at the opera. But, he prefers' the country to London, and when on his oWn estates gives himself up to the pleasures of treeplanting and photography. . He has of late become known as the "Friend of Motorists" ; and when a too zealous policeman measured a mile near Hurstbourne Park he at onoe set up big notice-boards, on which appeared the words: "Motorists, Beware! Police Trap. .Portsmouth." -When at Oxford, his red hair earned him the name of "The Demon,-" and owing to his fancy for a yellow-coloured suit he also became known as' "The Symphony in Yellow." He was then president of the union, and a keen promoter of a Liberal Club called the "Pelmerston." —"I am very proud of the honour," said Sir John Bell, when congratulated upon his election to - the office of Lord Mayor of London for 1907-8,- "and have only one regret — namely, that I shall be unable to spend much time in the country." Sir John has hitherto resided for the greater part of the year at Stoke Poges, where he has a beaiil ifully-timbered estate of 200 ! acres. Here iv hours of leisure he enjoys the life of a country; gentleman ; studying the science of farming, preserving on a, large scale, and .working out his own ideaa as to the breeding of cattle. Sir John is practically a self-made man. He commenced his commercial career in the office of a city accountant, and was afterwards for a considerable period identified with a leading firm in the Australian trade.*** Then be joined the late Mr John "Glover in *he proprietorship of the , Wenlock Breweryj now conducted as a limited liability company, of the board of which he is the chairman. When he first associated himself with it the business was a small and struggling one, wheras to-day the brewery ranks as one of the n»ost prosperous in London, the • shareholders receiving substantial dividends. This development may be attributed almost entirely to Sir John's personal efforts and business enterpris^. — Thorra* Ja.nes Macnamara, M.A., LL.D., M.P., born in Montreal in 1861, is a very brisk and lively young fellow of 46 years. A son of Sergeant Macnamara, of the old 47th, he spent his boyhood in the barrack-room and on the harraek-square. He is still keen to the limit on soldiering ; and 35 years* devoted to other businesses have not sufficed to overcome his regret that his parents did not make him a soldier. Only the other day he* told tl<e toys of the "Exmouth that he was proud and to spare of wearing the King's uniform as a Minister of the Crown, but a good deal oiouder that be was the son of a man who fought through the Crimea as a private soldier. He returned home with his father a regiment, and at the age of 15 became a nupil teacher in an elementary echool at , Exeter. In 1880 he was moved up to the , Borough Road Training • College for Teachers From there he went teaching in Lancaster. Huddersfield, and Bristol, towns which love him still. Teaching alone did not give full vent to his abounding energy; he be#an to work off its superfluity on writing. He wrote on social problems in the leading magazines, and he •wrote books on educational methods. Then h-j joined the National Union of Teachers, and wa^ coon a fcrcr. in it— an increasing force. At the end of 12 years' work in the union he left his teaching at Bristol ond cam*" to London to edit The Schoolmaster, the union's organ and the mouthniece of the teachers of the United Kingdom. In 1893 he stood for Parliament, contesting Deptford agaiust Mr (now Justice) Darling, and was beaten by that agreeable gentleman. But. in ]900 he was returned for North CamVwrwell, and agam in 1906 by a doubled majority. In tne House, the Education Bill of 1902 gave him his chance; and he t<-<ik it. The real expert >s rare ; and in 1905 the good CampbellBannerman offered him a poet in" tl--» Government, which he declined for private reasons. But last February he did take office, ar.^s 'went to tH% Local Government as second -in -com xrmnA to the good John Burns. He is, for r-\\ his teaching and editing and writing «nd Local Boarding, an open-air man, and ru enthu?iast : c golfer. But his p-rpat jor w a bye-e'ection. H« ha<? been in nearly c* erv bipr fipht since 1900. — "Jehu Janlot,* in Vanity Fair. [