PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2850, 28 October 1908, Page 77

PERSONAL NOTES.

♦ — Both the King of Greece and the King of Norway are wonderful athletes. King George is especially proficient in all manly exercises, and were' an athletic concourse, of European Sovereigns to be held he would be facile prinoeps among his brother monarchs. King Haakon, besides being a good "all-round man," is remarkable for his marvellous sleight-of-hanci ; he delights in playing all manner of difficult tricks with corks, bottles, knives, forks, coins, and other objects such as jugglers love' to play with. ■ • ' -

—Captain Sinclair, the Secretary for Scotland, is one of tbs warriors of the House. He saw active service in the Soudan, and won a. medal with clasps. In times of peadto he acted "as A.D.O. to the Earl of Aber* deen in Dublin, and afterwards in Ottawa served the same nobleman, His future father-in-law, in the capacity of private secretary. In Canada his wife, then Lady Majjorie Gordon, enjoyed the distinction of being the youngest eduress in the world. Sbe brought out a juvenile magazine under th© title of "Wee Willie Winbie." — Major Richardson, who has been captain of the English Bisley team for the last five years, and Captain Bates/ who won the bronze medal in tin© King's Competition I last year, arc business partners in a wellknown English shipping firm, i'urthermore. Captain Bates is a son-in-law of Lieut.-col. Crosse, the Secretary of the National Rifle i Association. White Captain Bates, how- | ever, has only been shooting for a year os ! so, Major Richardson is a seasoned veteran, \yho began shooting as far back as 1880. Altogether the major has won 155 medals, badges, and cups, and seems likely to add considerably to their number. — Th© titic of the world's biggest landowner may be claimed by Mr Sidney* Kidman, the Australian oajtle king, who has just been paying London a visit. He owns more of^fhe British Empire than any one other man. At 14 hte was earning 10s a week, and now he has 49,216 square miles of land standing in his name. He began life as a teamster, and gradually worked his way up until he was the largest horse dealer' and cattle owner in ""Australia. He owns 100,000 cattle and 10,000 horses, yet he is not quite satisfied with his business methods. According to the Argonaut he is going to Canada to try and get a job on a ranch * as a cowboy, so that he can find out the inside of the American methods. —The great American inventor, T. A. Edison, who is at work perfecting a^motor powerful but small enough to bring the areoplane within a measurable distance of success, is partly deaf in his right eaT. In one way this is a<n advantage, as it enables him to pursue his work undisturbed while eur rounded by all the noise of a. busy shop. When offered an infallible cure for hi% deafness, he once remarked, "Why should I try it? Think of the lot of stuff I'd have to listen to that I don't want to hear!" On another occasion a would-be wit said, in ordinary tones, "I guess hod hear if I asked him to have a drink.'^ The inventor looked the young man who spoke squarely In the eye. "Yes, perhaps I should," -he 6aid ; "but no, not to-day, thank you !" —The illness of the King of the Belgians j has brought forth the usual crop of anecdotes. This one is amusing: A few years ! age he made a NorAV©gian tour, and in due course drove overland in a chaise to Stavanger, where one of the large hotels was. stirred by the news that it was about to ber favoured by royal jatronage. The dinnerJiour of the other ■guests was consequently postponed in order that the King might ha\e the huge dining room for hia sole use, and preparations 'were made for hia adequate eniertainment. The sumptuous repa^i- >vas served in style, apparently to the King's complete satisfaction. At the end of the repast he beckoned to the maitre d'hotel, and, without a word, handed him in settlement — a tourist's coupon. '

— The story Lord Cheylesmore is most fond of telling is how his life was practically saved by a roly-poly jam pudding Since he was seven , years of age he has not known what it is to be seriously ill. At that perior of his boyhood da\s. however, lie had an illness which seemed likely to resuh in death. For weeks he had oaten practically nothing, and th-en suddenly hp demanded roly-poly jam pudding Naturally, the doctor refused him such food, but at last gave way, probably feeling rhat the boy* "last wishes" might as well be gratified. Curiously enough, the patient bejjan to mend from that moment, and that is why roly-poly jam pudding ha 3 become a venerated institution in tho Cheylesmore family, and is placed on tho table <nery Sunday at luncheon time.

— Ever pinc^ the unfortunate disaster that placed Kmjf Poter on the throne of Servia, that monarch ha> led anything but a happy life. Worry, worry, and fear of a^saesination arc over with him; and now that hia heir is approaching Ji marriageable age, it is not surprising thar, with an idi&a of replenishing his coffers, h-e is said to be on the look-out for an American hoirces willing to enter into such an alliance. Sixty-four yea is of a?f, King Peter is tall and spare of l.uild, a koc<l fenc^gj and boxer, and an expert in the French art of la pavate. H« foug'u with the French throujrh the Franco(Jerman War. Since his accession he has toik-d haid to improve the social conditions in fWvia, and his son, who celebrates In-, coming of age this year, has been .specially educjtivl with a view to following in hi* footsteps in the fame direction. — The introduction of Lord Charles Bc-f-fiT'l to the navy was not of an emconiau'iiig kind. As a child Lord Charles was delicate, and when, after his training a 6 a ca-det on l.oard the Britannia, he entered hi« first commissjon on board the Marlhorough, the flegship of the Mediterranean Fi«jt, at 15 ( years of age, the boatswain remarked to his colleague. "Mate, 'ore-'* another officer kirn aboard ; but, poro little beggar, he ain't long for this w<wld." There ih talk just now that Lord Charles will again shortly enter Parliament. and many are the stories, more or less true, told of him in the House, Here is one of them. When Lord Charles was standing for York, one of his meetings had just closed, when a sol-amn and sedate old clergyman, who had been «cated on the platform, came up to the candidate, and said with much gr«i\ity: "Allow me, Lord C"wulc*, ihc pbtieurc of

shaking hancfe withiyou. I had the honoui ' of being confirmed majiy years ago by youi ' respected uncle, the Primate of All Ireland." Lord Charles- insfcantlv shouted in I stentorian tones to. -his., brother, vrlio was r-iear the door at the other end of the hall, "Bill— Bill! here's an old, parson who. say* he was confirmed 1 Jby-^olct-.T'Uncle.' John. Come up here and have a talk to lam." — Sergeant-major. WaUingford, the champion army shot, a^ instjjiictor at the. Hytho •School of Muekefcry^ liv 4& for eliooting. Ho 'is a. man who beKeA r es in practice at every possible" moment, and that ""^4hs~ reason; whjtf three -. months ' fee'fOße a^-lneeltng, he up a( 3 <£r .4 o'clock -^every morntag to practise*. .-Moreover, Jje- ha&.a epeci-ally-madie stick,-' weighing several -jiounds, shaped; like & revolver,^ whic^ he^catvries wtth him during his walfss, and which he holds as he'"wbutd; j» fifie in-order to de"veld^ steadiness to the~arms, wrwlg. and 1 hands. " Small wonder that v «ucb assiduous methods have resulted in "Wally," as he is known 'to his friends, "" ca'rtying oft" hundrede of prizes, not 'to mention over £1000 in cash. Concerningr the question of nerves, when it comes to> the concluding stages of a big competition,' tho army crack has confessed that he generally conquers any temptation to nervousness by .sheer force of will. "Only once," he said, "can' I recall getting flurried in. en important match. On. that occasion the l-oporters crowded round; me before I had finished firing, and even trod on my feet in their excitement. I heard them cay, 'It doesn't matter; Wally has 'won, whatever he makes this shot.' Aiming a little carokssly, I only got a clc«3 inner, and so tied with another man, who beat me when we shot off the tie." — There can be no question that one of the most interesting men at Bisley t,hi3 year is Mr Walter Winans, who is representing the United States in rifle and revolver shooting. In a certain sense hie accomplishments are somo>hat irritating, for one does not know which to admire most. Of course he has gaiived a groat reputation as a crack revolver shot, but, on the other hand, ho can turn out a piece of sculpture, paint a 'picture, drive a four-in-hand, or a pair of trotting horses, rido across the most difficult piece of country, and invent all sorts of things equally as well. To see him in his studio at Surrenden Park, Kent, transform-ing an ugly, greasy, grey lump of wax into a 6tatue ot beauty, or dash off a. picture, in which doge or horses invariably appear, is to marvel at the cleverness of the wealthy Anglo-American . And co assiduously does he work in his etudio, ihat one would think his daily bread depended <5n sxtch exertions. As a boy Mr Winans was never so happy as when pulling things to pieces to see how they worked, and improving upon them with hi* own idoas. When a youngster he one© astonished a rcom 1 full , of people by explaining to them "how Peppers Ghost was managed." He - hadi thought it out for himself, /and since then; he has thought out a. good many problems with equal success. Mr Winans's skill with the revolver to-day is almost as good as when he carried everything before him 20 years ago at Wimbledo^. In 1886 he won 23 prises out of 26 at Nunhead. and on 15 occasion* he has made the highest possible in revolver competitions. At Wimbledon, in 1889, he made 16 bull's-eyes in quick succession, and, . when a French crack re-volver-shot onoe challenged- Mr Winans to a_ 60-shot competition under duelling conditions, he only missed the "man target" twice in 60 shots, and won. . Mr Winans ascribes his accuracy to the fact that he is an abstainer a-nd does not femoke. At Surrenden, by the way, Mr Wi»ans has a etud of about 100 horses, which are worth something like £100,000.

The referendum in July last by which f } the Swiss prohibited "the manufacture and ( sal© of absinthe throughout Switzerland j foaa resulted in an unprecedented "boom" j in the beverage. The prohibitive law does not come into effect till July, 1910, and in j the meantime absinthe manufacturers in , the canton of N-ouchatel are working day j and night with doubled staffs in order to meet the demands. "One of the pleasures of the Maoris,"' | said Mr A. L. D. Fraser, M.P., during 1 , ! a recent lecture, " was the flying of '• | kitos.'\ Sometimes the kites were used for magic purposes, and the lecturer described ( how tradition told that once, when two j Maori princes' had mysteriously disap- ! peared, a kite was fllown to discover their, ' , whereabouts. .It settled over a lonely spot, j ! and on search 'being made the bodies of the 1 princes were found hidden away and I covered with twigs.