PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3019, 24 January 1912, Page 87

PERSONAL NOTES.

—AI the sea on of the year when our own, or somebody elso’s. umbrella is our constant companion, wo may spare a grateful thought for Jonas Hanway, the man who 150 years ago had the moral courage to carry the first gamp ever seen tn tho streets of London. Ho was tho object of verv impolite attentions from tho cabmen of the period, who feared that tho coming in of that strange portable shelter would ruin their business. It was Dr Johnson who said of Hanway, “ Jonas acquired some reputation by travelling abroad, but lost it all by travelling at home.” Felix Oswald, a Follow of tho (nological Society of Hendon, has just started on a mission to Dritidi Fast Africa, undertaken under the auspices of tho Natural History Museum, with the object of carrying on geological excavations in the tertiary deposits close to Victoria Nyanza. Tho recent interesting discoveries of fossil remains of gigantic animals in ths region has arrested the attention of palaeontologists, and the present venture will, it is hoped, be only the pioneer of other expeditions organised with a view to the thorough exploration of the bone-bearing deposits. —Mr Chesterton has made his fame in prose, but the first volume which he actually i c *u?d was one of verso, bearing the not-- altogether inapnropriato title of ”T 1 ie Wild Knight.” Whereby hangs a somewhat amusing tale. An able journalist, in the course of a generously eulogistic review of the volume, ventured tho assertion that “ (1. K- Chesterton ” must he a pseudonym. and that only one man living, and lie John Davidson, could have written such deathless verse. Next day tho newspaper in which the review had appeared contained two letters, the one from Mr Chesterton, modestly protesting his identity, the •other from the author of “ Fleet Strbot Eclogues,” calling heaven and earth to witness that he was not the author of such appalling balderdash as “ Tho Wild Knight.” or words to that effect ! Tho Rev. Dr James Moffat, of Droughty Ferry, who has l>een chosen to succeed Professor Souter (now of Aberdeen University) as New Testament Professor at Mansfield College. Oxford, is regarded as one of the most brilliant of our younger theologians. Dr Moffat is at present minister of the leading United Free Church in

Broughty Ferry, anti lias long been marked out for a professorship. Curiously enough, he is the third professor who has come from Broughty Ferry churches, the other two being Dr James Cooper, now Professor of Church History at Glasgow University, and Professor James Denny, of the same city. Professor Moffat, who is only 41 years of age, has already a number of books to his credit, the best known being “ The Historical New Tcstanont.” He is one of the principal theological contributors to the British Weekly, and has written a popular “ Primer to the Novels of George Meredith,” a reprint of a ecries of Sunday evening lectures in his own church.

Since 1800 till the present time, with one exception, a father has never been succeeded by an eldest son in the Farnham Peerage. Of seven holders of that peerage, including the present peer, one only has been an eldest son —the seventh Lord Farnham. who 30 years after his succession perished in the Abergele railway accident in August, 1868. The lion. Barry Maxwell, the eldest son of the late Lord Farnham, a young man of splendid physique, came of ago in August. 1897. The event was the subject, of great rejoicing on the Farnham estate in the County Cavan, and one speaker expressed the hope, which evoked enthusiasm, that Mr Barry Maxwell would live to succeed his father in ordinary course, and thus break the spell of m sfortuno which had so long interrupted the regu'ar line of succession. Only a month afterwards Mr Barry Maxwell sustained injuries in a bicycling accident on the dome'ne of hie relative, the late Right Hon. Colonel Saunderson, M.P., to which he succumbed. •

—Mr Carnegie, who celebrated his seventy sixth birthday in Now York, received runny journalists who called to congratulate him. Ho wag sitting at the table in his sunny library playing with a heap of opened telegrams and letters of congratulation, and he promulgated a few maxims for men who would bo successful in life. Here are some of them:—“ Do not drink or even enter a public house.” “Do not smoke. It. is foolish, and no employer wants foolish men working for him.” “ Live within your income.” “ Use your head; do not follow the rule, ‘obey orders.’ If your employer objects, tell him you know more about your department than he docs. Probably ho will not like it then, but he will remember, and some day you will be rewarded.”

A California retreat, “ Ranch of Refuge ” for English remittance men, is the latest whim of the famous Paget twins, Arthur and Reginald, the aristocrats who are joint heirs to one of the oldest-of the hif>toric titles, of England and recent arrivals ] 'n I- os Angeles. At their contemplated Western home in the hills near Bishop, California, devoted to the simple life, the two young noblemen will keep open house for their world-weary friends. “We are tired of London,” eaid the young peers. Wo want to hunt and live outdoors. And we want some of the fellows back home to come out and visit us.” The two titled .sons of Lieutenant-general Sir Arthur Paget will establish their outdoor headquarters it Bishop where they have already secured the 2500-acre ranch which it is their purpose to develop as an asylum, for- themselves and their London friends. The Khedive of Egypt, who had the honour of being received by King George the other day, i s a great admirer of all things English, and although ho and Lord Cromer wore not always on the best of terms, his Highness has publicly stated that he considers British rule to 'be good lor his country. “ English rule,” he said on one of his visits to London. “is good because it ha=> made mv people happier has lightened their burdens, and has administered justice w'thout regard to wealth or person The Khedive is thoroughly European m lu« likes and dislikes, for ho was» educated at (lonova and at Vienna, and has vis’tod Englnnd on more than one occasion. The Khedive’s favourite hobby is engine-driving, a pastime that ho frequently indulges in. On one occasion, not fo long ago. ho had a verv narrow escape from a serious accident. Ho was driving an engine at high speed when ho suddenly found, after passing a small station, that lac* line tras blocked bv a big waggon loaded with tron. Immediately he shut off steam and brought the train to a stop; bu* it was a very near thing, and only, a few yards more would have meant an inovitn.ble collision. liio XChcdivo, howover, wns the coolest person on the train, and, calmly getting down from the engine, he walked back to the station to make inquiries. It was whispered at the time that those responsible for leaving the waggon on the line experienced a very warm half-hour in the presence of their Prince later -on.