PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3201, 21 July 1915, Page 74

PERSONAL NOTES.

Foot, book-lover, sportsman, model landlord, and a keen agriculturist, Lord Crewe has gained the reputation of being one_ of the most versatile of peers. In addition, ho is one of the best dressed, and the term “Crewe’s elegance” is often hoard at St. Stephen’s. He is married to a daughter of Lord Rosebery, who, prior to tho wedding in 1899, was known as Lady “Peggy” Primrose. His Lordship has been Secretary of State for India since 1910, when he succeeded Lord Morley. He is a great racing man and a member of the Jockey Club. Garden cities are among his hobbies, and ho helped to promote the scheme for a garden suburb overlooking Hampstead Heath. The Right Hon. Arthur Henderson, M.P., whose knowledge of Labour questions has gained him a place in the new Government, has had a romantic career. Ho was born in Glasgow in 1863 and started life as an ironmoulder in a Newcastle factory. His schooling was but scanty, and he was obliged to educate himself in his spare time. His ability and perseverance soon made an impression on his fellow workers, and after many years’ work as a trade union loader ho entered Parliament as Labour member for the Barnard Castle division of Durham in 1903. He is now chairman of the Labour party, and bis name was included in the Now Year’s Honours List as a Privy Councillor. Mr Arthur Henderson is a Wesleyan and a popular lay preacher. The Right Hon. Andrew Bonar_ Law, M.P., who was invited by Mr Asquith to come into tho new Coalition Government, lias had an unusually rapid rise to fame. He' entered Parliament only in 1900, and 11 years later was appointed loader of the Unionist party. Mr Bonar Law was born 57 years ago, and is a Canadian, the son of a Now Brunswick clergyman, though his earliest interests were associated with Glasgow. He is famed in tho latter town as an ironmaster. His political success is largely due to his skill as a debater. Ho has a perfect genius for marshalling t-J’ing facts effectively. The Conservative loader is one of the best chess-players in the House of Commons and an excellent golfer. Tho reported death at the front of Lord de Freyne recalls a romance which is amazing even in those days of democratic peers. Lord de Freyne, who succeeded his father in 1913, disappeared in New York in 1905, and the British Consul and detectives searched for him in vain. It was feared he had been murdered; but if was eventually found that he had enlisted as a private in the United States army and was at Fort Slocum. Ho was serving as a sergeant in the Philippines when he succeeded to the title. Before going to the States ho had held a commission in the Royal .Fusiliers. Lord de Freyne, who was a relative of Sir John French, married, in 1902. Annabel, tho beautiful daughter of Mr William Angus, proprietor of an inn at Rothes, a little villages on Spoysidc. —Once every five years the Columbia University of New York awards the Barnard Gold Medal to a scientist for the most'meritorious service to scientific progress during tho previous five years. This year the coveted distinct on has been awarded jointly to Professor W. ,H. Bragg, F.R.S., the occupant of the Chair of Physics in Leeds University, and his son, Mr W. L. Bragg, of Trinity College, Cambridge. This is the sixth Barnard Medal awarded, and the fourth given to British men of science, the previous British recipients being Lord Rayleigb, Sir William Ramsay, and S:r L. Rutherford, the brilliant New Zealander who is Professor of Phys'cs at Manchester University. . Mr T. A. Edison’s courtship was characteristic of the groat inventor. The first Mrs Edison was, previous tp her marriage, a telegraph operator in his employ. One -day while standing behind her, watching her at work, Edison, who had long admired the young lady, was suipnsod when she turned round and said, ’Mr Edison, I can always toll when you are near me.” “ How do you account for that?” returned Edison. “I don’t know, responded the young lady; “ but if is a fact nevertheless.” Edison., looking her full in the face, said, “I’ve been thinking considerably about you of late, ana, i you are willing to marry me, I would like marry you.” A month later they \\ cro married. , _ General Carlo Cancva. the Italian Com-mander-in-Chief, is, like Sir John Frcncn, a great cavalryman, and ho has great military gifts, and the experience of at least three campaigns. He was generalissimo of the Italian expeditionary force to Tripoli in 1911, and has been busy since last year reorganising the Italian army. _ ine Italian cavalry, some of the finest in the world, owes much of its brilliancy to General Canova, whose reputation in Italy for manoeuvring largo bodies of men is supreme. He is in his seventieth year and is probably tho oldest Commander-m-Chiet on the European battlefields. He is of fine stature, upright, and with_ a commanding personality, and might easily be mistaken for a man of 55 years. General Caneva hails from Tarconto, in Udine, which at tho time of his birth was under the Austrian domination of Vcnotia. He learnt the game of war at the Military Academy of Wiencrneustadt, and began his active professional career in 1866. In the African campaigns of 1897 and 1910 he took pait, and was appointed to an independent command. His reputation as a.cavalryman, h:3 strategy, and general excellence in the peace manoeuvres in Italy in 1911, won him the position of Commandor-in-Chief of the forces in Tripoli. Signor Salandra, tho Italian Premier, was practically unknown outside Italy until he was called to the Premiership 14- months ago. He has had a difficult task, for lie has never had a parliamentary majority, and he has had a powerful rival in Signor Giolitti. Tho latter thought himself strong enough to break Signor Salandra’s Government, but in that ho was mistaken. The people of Italy were solidly behind the Premier; they declared for Salandra and for war against Austria and Germany. Signor Salandra is a lawyer. Born in 1853, a Neapolitan subject, he was seven years of age when the Kingdom of Naples became part of that of Italy. He lectured on law at the Universities of Naples and Rome, and later held the appointment of Professor of Jurisprudence at the latter University. Ho has been a member of the Italian Chamber for 30 years, and first attained Cabinet rank as Minister of Agriculture in 1899.