PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3292, 18 April 1917, Page 54

PERSONAL NOTES.

Lord Lucas, the brilliant young statesman who lost his lifo while serving in the British air service in France,' while only 40, left a fortune of £IOO,OOO. He set "a happy precedent, of appreciation of literature by bequeathing £3OOO to Hilaire Belloc and £IOOO to Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Preparations are being made to found a Hindenburg Museum —"a temple dedicated to the glory " of the Eield-marshal — at Konigsberg,_ in the province of East Prussia, of which Hindenburg is a native. It will contain a model of the house ia which Hindenburg was born, and as many souvenirs as possible of his. childhood, youth, manhood, and military career. Berlin is also to have its Hindenburg Museum. The president of the Berlin Committee is General von Ludendorff. The rise of Dr Christopher Addison, Minister of Munitions, may be almost described as meteoric. A doctor by profession, his work at St. Bartholomew's Hospital and at the Universities of Cambridge and London, and in connection with other institutions, has rendered him an authority in medical research. Ur Addison entered the House of Commons rather over six years ago as M.P. for Hoxton. The Duke of Sutherland, at the age of 28, is forced by the burden of taxation to sell the Lilleshall Estate, about 7500 acres, in Shropshire. The manor was given by Henry VIII to James Leveson, in whose family it remained till the seventeenth century, when the daughter and heiress of Sir John Leveson brought it by marriage into the family of Gower. Three villages and some good farms arc on the estate —the rental is approximately £20?000 a year,—which is to be offered by auction as a whole in July. The Duke's other country seats are Dunrobin Castle and House of Tongue, both in Sutherland, and Brooks,in Alberta, Canada. He was some time in Lovat's Scouts Yeomanry, and he is a commander in the Royal Naval Reserve. His brother, Lord Alistair St. Clair Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, in the- Household Cavalry, was wounded and has won the Military Cross. The splendid work achieved by the Duke of Westminster and his armoured car squadron in Western Egypt has helped to change the opinion of the man in the street in regard to the so-called " idle rich." The Duke and his gallant little force have done what *no other branch of the service has been able to do—capture a mobile force of Bedouins (wild Arabs) in their own country. The armoured car squadron was the Duke of Westminster's own proposition. The cost of the cars, guns, and equipment —over £20,000 —was defrayed by him, only the running- expenses and the men's pay being found by the army. Before going to Egypt the squadron did excellent work on the Western front, notably during tho battle of Neuve Chapelle. The Duke is one of the richest men in England, being the owner of the great part of Mayfair and Belgravia; his estates bring him in something like £IOOO a day. The following story is told about tho Prince o£ Wales when he was on leave in London in January. Ho was walking with a brother officer when # ho found the feminine driver of an official car in dire difficulty owing to a breakdown. Tho two young fellows came forward to help her, and the Prince of Wales spent nearly 20 minutes in energetic efforts, which, happily, ended in the engine again running smoothly. As sho was thanking her unknown assistants tho Prince looked at his wristlet' watch and ejaculated, "Lord! I shaM be late." So tho lady said, "Jump in, &iii2 I'll take you anywhere you like. It's tho least I can do after what trouble you've pulled me out of. Where do you want to go?" "Thanks awfully," was tho reply. " Home, please." "Where's homo?" eho inquired, smiling at the way he had naively imagined his address would ba known. And only when tho reply was " Buckingham Palaco" _ did sho realise that her principal mechanician had been tha Hoir Apparent.