PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3348, 15 May 1918, Page 58

PERSONAL NOTES.

The new title of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe —Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa—will link his name with one of the most wonderful harbours in the world. Scapa .Flow lies within the Orkney Islands, and is so large that the biggest guns can carry out longrango firing- in it and not hit the land. Scapa Blow has been frequently referred to in the German press as a base of the British naval forces. It was the place to which Jellicoe brought his squadrons at the end of July, 1914. died recently, " Diarist," in the Westminster Gazette, writes: "To the end his spirit was unquenchable, and in his eightieth year ho fitted the Sunbeam up as a hospital ship and set off with her to the Mediterranean, acting for the greater part of 'the voyage as his own skipper, and totally disregarding the perils of mine or submarine. Afer doing useful service in the Mediterranean, he took her on to India, and finally handed her over for hospital service to the Government of India. The famous yacht and her owner could have had no more fitting end to their career; but Lord Brassey paid heavily for this gallant adventure, and his friends noted_ with pain that he was much aged and crippled when he returned. —M. Max, the Burgomaster of Brussels, is in a. military prison in Berlin. The first personal news about him, Renter's Agency is informed, except that available through enemy sources, has just been received through a Belgian deportee who has been able to pay a brief visit to M. Max. The Belgian journal XXo Siecle states 'that M. Max, who has always strongly opposed the German exactions, and in consequence of his attitude was deported a month after the outbreak of war, has lost none of his indomitable energy, in spite of the. constant persecution to which he has been subjected. He is completely isolated, and the visit abovo\referred to is the only one he has been permitted to receive from a _ compatriot. After being imprisoned in a Sileeian fortress he was transferred to the Oastle of Celle, as no evidence was available that enabled the Germans to condemn him to a fortress regime. Under the pretext, however, of some slight offence at Celle, he was brought before a military court and fined 500 marks or 50 days' confinement in a cell. He refused to pay the fine, and spent the opening of the New Year in a dark and narrow cell in Berlin. The Prince of Wales recently epent'a long and tiring day on his South Wales industrial tour. The great event of the day was a visit to the famous Victoria pit at Ebbw Vale. The Prince determined to visit the coal miners at their actual work, and see for himself something of the risks and difficulties of their important task. This involved a journey on which the last stage had to be made on all fours, and accordingly his Royal Highness _ was taken into a change room at the pithead and emerged in brown overalls and cap. Hl3 Roval Highness was greeted by about a dozen miners assembled near the foot of the shaft. The rock seam was reached after sundry crecpings beneath coarse cloths used for the regulation of ventilation. The Prince scrambled into a working where there was barely space to crawl, and even sitting was impossible, and at close quarters watched engine and miners at work. Then he took a small pick, and worked on a coal face, cut away a section of steam coal, and presently earned it away wtih him as a memento. . —ln New York City Prison there is a young man who must be laughing at the Now Yorkers whom he so easily induced to accept him as a French marquis and confidential agent of the French Government. Edmond Roussalot, who exchanged the work of a switchboard telephone operator, receiving 15dol a week, for high rank, affluence, and great social popularity, was born in France nearly 50 years ago, in poor surroundings. Going to England in 1910, he was confined one year in Brixton Prison for larceny. After his arrival in America in 1912 for two years he drew the modest salary of 15dol a week from the telephone company. Then ho disappeared for a time. In his place, a few months ago, was Eernand Joseph Edmond Rousselot, Marquis de Castillot, secret represntative of France, and Alfonso's friend. With credentials from the French and Spanish Embassies, a pass from the American Government admitting him to battleships and navy yards, he was admired and feted, taken into clubs, and favoured by the managers of the most aristocratic and expensive hotels. _ Loans were "thrust upon him when his remittances were delayed. He owned five hij?h-pdwered motor cars, bearing letters signifying that he was in the foreign diplomatic service. He made these useful when accused of breaking the speedlawe. An elderly woman lent him IO.OOOdoI on stock of a fictitious oil company. Occasionally he wore a French army uniform. This hastened his downfall, for a French officer remarked that it was a patchwork of the clothing of four services—infantry, artillery, cavalry, and aviation. His fate was sealed when he applied to the banking house of J. P. Morgan and Compa-ny, which has been the Britieh Government's purchasing agent, for a "quiet and personal" loan of 50,000,000d0l to King Alfonso. In return for such accommodation, he said, his Royal friend would cause Spain to join the Allies as a belligerent. __ An inquiry was made. Ho was arrested and his papers were seized. The credentials had been clumsily forged. For example, the seal on a letter from the Spanish Ambassador was that of the County of Westchester, which adjoins the city of New York. Among the charges on which he will he tried are those of false impersonation, larceny, and forgery. When one looks at the names of those who were misled {he story of the rascal's success seenis incredible.