PATRIARCHAL PEER.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13430, 11 July 1914, Page 11

PATRIARCHAL PEER.

LIVED UNDER FIVE SOVEREIGNS. < LONDON, Myl. The Earl of Weinyss, who died yesterday, was easily the oldestt of Scottish peers. He was born m the last year of ;tHe,;, Regency, and had therefore, lived m Jthe reigns of five English sovereigns. Until a teyr years ago Lord Wemyss, m spite of .his age, was still wohderfully ; active., and Could play as good a game of golf as most men half his age. Speaking to a press inter' viower at the time he was celebrating his 90th birthday, he- said : — "I have no recipe for living to be ninety. Par■entaere and. moderation are the two most important things.: Of course;" ■with a laugh, "it is true, as some German has said, that it is no easy : matter to select one's parents. But .'the only thine to do at ninety, or before it, is to Keep on fighting for what brio believes to be right. That is the main thing. "And remember that the world is ever m the infancy of discovery and invention. I began life with tallow dips and am ending \Vith the electric j light. Who knows what the next ad vanco may be? Perhaps they may light London by rubbing radium on the dome of St. Paul's. When I first went to Oxford from Scotland I travelled b.v stage-coach, and the journey occupied forty-eight hours. Forty-eight hours m a stuffy box, let put two or 'three times a day to feed' ! Now I get into the train at King's Cross at 2.30, and am at my home m Scotland before, eleven. Further,, we now have motor-cars, and the next thing will be wings.' ' He spoke frequently m the House of Lords, especially on military subjects, on which, as patriarch of the Volunteer movement, and founder of \the -\Elcho Memorial, he was well qualified\to'dis- , course. Once, m emphasising a 'special point, he brought^ his clenched jSst vigorously down upon an offending silk hat which chanced to be m the way. The hat belonged to King Edward, the then Prince of Wales. -V " ;'r ' The ''grand old imn V of the Upncr Ho.ise, :as. ;he \was. l<nciwn, . -w-ns. rather a.bsent-mi*idedi : Hr mice caused a mild sensation by addressing the Lord. 'Chan-' cellor^ as "Mr Speaker." On another occasion he astonished his fellow-le^is-lators? by appearing a moner them m a Scotch kilt. A few yeafs ago the Earl caused much •amusement by introdurincc m the House of Lords a Bill to apply, a time limit to th e possession of all kinds of property .