Pars About PEOPLE

Observer, Volume XVI, Issue 948, 27 February 1897, Page 18

Pars About PEOPLE

Oub congratulations to Mr W. J. Napier on his appointment to the position of Chairman of the Harbour Board. Mr Napier has ever been in the van of progress Bince his first association with the Board. He it was who reorganized the system of beeping the Board's accounts. In all other matters calculated to further the interests of the port, Mr Napier has been indefatigable, and the present appointment is a well-merited recognition of his energy and pregressivenese.

One of Carl Hertz'a neatest feats of late was not performed on the stage It came off jast as the steamer was leaving Melbonrne. One of the local detectives was shaking hands with him, and Carl very adroitly disengaged the man's ring from his fiDgf r. He did n6t mis- it at the time, and while he was still wrestling with the puzzle whitht r it hed gone, it arrived in a neat parcel from Sydney, accompanied by a polite message from Mr Hertz to think twice next time before he f-hook hands with a stage conjuror.

Missionary entfrprise at the Freeman's Bay Mission Hall is progressing by leaps and' bounds in the direction of matrimony. Thiee more bachelors have been captured, and their weddings are already arranged to come off next month. The favourite hymn just now with the sisters is • Still there's more to follow.'

Our champion long-jumper tumbled in rather badlylast week— in fact, right op to Wb neck. He was inveigled into joining in a picnic party to Kohimarama, and while there one of the feminine picnickers defied him to jump one more river they had to cross. It was lather a stiff contract, but oar champion long-jumper is both a gallant and a dating man. There's nothing under heaven he would not

attempt if only a pair of bright- eyeachallenged him to the ordeal. And so he shook himself- together- at Kohimaramaand jumped with all his might. He cleared 1 the stream right enough, bnt did not strike, an even balance on the opposite bank, the sad consequence being that he tumbled back head over heels into the water. They promptly fished him out,' bnt by that time he was full up of picnics. And there wan no starch left in his cuffs as he wearily padded the hoof back to Parnell by moonlight alone. At present it's not safe tointroduce the subject of long jumps in his presence. . He is ready to jump on the man who tries it on. Mr P. G. H. Carviil, member for Newry, County Down, in the House of Commons,, accompanied by his wife and daughter, is making a complete tour of this Colony jußt now,. The young woman concerned in the recent acid-throwing case at PaeroawasaMisa Lake, who is said to have at one time served as a barmaid in Dunedin. It wasthere that Carroll became acquainted with her, and was anxious to marry her, but his. parents objected. The couple then went over to Australia, and Carroll carried on business as a chemist in Bourke (N.S.W.) It was at the last-mentioned place that the young woman became acquainted with Bobert Jewell, who is said to be a remittance man. When Carroll learned that they had proceeded to Auckland he -followed them, with the result already telegraphed. The present Mrs Jewell's mother resides inAuckland, and she and her sister have appeared on the local stage. It is understood that Jewell is reluctant to prosecnte. ' Being fined for overcrowding is not always an unmixed evil,' says Manager Lohr. ' Once down in a New Zealand town, some years ago, the show I was running did not catch, on well, so I determined to try a desperate advertisement. The policeman whowatched the theatre was a cantankerouschap, so I thought I would put up a job on him. I papered the house to overflowing* and when the bobby looked in and remonstrated I talked back to him and got his dander up so much that he summoned me for overcrowding. Fined ten shillings. When the public read that after the show had been running a week the house was overcrowded, they simply rushed the place. We did very well out of that trip Once the public think that there is a doubt about getting in to see a play, they just yearn to see it, and they won't be happy till they get there.' Florence Carr, of Christcburch, aged 18 years, has a very nice sort of an uncle named C. D. Scott. He has just had Florence arrested on warrant, and brought before the beak, on a charge of stealing a, skirt and a pair of shoes. It then came out in evidence that Florence had worked for five years for her uncle and aunt for nothing, that her amiable uncle employed her in carting earth, looking; after a horse, and in fact doing the work of an ordinary labourer, and that she waa frequently beaten by him, and received very poor clothing. In sheer desperation, she cleared out at last, and the skirt and pair of shoes she was charged with stealing were the articles of clothing she m&a wearing at the time. The case was very properly dismissed, and when Uncle Scott asked for the return of the skirt and pair of shoes, the presiding Jai Pee said he had a good deal of cheek to make the request ; the clothes had been taken in lieu of wages, and the Bench thought the girl was fully entitled to them. But who was the intelligent Bobby who arrested the' poor girl on a warrant on such a trumpery charge? Surely his zeal deserves promotion. 'An Old Hand ' contributes to the Waihi Miner the following yarn concerning the Hon. Tom Russell, CM G :— ' There are few shrewder individuals than Tom Rusßell, but he was had once. A friend of mine was running Souter's Battery at the Thames, which did a lot of crushing for the public. The well-known 'Manukau Jones ' had a claim known as the Golden HiU. He got out a crushing and sent it to Souter's to be milled, with the very satisfactory result of 3Joz. to the ton, after which '. Manukau ' promptly disposed of his claim to Tom Russell for £1,500. Mr Russell at once sent another crushing to the battery, which realised 3§dwts. He interviewed the manager and demanded an explanation. J.L. admitted the 60ft impeachment as regarded facts, when, fixing him with a glittering eye, Tom said, • You knew that first crushing was salted ' of which there was not the slightest donbt As 'Manukau' had done his work most mattistically, the battery manager could not fail to smell a rat. Plates clean for an hour, then piling up the amalgam. He was, however, innocent of any complicity in the swindle, and, though brought before his directors, kept ' a calm sough.' ' Look here, Mr Russell, I get stuff to crush here, and do my best for my employers. I can't help seeing salting, but seeing and proving are two different things. You are, lunderstand, a lawy6r. What show should I have in an action for libel if I published what I am morally certain of, unless I could substantiate it by undoubted proofs ?' • Mann kau ' wasn't such a fool as to let anyone into his game.

... -Messrs.. Gibson and Ellis have started a bi-weekly paper at Karangahake, and christened it the Goldfields- Advocate. More than that, they, declare ' we will not fill our space with advertisements only.' Such self-denial for the benefit of the public Barely deserves encouragement. The Spectator says one of the Connor Brothers, acrobatß, is wharf -lumping at Auckland. It also declares that the way in which he turns a double Bomersault with a sack of grain on his back makes the other lumpers turn green with envy. George Washington has turned up in the back blocks of the Wellington province. He is 75 years of age, and when called on the other day to give evidence in a Court case, he informed the Magistrate that he didn't quite realise the necessity of ' kissing the Book,' as he had never told a lie in his life. That is why they made him kiss the Book. Mamma Yates, the ex-Mayor of Onehunga, must hide her diminished head now. Kansas boasts a lady mayor who stands 6ft 2in in her stockings. A Southern paper, commenting on this fact, admits that it does not know Mrs Yates's stature, but says her temper waß decidedly short. Frank Sceats, younger brother of Dick Sceats, lately deceased, writes from ' Frisco to say : — The worst shows I have ever seen are in this country. It's wonderful what the audience will stand. The country is alive with actors. In New York last week it was rumoured that a manager was about to send out a No. 2 company, and he received 415 applications. So you can ace that business is very crowded over here. In five days we travelled 1867 miles and played every night. I don't think I shall ever call America my home, but shall wander back to Australia in about three years' time. I saw Mrs Turner (Miss Anuis Montague) at Honolulu, where we played. She says she is going on the stage again. Madame Christian, the well-known cantatrice, who haß been heard on the Auckland concert platform more than once, has just made her profession as a religieuse of the Order of St. Vincent at Sydney. Her religious name is now ' Sister Paul of the proas.' She was unhappy in her married life, which culminated in a profound melancholy of disposition. The movement of population seems still to be Northward ho ! Mr A. Hunter, who haß been for some years engineer to the "vVxsport Coal Company, has come up to A n-kland to occupy an important engineerit.^ position here. For the last two years hi- has been conductor of the Westport H v monic Society. Another recent arrival from the West Coast is the Rev. F. B. Dobson, of St. James's Church, Waimangaroa, who is accompanied by his wife. They also have come to stay. Mr Welsh , school-teacher of Pohangina, has likewise shifted his moving tent to Auckland in quest of health. Carl Hertz once quelled a riot whilst attending a race meeting at St. Louis. The racing had been cronk (so unusual, you know, on the racecourse), and therefore the crowd stopped the"' racing, and, proceeding to the grand Btand, began to demolish it. Hertz offered his services to the committee, and, after some hesitation on their part, and a good deal of persuasion on his, they were accepted. Jumping upon a platform,the sleight of hand artist made a speech, and ended up by offering to show the crowd some card tricks. The rioters stopped to listen to him, applauded his sleight of hand (bye-the-bye the cleverest we have had here), and when he had finished went away quite satisfied. They had forgotten all about the cronk racing. According to Melbourne Table Talk, Miss Constance Barnicoat. daughter of the Hon. Mr Barnicoat, M.L.C., of Nelson, is the smartest shorthand writer in New Zealand. This is news indeed. Fairy ■tales travel far. Dr. Bakewell has been missed from his accustomed haunts for some time, and the report is about that he is filling a travelling engagement with the Herrmann Magnetic Healing Show. However, the doctor will never be missed long while there is a newspaper in the land. He has just bobbed up serenely into print at Cook Strait. He ha 3 a few words to say on the water supply of Wellington, and they are not complimentary, either. He f eel 9 compelled to protest against 'the dirty ditch water which is supplied for drinking and bathiog purposes in Wellington.' And he asks, in mild surprise, ' Where on earth do you get your supply from ?' When the doctor arrived in Wellington the colour of the water in hi 3 bath was that of ' weak gravy,' and after a fortnight's residence it has changed to the colour of ' weak tea ' Now, there was a chance, ere Dr Bakewell left Auckland that Mrs Mary Steadinan Aldis's persuasive letters might convert him to prohibition. But we fear these samples of Wellington water will neutralise all her special, plead-' ing.' At any rate, water has not killed the doctor yet.. He says he ia • typhoid proof.'

Mr J. Oakley Browne, a son of ' Shyder T Browne, once editor of the Auckland Herald, \s now Secretary, of the Amalgamated' Worker's Association at Coolgardie, and he wants it known that there are thousands of miners and other unemployed in that blissful region. Tongues have been wagging at Wanganui and Masterton over an interesting divorce suit that was said to be pending. And now the first act in the drama has. been started with the filing of the petition. The petitioner is Joseph Soler, whose vinery is one of the show places at Wanganni, and the respondent, Mary Soler, resides at Masterton, while John Tucker, the host of the Prince of Wales Hotel at Masterton, is joined as co-respondent. The case will probably come to trial next month. Just as all Wellington. was agog with curiosity when the Hermann-Btall-Bake-well-Bryant party announced their great healing virtues, and again with excitement when ~Dr Martin publicly challenged the capabilities of the healers, so there was again great interest when Mrs Phillips, of Auckland, sued the party in the Magistrate's Court, for the repayment of the ten guineas which she had been foolish enough to pay to have her deafness left as bad as ever it had "been. For two whole days the case was a verbal duel between sharp-tongued Lawyer Jellicoe and dapper little Dr Cahill as to the merits and demerits of magnetic healers. It can't be Baid that the public knowledge on the subject is extended by that discussion, for after all it amounted to little other than declaration and quotation by the medico that all magnetic healing waß mere humbug, that pure magnetism could not have any effect on the human system, and that the tribe of healers merely acted by hypnotism upon the imagination of their subjects, while the lawyer applied himself chiefly to insinuations that the medical craft themselves were for the most part experimenters. But both are smart men, and it was an amusing battle of the wits while it lasted.