Pars About People

Observer, Volume XXI, Issue 1179, 3 August 1901, Page 6

Pars About People

G.\Y and ilrh.nnniir lIiUTV Wllitilkei 1 . who was as well-known in Auckland as the town clock fifteen or twenty years ago, has had his two legs fractured by a railway accident in South Africa. At the time ' <if the accident, which was caused by a collision between the coal and mail train, the genial Harry was a ; trooper in the Imperial Light \ Horse, and was travelling 1 with j some of his comrades. His behaviour immediately after the casualty was characteristic of the man

as we knew him. He showed great composure and fortitude. While Jirnily wedged amongst the broken wood and iron, and suffering agonies, he called upon the relieving party to attend to the others lirst, saying it was likely that they were worse than he, and he was all 1 It is hardly necessary to say that Harry Whi taker was one of the sons of the late Sir Frederick Whitaker. At one time, lie was head of the shipping stall' of the firm of Owen and Graham, his assistant being Mr Frank Burtt, who i.s now also laid by as the result of a deplorable accident. In those days, Owen and Graham were tho agents of the San Francisco mail steamers, and the agency work of these two vessels was admirably conducted by the two gentlemen in question. With the reverse of the

fortunes of the family through the Bank of New Zealand difficulties, Harry Whitaker left for South Africa, and was recently reported to be carrying on a tobacconist's business in Cape Colony. A man of adventurous spirit, and undoubted courage, his enlistment for service was a foregone -conclusion, more especially as he was an exceptional horseman. Harry Whitaker, with his ' eyeglass in his ocular,' was known throughout Auckland as the prince of good fellows, and his former friends, while deploring the accident, will cordially endorse the cable message of sympathy sent to him by th< j members of the Auckland Club. (Since the above was written, new? has been received of the death of Mr AYhitaker.) Mr F.dwards. the so-railed or tranizer of the Liberal and Labour Federation, but really the (loverninent electioneering agent, is reported from Wellington to be seriously ill, and it is proposed to send him on a long

sea voyage to the Islands of the I'acilic. ' The press telegram docs not say who proposes to send him, but we may take it for granted that it is the Government. Evidently the results of the Patea and Christchurch elections have been too much for Mr Edwards. We wish him no harm, but we trust that he will find the South Sea Islands a congenial change and will stay there. Prior to his political orguni'/in<_!" appointment, Mr Edwards was; a teacher in one of the Auckland City schools, and subsequently master of the school at Huntly. George Fisher's severe attack p\\ Police Inspector Tunbridge, whether justified' or not, has drawn pointed attention to the fact that anything but harmony exists in the police department at Wellington. The tension is said to be particularly

acute between the Commissioner and Inspector Tender, and a certain episode in which a riding crop pluyed a prominent part has not improved matters. The ' .N.Z. Times ' says that Mr Tunbridge if given a l'ree hand, would remedy the mutter much better than could be done by any form of Parliament enquiry. We suppose so. It is understood that the Commissioner is not averse to Inspector Pjender's retirement, seeing that he is above the specified age, but Mr Seddon strongly opposes this. The latest rumour from Wellington is that Mr Tvinbridge may shortly return to England. Air JLi. E. Sharp, the well-know m nurseryman, who perhaps knows more about fruit and how to rid it of pests than most people in this island, is particularly rough on so-called experts. Sharp is not the man who would stty anything, at least in the fruit line, that he is not prepared to support by testimony. His statement last week at a meeting of fruitgrowers, that he had not seen an orchard in the colony as bad as the Otahuhu orchard, where the expert was working, may be taken as the opinion of a competent man. If the iluli'y little moth goes, what's to become of the experts '! Air John AlcLeod was indicated by the " Observer ' a few weeks ago as a man who would be seen in public life ere long. His time has evidently come. At the moment of writing, a deputation was being formed to wait upon him and invite him to contest the East Ward m the City Council vacated by the election 01 Air Alfred Ividd to the Atayoralty. ±\o better man than Mr AlcLeod could be found for this position. He is level-headed and broad-minded, with a good grasp of municipal affairs, and would be a strong addition to the Liberal party now being consolidated in the Council. School committees who are in nred of funds ought to get up a p'.'tition to have Messrs Pollard and Callnan, J.IVs, made a fixture on the Bench when truancy cases are on. There's money in it. The very queerest things in Court procedure, right down from the days of Caesar, are not in it with their decisions of last week. Inflicting a line;, in one case, before any evidence for or against was taken, and in another finding the defendant alter musing to hear it, are records in the sultriest vagaries of justices' justice-. And experienced men, 100. Bishop Lenihan was never happier, perhaps, than in the speech he made at the changing of the name of the Catholic Institute to the Hibernian Hall. The Hibernians came in for a whirlwind of praise, and if His Lordship is not already a life member he is sure to be one before long. But the Hibernians deserved it. Monetary gifts totalling up to X 1 ,UOU in live years is not bad. and enough to make all the other prelates wish they were Bishop Lenihnns, or had assets of two hundred a year by way of friendly society contributions. Colonel Eraser, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House, whose condition of health last week was looked upon as serious, is one of the best known figures at the Thames, where in the palmy days of the Caledonian and other big mines, and for some years later, he was warden and magistrate. He, was also prominent in every function ooiiie., social and general, and any meeting that was not exactly political was never considered in form unless the Colonel was there to address it. He had a ready command of words and no end of wit, and was an eloquent speaker. There was no more popular man on the Thames, and his serious illness will be much regretted.

Donald Macdonald, the war correspondent, who went Home a w*Ue ago to give a series of lectwres,^ a aid by the London press to be far ln advance of any of his predecessors. Donald is coming out h£ a S; -^ is ? x P. ect ed in Sydney h? aß r Pis Baid that w he j he gets back he will lecture on JLondon up to Date.' A member of the Counties' ConTnT 06 / 4 fPP arentl y Auckland and of the wrong colour, supplied a bit of fun last week to his fel-low-members by the showing-up he gave, the Government valuations. He cited his own case as a sample of the vagaries. One day he said, the valuer turned up fi all , arOUnd his bJ °ck, and 3£nM \ Va J UG £ ? 3 an acre a «d then looked over the fence and entered his neighbour's up at £12 an acre. Seeing that the neighbour's <v Wa ? , as £° od as his own, he bumped, and then the valuer put the question, ' Are you an expert V 'Well/ he "replied" 'if forty years experience in the cultivation of land, and acquiring a knowledge of what it can produce, is a sufficient qualification for an expert, lam one.' ' Oh, that wont do at all,' he was told; unless he could show that he had a sign-board up stating that he was a commission agent, land valuer and all the rest of it, he was not an expert. ' Why/ said the member, some of these so-called assessors ' —with much emphasis on the first syllable-' I would not trust with a spade to bury a dead cat.' With which the conference, by their applause and laughter, seemed to agree in toto. The King, by a recent dc has ordained that silk stockings velvet knee breeches, velvet claw hammer coat, black satin waistcoat, shoes and buckles, shall be worn at all Court functions. Even the worst of ' Dick's ' enemies will now condole, with him, and shudder for his fate at the Coronation. Judging from the speeches of nof M r % Jt S \ ems to be almos t imS bl 3 for th * reader to settle down and come to any conclusion on the questions before the Uact from the reported discussion on the Lands and Settlement Bill Mr Hogg, the member for Masler7 u ho . >as evidently rooted up authorities, said, ' the freehold is the curse of the colony.' Whereupon Mr McKenzie, the member for Motueka, followed with this remark : 'The member for Master ton doesnt know what he is talking about; the freehold has been the making of the colony, and the love of this form of land tenure has been the cause of so many people going upon the land/ Is it any wonder that so many electors are always in a fog, and that all they know is that the colony is going to the ' demnition bow-wows ?' Poor Clegg, who met so deplorable a death at the Hordern fire, by throwing himself, as the choice of two alternatives, from the top of the burning building to the pavement, is the subject of many articles in nearly all the Australian papers. And on the principle, perhaps, that it is easy to be wise after the act, many of the writers are suggesting that Clegg's life might have been saved had there been any ready minds. Their opinion is that if hay, bedding— everything, in fact, that would serve to break a fall—had been piled on the road, Clegg might have escaped with nothing more than a broken limb — perhaps not even that. There was ample time, it seems, for the crowd to have collected a pile that would have effected the purpose. Yet, even when a tarpaulin was provided it was not spread. On all hands the conviction is strong that the man would at least have had a chance of his life if someone had thought.

A young and rather handsome man, who gives lessons in painting in a certain important suburb, through a remarkably strange coincidence. It seems that owing to is said to be doing a fine bitsiness his good looks and taking ways he is often invited to parties, where he always meets a host of feminine acquaintances, mostly admirers. It has been lately noticed that he misses no chances of attending these functions, and that he is more than usually affable to the aforesaid acquaintances. In the waits between the dances, he converses intently with one or the other, and in every case the topic is turned to for tune- telling. He tells them, one after the j other, that at one time he had no belief in the ' black art/ but that recently he has changed his mind. His reason for the change is that through his friends he has heard of a lady at a certain address who foretells the nicest things with the utmost accuracy. Everything seemed to come true, and all to the advantage of the consultce. And it so happens that in nine cases out of ten the maidens whose shell-like ears have heard these things go straight to the mistress of the art, pay their fees, and have their fortunes told, and it also happens that in every case they come away with their hearts all aflutter and their eyes full of joy. At every sitting there is the usual tale of the dark young woman and the fair young man, of a sudden journey, a letter of importance, and all the rest, and then, as the listener is worked up, she is told she has a special aptitude for painting, and that in this very city, at a given address, there is a teacher of colour work, handsome and constant, who is deeply in love with her, and eager to declare himself. There the seance ends, and the listener does the rest. The next few days, at intervals, that

painter is waited, upon by many damsels with love-sick looks and long-drawn sighs, and asked if he gives lessons in painting. > He declares* with a winning and well'rehearsed smile, that he does, whereupon the fee is paid, and for the full it is sighs and daubs with the pupil and fat fees and much chuckle with the artist. His business is booming. Lord Salisbury has a pretty wit. Quite recently, at a dinner party, he caused some merriment by referring to Maxim, the machine gun inventor, as ' the man who has prevented more from dying of age than any other person who ever lived.' The Rev. J. Berry, who is telling the people at Home that New Zealand is a fine place to come to, and whom the Premier the other day, in answer to a question, said was not in the colony's pay, is well known in New Zealand, especially in Auckland and Wellington. He was in charge of the Pitt-street Church, but somehow, coincidental with a fervent call from Australia, and a sweet, enticing coo-ec that a bigger screAv awaited him, Mr Berry did not feel well. He felt that his health was failing— that he needed a warmer climate — and that a sojourn in a far-off land, where he knew of a vineyard in a bad way, would rejuvenate him and fill him full of grace. The congregation ' cottoned,' and away went Mr Berry. And now, after a lapse of years, he's in quite another vineyard, but as the pay is not sure it is just possible he will return to the old love. The Wesleyans say that he is eloquent ; others that he is prosy, and too full of childish illustrations, but he always ' drew,' and in many ways was V-^pular. He was never robust or vigorous, and .m that account, unless he is greatly improved, would be a dead failure as an immigration lecturer.