PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

Observer, Volume XXIII, Issue 5, 18 October 1902, Page 4

PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

THE news telegraphed from Welling ton of the bankruptcy of E. J.

Searl will be interesting to many Aucklanders, who have stayed at Searl's Royal Hotel, and who have wondered, and not without reason, how his venture would turn out. Searl's hotel scheme was to acquire the frontage opposite the Wellington Kailway Station, and in close proximity to Parliament, and to cover it with a pretentious block comprising both shops and hotel. The whole plan is not yet earned out, but as the building stands, it covers the frontage to the whole length of a street, though the <lepth is inconsiderable.

Evidently, however, the venture did not turn out profitably to Mr Searl. Certainly, he got a great deal of the Parliamentary trade, but there is a traditional belief in Wellington that this is not the best paying kind of trade. Members coming for the session have a weakness for petty economies, and the days are gone when suites of rooms were in demand for the session at ten and fifteen guineas a week. Searl's was also utilized by several Cabinet Ministers as their permanent abode, both in and out of session, and it was the refusal of Hon. Hall-Jones to give up his apartments at this hotel to the Duke of York's suite that caused the memorable crisis in the political relations of the Right lion. R. J. Seddon and himself.

Mr Witlieford seems determined to isee the settlement of troopers business through, and he is the man to do it. The Minister of Lands has met him to the extent of 8000 acres in the King Country, but unless this is the pick of the district, and enjoys facilities of access, it will not meet the wants of many troopers.

John King is having a warm time with the Prohibitionists just now, and as, like Brutus, they are all honourable men, the Registrar must be a veritable Caesar. Writing to the newspapers is, however, a poor imitation of the methods of the noble Romans, -who always made a clean job of any little matter they took in hand. Somehow, the Prohibitionists, like the trades unionists, seem to think the elections are run for their exclusive benefit, and that nobody else is entitled to consideration.

Next to Guard Turner, who is the ■doyen of the Auckland section of railways, there are probably no more popular officers than Guards Craig and Mack. The former will be known to all who have travelled on the Thames section for his quiet, unassuming manners and his unfailing courtesy. It is Mr Craig's characteristic that he never seems to be in a hurry and yet lias time to attend to every want — ■ «ome of these occasionally not very reasonable— of his passengers, and to do everything with a smile that seems to imply that he is under great obligation for the trouble occasioned. On the occasion of his transference to Invercargill, the Thames residents, who can best appreciate his worth, made a present of a handsome pipe and walking-stick.

Guard Mack, who has grown to be identified with the section of railway between Mercer and Cambridge, is also under orders to move, and the presentation in his case comes from those into whose society he has been thrown most intimately, the Masonic brethren. Mr Mack, who is a P.M. of Lodge Alpha, has been one of the most enthusiastic members from the first. Lacking just a little in savoir faire, his heart is in the right place, and undor the official exterior there is a fund of good humour. Both officers will carry away from their old spheres of work the good wishes of everybody.

I Joseph Came, the well-known actor, who came here with the Broughs, bore a remarkable resemblance to Arthur Bentley Worthington, of the Students of Truth, and was greatly irritated during his New Zealand tour by people who mistook him for the Master. He had quite half-a-dozen experiences during his stay in Christchurch, none of them pleasant, and, although it was usually women who insisted that he was the good grey apostle of the new order of sweetness and light, there was one occasion when the mistake promised to result in a bad quarter -of -an - hour for poor Joseph. This was when he was waylaid during one of the solitary rambles to which he was addicted by a large man with a large dog and a large stick.

" So," said the man, "you've come back, have yon? Well, I swore if ever you did I'd lick the life half out of you, and I've dogged you out here to doit." "Who are you?" asked the actor. " And who the devil do you think I am?" "You are Arthur Worthington, and you know me well enough." It was only after long argument and the production of photographs, letters, cards, and a programme containing pictures of the Brough Company, that the big man called his dog off and departed without the satisfaction he so earnestly desired !

It is said that Auckland has produced, in the person of Miss Ivy Ansley, a contralto of brilliant promise, who compares favourably even with Miss Alice Hollander, the gifted cantatrice who recently sang in Auckland. Miss Ansley is only nineteen, and has a.full and mellow voice, which is particularly good in the lower register, and she sings with great expression. She has appeared occasionally at local concerts, and is a pupil of Mr Boult , a successful local teacher.

Miss Ansley's voice is inherited from her mother, who was a wellknown soprano vocalist in Auckland in her girlhood, and whose voice subsequently created a highly-favourable impression both in Sydney and Dunedin, where she sang frequently. The mother is now dead. It is said that an endeavour will be made to arrange for Madame Melba to hear Miss Ansley's voice during the great singer's approaching visit to Auckland.

Another of the fast disappearing members of the old Waikato Militia, the force raised in different parts of this colony and in Australia to finish the Maori War in the early sixties, has departed, in the person of Mr William Davis, a respected resident of Hamilton. Mr Davis was previously in the 40th Regiment, and assisted in the attack on the stockade at Bal-

larat. A militia comrade who predeceased him, Mr Duncan Mclntyre, was curiously enough one of the defenders of the stockade, commanded by the late Mr Peter Lalor, afterwards Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. Some years ago, Mr Lalor visited Hamilton, and talked over old times with his friend Duncan, but it is not on record that Mr Davis called on him.

Whatever view may be taken of his political creed, there are none who will grudge Mr W. F. Massey his hearty reception and complimentary presentation at the hands of those of liis old constituents who, by the inexorable scissors of the Boundary Commissioners, have been cnt off from the Franklin electorate. Mr Massey has displayed what are perhaps the two most valuable qualities in a politician — ability and incorruptibility — and the country cannot afford to lose the services of such men, whatever their ideas upon the broad questions of the day may be. Though a sturdy Oppositionist, Mr Massey , by the way, is also one of the most thorough-going Liberals in the House.

The visit of the Minister of Public Works to Ongaruhe this week, for the purpose of opening the section of railway between the Tunnel and that place, recalls a little incident that occured during Mr Hall-Jones's previous visit, about two- years ago. On that occasion, the party comprised Messrs Lawry, Fowlds. Napier and Lan<r, M.H.R., the Hon. Thomas Thompson and several pressmen. It was a very enjoyable trip, and the enterprising Charles Robinson looked well after the wants of frail human nature. The party were gathered at lunch by the roadside under some tupaki bushes, and Charlie, after hunting for some time under the seat of the buggy, discovered that the corkscrew had gone on with the heavy luggage. Every pocket was speedily rummaged, but the only man in the party that carried the necessary article was George Fowlds.

Rev. Mr Fitchett, well-known in Auckland, may possibly remember the following story, which is told at his expense by Sydney Truth. Our contemporary says : — " Parson Fitchett, who combines the job of a ' Christian ' minister with that of trumpeter of Mars, is responsible for much of the Jingoism — at all events, among the shop boys and cheap clerks who are the chief readers of his alleged history. Two years ago, this ' reverend ' annexationist was on a visit to Auckland One day he went through a field with a lady. An ill-tempered cow which, perhaps, associated the great preacher of annexation doctrine with the loss of her calf, made straight for them. But she was not swift enough for the author of ' Deeds that Won the Empire.' He bolted and got safe through the fence, leaving the lady and the cow to settle matters between them. A boy and a dog, however, intervened and saved the lady from being gored, but now she never reads ' Fights for the Flag ' or « Deeds that Won the Empire.' "

If anything could reconcile the Member for the Bay of Plenty for the losr of the Waikato portion of his territory, it would be the knowledge that he will no longer be subject to the attentions of a certain pertinacious old teetotaller at Morrinsville. On the morning after his last meeting there in 1899, Mr Herries was on the station platform half-an-hour before the departure of his train, and there, in full sight and hearing of all hands and the cook, he was subjected to a most searching catechism at the hands of this old person, who was not even one of his own party. "If you was honly a 'totaller, Mr 'Arris, I do believe I should consider whether so be T should ought to vote for 'cc," and so on and so on. And the genial member, with that unfailing courtesy and good nature of which he possesses the secret, assured his examiner that he would never think of touching anything, but for the fact that he could not. bear to keep a shilling of the honorarium ; it burnt holes in his pockets. But the old fossil maundered on, until the train came to the Member's rescue.

lib is now stated that John Burns, the London Labour man, is about to make a trip to Australia and New Zealand. If he comes here he will probably realise, as Tom Mann did, that there are too many labour leaders in New Zealand already, and that new men, even with great English reputations, are regarded with suspicion and jealousy. Tom Mann was going to make New Zealand his happy home, but he did not stay long.

Mr Richmond Hursthouse, who is going to take up the running of the late Mr John Elliott for the Egmont seat, was formerly member for Motueka, Nelson. He is a brother of C. W. Hursthouse, Chief Engineer for Roads and best - known man In the King Country. As a very big lump of fhe Rohe Potae is now included in Egmont, C. W.s popularity should mean a vote or two to brother Richmond. It was Richmond Hursthouse who once boasted in the House that he had been everything from a bullock-puncher to a Cabinet Minister, and he had never more reason to think highly of himself than when he was a bullock-puncher. He sat on the Treasury Benches with an Atkinson Government in 1884 for something like 37 hours, this being the record short lived Ministry.

There was the usual crowd of the gilded youth of Auckland on the wharf when the Elingamite steamed away with the Musgrove belles on Tuesday. Alas for the rarity of masculine sanity when a handful of chorus girls can thus divert, if only for a day, the devotion that ought to be lavished on local beauty ! By the way, there was some terrible "scrowdging" for berths, and a double row of bunks had to be put up round the alleged social hall. It is whispered that amongst the unattached members of the party is the eighteen-year-old son of an Australian millionaire (if there are such things nowadays) who has lost his heart to one of the fair ladies, and is making the round trip with her.

There seems to be a general c6ncehsus of opinion amongst returned members that the Bight Hon. R. J. Seddon is not long for New Zealand. They know something, though they cannot put that something into words, but they are apparently satisfied that Mr Seddon will be off again within the next three months, and that Sir Joseph Ward will take the position of Premier. " Something in the Foreign Office" is the only explanation they can give concerning Mr Seddon's destiny, but, as King Dick will be D ere himself next week, we B hall probably soon have the problem solved by his own lips.

Whether Mr Seddon goes or stays, considerable immediate changes in the Cabinet are predicted. For example, the Hon. Mr Walker, following the example of the late Sir Harry Atkinson, is pretty certain to relinquish his portfolio for the Speakership of the Legislative Council. It is understood that Hon. W. Hall-Jones, who has never been a brilliant success as a Minister, seeks rest, and will resign the portfolio of Public Works. Then, the party is fairly unanimous in demanding the retirement of the Hons. T. Duncan and C. H. Mills from the Ministry, and it is a foregone conclusion that these gentlemen will be dropped out in the re-arrangement. Evidently, there are some important changes pending.

Colonel Burton started out for England last week in the interests of the Trotter range finder, leaving his beautiful home at Lake Takapuna behind, and facing hardships of travel and climate that ought to be trying to a man of his years. However, the Colonel is vigorous, and very confident of the prospects of the invention he has in hand, so that the journey is not without its attractions as well as its drawbacks. He will arrive in England in winter, of course, when the rifle ranges are closed, and shooting tests out of the question, but he will

have plenty of occupation in enlisting the interest of the War Office — never an easy matter — before the spring arrives.

Whether the Colonel can successfully exploit the Trotter range finder is an open question. The greatest difficulty in the way is the fact that there are already five range finders patented, and one of them was successfully used in the South African war. It is now about twenty years since Colonel Burton visited England. On former occasions, he travelled across America via Salt Lake City and Ogden, and, on the last trip, had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with the late Brigham Young, the Mormon prophet. On the present occasion, he has chosen the warmer southern route via Los Angeles.

Mr Thomas Bent, the present Minister for Railways in Victoria, is one of the strangest political puzzles ever exhibited in these colonies. He has been bobbing up and down in the serenest manner for the last four years, his biggest lift being on the back of the 1888 boom, and his lowest drop when the said boom exploded. Nobody ever suspected him of genius or even talent, yet he has been Minister four or five times, Speaker of the Assembly, and a thorn in the side of somebody all the time. He was always most eloquent when silent, and whenever he spoke he was in the habit of saying something that sounded like the opposite of what he meant to say.

But it is possible that in his old age he may be growing wiser. At any rate, he said something the other day which is applicable to more countries than his own. "In the old days," he said, " the father, the mother, and the children used to work the farm. Now the old people work it by themselves. The son has joined the police force, or has become a railway porter ; the daughter is in the Telephone Exchange, or is making dresses for rich ladies." And to this he ascribes the impoverished and deplorable state of Victoria.

Fergus Hume, the prolific author of detective yarns, has been telling a story about himself to a London interviewer — no less than T. 1\ O'Connor. The story ia to the effect that when he

lay a-dying, as he thought, in Melbourne, a certain actor stood to him and pulled him through, but on the understanding that they were to share equally all the future profits upon Humes work. The "blackmailing" (as he calls it) of this actor went on for some years, and the irritated author was about to see if the law could not rid him of the incubus, when the actor providentially shot himself on his way to England. The yarn may be true, but, if it is, the Bulletin thinks the date points to poor Phil. Beck as the " blackmailer." Phil, shot himself at Ceylon quite ten years ago. The writer saw him in one of his last parts in the Alexandra, Melbourne, playing a wretched piece with a scratch company organised by May Holt, Bland's sister. He was strangely absent-minded then. Is it possible that he meant to go Home and have it out with Fergus Hume ?

Dr Wilkins has succeeded in securing a convenient and comfortable suite of consulting rooms in Queen-street, next to the Savings Bank, and has settled down to practice during the three or four months he will remain in Auckland. As we said last week, he has recently studied new methods of treating certain diseases, which are enumerated elsewhere, and has brought with him the newest remedies. One of his specialties is the cure of stricture, a most painful complaint, with which he has hitherto been highly successful.

A gentleman called at the OBSERVER Office a day or two ago, and related the following circumstance : — Twelve months ago, he rented a house in one of the suburbs at the rate of 15s 6d a week, and has continued to pay the rent monthly. He settled the account due for August oh the 28th September, and the next month's rent fell due on the day following. During our informant's absence, one of the owners came and upbraided his wife, and on the 10th in st., a bailiff was put in possession for five weeks' rent. The money was immediately paid. If the facts be as stated, and the gentleman showed us the documents, they disclose a sharpness which it is to be hoped is not common. The tenant, it may be mentioned, is a commercial traveller, connected with a most reputable firm,