PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

Observer, Volume XXXVI, Issue 6, 16 October 1915, Page 4

PARS ABOUT PEOPLE

/yAPTAIN PERCY B. GREENHOUGH, New Zealand forces, relates an/ Alexandria experience:—"l was at the 'KursaH' (a music hall) the other night. One item was' 'La Poupee,' the humam doll, one of the cleverest pieces of acting I ever saw. She was really wonderful. During one part of the performance, the man on the stage with her strikes a match, and holds it about an inch from her eyes. She never blinks. The turn lasts till she comes to life, about twenty minutes after, and during the whole of the time you cannot detect a movement in her eyes or face. At the finish, the man carries her down among the audience for inspection, and tells them she is all 'his own make.' He stand® her on the floor andl gives her a final wind up with a big key, and off isihe hops and keeps stopping before the people for them to feel her hands and arms. I was sitting in one of the front seats, and she stopped opposite to my friend and his wife. Both felt her hands, then she gave two hops and she was opposite me. I just went to touch her hand, when a to my astonishment, slie came right into my lap and put both arms round/ my neck and wouldn't let go. The more the people screamed, the tighter held she. The only way I got her to let go was by tickling her under the arms. When her male companion carries her back to the stage she 'comes to life' again, and it is very clever. She leant over the footlights and gave me a smile, and saidi, 'I guess that's the best hug you've had for a long while.' It was! I admit it. The people yelled. Percy! Per-cy!!

Curtly reported that the Hon. Alex. Herdman resigned from the Victoria College Council. The significance of which is, of course, in the fact that he doesn't want Professor Yon Zedlitz, the unnaturalised German citizen, to leave that institution. Professor Yon Zedlitz is, of course, to resign, and naturally his friends.make what protest they conceive to be justified. One may look forward to many British resignations as protests at the discharge of alien enemies from the public service. It isi presumed that membership of a college council does not carz-y witli it any honorarium, and that steps, ot this kind are taken on purely moral grounds.

Ashmead Bartlett, who has been stirring newspaper readers with his vivid stories from Gallipoli, draws £3,000 a year and expenses—the largest salary ever paid to a Avar correspondent within the memory of Fleet Street. He began Avork at the front for £1,800 a year, but when he went back to London in May he struck a rise of £100 a month. Tncidently the most highly-, paid Australian censor, avlio is free to slash Bartlett's stuff with the rest, draws £610 a year.

Major Hardie Neil, whom Aucklanders will remember best as Doctor, is in charge of an ambulance division, which is encamped l at Aavbpuni, near Palmerston North. He will go to Gallipoli when his men are sufficiently trained in the hygiene of camps and the methods of binding up Avounds and fractures. The Major Avas in Wellington last week and witnessed the closing. doAvn of the Big Debating Society which has recently amalgamated itself into one large body. He believes that an ambulance division should not. be sent away until the men know*;all that they ought to know; for a half-baked ambulance man is ten times more dangerous than a half-bakei soldier.

The soldier, after all, only kills some of the enemy, but the ignorant medical corps rookie murders his comrades, very often by sheer kindness.

A few weeks ago, Captain McLagleri, a large cavalryman who is taking the air in New Zealand, felt so patriotic that he would do anything to help soldiers. So he arranged an assault at arms in Wellington, and was very spectacular. The gallant dragoon chopped sheep in half at a gallop with the sabre, amdl was otherwise spectacular and patriotic. Figures are useful, as showing how people can help wounded soldiers if they try hard. Receipts, £325 9s 10d; expenditure, £364 10s 4d. Balance for soldiers? The gallant McLaglen, of course, couldn't be expected' to chop sheep in half for nothing, so his fee, for organising and performing was £70! For a one day's show, motor car hire totalled £76 16s, and there was a trifle of £83 for advertising and printing. Tlie only point worth considering is that the assault at arms paid the dragoon very well, but that it didn't pay a penny to the fund for soldiers. The presumption, too, is that if Captain .McLaglen is big enough and strong enough to chop sheep in half, and if he holds a commission in the British Army, he could exercise his skill in a wider field than Newtown Park. On the other hand, he couldn't hope to earn £70 for chopping off real Turks' headis.

An application for probate of the will- of Charles Stevenson Wrack, last week, was calculated to stir the

memory of some political and social occurenoies of some years ago. Charles Stevenson Wraok was the husbandl of Mrs .Stevenson Wrack, formerly Mrs Gormston. Mrs Wrack was a very entertaining political speaker, and delighted many audiences with her oratory. She was personally' popular with many of the politicians of the day, and at one meeting in Parnell she claimed to be the political foster-mother of the late T. E. Taylor., Charles S. Wrack himself was a prominent witness in a most interesting divorce suit. He had done a little private detective work in connection with the matter, and his evidence, corroborated by an associate, wouldi have been conclusive—if relied on by the Court. The opinion of most of those who heard the case was that his evidence should have been accepted. The judge, however, who presided, considered that no reliance should be placed upon the evidence of any private detective, and the jury took the same view, and declared that neither the fair respondent nor the philanthropic co-respondent had been at all naughty. Then the respondent's counsel committed a grave tactical blunder. He asked the learned judge to declare that the respondent left the Court "without a stain on her character." The judge somewhat coldly replied that he thought the respondent should be satisfied with the finding of the jury. Not long after, the respondent and corespondent left the Dominion for a distant land a thousand miles away and more, and what took place in that distant land was of a nature sufficient to render Stevenson Wrack's evidence entirely credible to all those who had rejected it.

There was a sound of devilry by night at the meeting of the Mount Eden Borough Council last week. The tall form of the engineer loomed up threateningly astern of Councillor Stewart, at whom a torpedo was immediately after launched. By a skilful and strategic manoeuvre the councillor avoided! the deadly thing, which passed harmlessly and disappeared. Then a mine was exploded m close proximity to Councillor Bagnail, and the storm broke loose. The lightning flashed', the thunder roared, the shells shrieked, and flying shrapnel hummed! through the perturbed, atmosphere in all directions. Councillor B.agnall was the storm centre, but stuck to his guns manfully. Finally, the Mayor solemnly declared that there was no motion before the meeting. This assertion was what the Mayor would, quite accurately, term "categorically correct," and he accordingly left the chair. Yet there was motion, emotion, and commotion raging furiously all the time and some time after. A graphic report of that wild scene would have been absorbing reading for the Auckland public next day, and would have formed a welcome change from the dreary columns of clerical splutterings on the unspeakable iniquity of carnivals and raffles, but tlie daily papers missed it all.

But already there are to be heard the indistinct mutterings of another storm. Some anxious inquiries are being made as to who had a clause introduced into the Parliamentary Washing up Bill enabling the council to raise another loan of £11,500 without the proposal being first submitted to a poll of the ratepayers. As there does not appear to be any resolution, even of the Council itself, authorising such a piece of legislation to be sought, and some at least of the councillors were totally unaware of the proposal till the newspapers announced that it had found a place in the Bill, some interesting developments may be anticipated at the next meeting of the Borough Council, so the dailies will have a chance once more.

Recently reported that Mr George Arthur Burling, of Ashurst, had died! at the early age of 77. This is at least an early age for a Burling, for his father, Henry Burling, of the ManaAvatu, died at the age of 110 years, the greatest age of which there is record in Australasia. The centenarian was a wonder. At the age of 108 he was frequently seen on the fieldi of sport, and was generally called upon, to "kick off" at football matches. He used to take a good long run., get in a couple of vigorous hops, and kick the leather good.and hard, amidst the huzzas of the populace. Then he would return to his verandah and his pipe for.another year. Mr Henry Burling was not a teetotaller, and no doubt many a good young man begged him not to shorten his life by indulging in strong Avatetrs. .

It is highly delightful, don't you know, and most invigorating, as it were, to know, so to speak, that Colonel eir—Heaton ah—Rhodes (late of the aw—NeAV Zealand Cabinet) has arrived in Egypt to inspect the hospitals, his training in hospital work being the obvious reason of the appointment. Aided by his private secretaries, he was but a short time in Cairo before his soaring intellect discoA r ered the weakness in the system insisted on by that funny little organisation the British Army. One imagines Colonel Rhodes bursting to get back to his

hotel to dispatch his first momentous Avire to BMr Masse};. In all Cairo or Alexandra hotels ice is obtainable, and so, one knows that the colonel could! Avear a piece on his massive broAV when formulating his historic despatch. "I have seen Captain Hall-Thompson," he says in effect. "The butter you sent was very nice. In: fact, I tasted it. Send some more." By the butter policy of the gallant colonel legs shall sprout again and! scalps groAV, lost eyes return to their sockets, and absent arms join their parent shoulders. It is worthy of a statesman. Give the hospitals enough butter and the wax's won.

Geo. W. Cox, of Mangere, writes: —A person, who styles himself Mangere, has been dealing with the recruiting problem in this district in a very questionable manner. This person has mentioned my name as being one of the old! Mangere families "bred on the soil." As I know of no* one else in the district of the same name, I can only conclude I am the person mentioned. As my mother and I have only resided in the district for about six years, I scarcely see how we can be one of the "old Mangere families," and are not desirous of being styled as such. Why did your informant leave out certain of the oldl families who have sonsi eligible for service? For myself, I am over military age, and came to Mangere to have a quiet life, after over twenty years of roughing it in various bush districts of this island, but would' go into training to-morroAV, if circumstances permitted.

As to your informant's attack on the F.U. Mounted Rifles, he says there are a lot of strapping young men who should go. lam a member of this body, but only know of two single men who are eligible, and they might be turned down by the doctors. Two of our men are already away for the front, Captain Richards (who resided in Mangere) and Mr H. Henwood. I should not wonder if Mr. Clark does not floor your norn de plnmist as to the number of men wlh> have gone. I understand there are four from one family.

[We are glad to publish the letter of Mr. Clark and the relevant portion of Mr Cox's letter. The original paragraph was written in this office from' information received from a life-long resident of Mangere. The paragraphs of which Mi' Cox complains were contributed by a Mangere settler. With' the necessary permission of both these settlers we will publish their names.—Edi.]

Mr Charles W. Clark writes from Mangere school in reply to "Mangere" :—I give the list of names of soldiers avlio have gone from this district:—G. Quarrie, J. Quarrie, F. Quarrie, E. Quarrie, G. Massey, H. Hen wood, W. Croxson, L. Croxson, H. Thurston, G. Knight, King, S. Whyte, all of whom are sons of long standing Mangere residents; L. Avery, gone as farrier, and learned

his trade in Mangere, where he has lived since he left school; Cbghlan (one if not two), Menzies . (back wounded), Menzies (a brother), W. Hannah (back -wounded), W. Millen, whose parents live in Mangere, some for several years, and none to my knowledge working as hired milkers. I leave you and the public to choose between the statements of an anonymous writer and those of one who is not afraid to put his own, name to what be writes.

Rev. R. Langlands Walker solemnly assured Old Colonists and young colonials, at the Town Hall, last Sunday afternoon, that he could "grasp the spirit and the atmosphere." If this be true, and, of course, it is difficult, very difficult, to doubt the truthfulness or accuracy of any statement made by any parson on any subject, the Rev. Langlands is endowed with unusual powers. Spirits are always difficult to grasp, except when they are bottled, and it was not spirit of that variety with which Mr Walker was dealing. Other spirits have occasionally been grasped, at dark seances, but in those instances they have usually been embodied in substantial feminine forms, clothed with loose indiscretion—and sometimes little else. But even if we concede, as of oourse we must, that Mr Walker can grasp a spirit, What about the atmosphere ? Yet he says he can, and Mr Walker is a parson, and parsons never make mistakes. It must therefore be conceded also, that Mr Walker can grasp the atmosphere. One can only say, in, the words of the first Bish p of Rome, when referring to his brother Apostle, Paul, there are sr>me parsonic utterances "hard to bo vnderstood." They trust te accepted with deep reverence,, implicit faith, but with ho understanding.

If the lad, Reginald Newbury, who astonished and delighted the Old Colonists at the Town Hall last Sunday, keeps the voice with which he has been gifted, and! cultivates and develops it to its full capacity, lie should be able to reap golden hairA r ests in every quarter of the world when the war is over, should anything of the world be left when that event takes place. His voice is a marvellous alto, SAveet, true, clear, strong, and flexible. It is not often that a Sunday audience at a religious service breaks through Sab-

bath restriction®, and imperatively demands an encore to the rendering of a hymn, yet such was the compliment deservedly -Avon by and enthusiastically accorded., to Reginald Newbury on Sunday afternoon as he concluded singing "Lead, Kindly Light." He followed with "He Wipes the Tear from Every Eye," which affords room for greater expression than Cardinal Newman's celebrated hymn, and the opportunity was taken advantage or in a manner full of promise of still greater success, and was manifestly more keenly enjoyed by the audience than even the singer's first effort. One circumstance which rendered both items especially enjoyable was the fact that the eternal and infernal tremolo was- absent. Many, if not most, of our local vocalists appear to be under the impression that when they have acquired the knack of shaking the voice which any fool can easily master, they have completed their musical education, when all that has been done has been to place in their hands an instrument of torture with which to commit unshakable outrages on all kinds of mus)c, and they forthwith proceed with fiendish delight to lay the slush of the shake and the trail of the tremolo over every song, no matter what the character of the song may be wiih which they exasperate their audiences. It should also be mentioned that Miss Laura Walker, who has an extremely good contralto voice, and who gave a very tasteful rendering of "Nearer, My God to Thee," likewise scorned the silly shake.

Gone with the Tenth Reinforcements from the "Herald" Office two bright boys—"Ken." Swiney and "Bob" Algoe. The literary staff gathered round them on Friday last, and showered blessings and shaving tackle on them. "Ken." Swiney, whose forefathers mostly died fighting for a living, has desired to soldier since the present Avriter knew him, for there was an admiral, Sir Kenneth Swiney, in the familjy. "Ken." has felt the urge of war since ever he could lisp. He mounted tlie first step of the Press treadmill for Wellington "Times," and is, in fact, a Wellington boy, and volunteered some, and has signalling badges and so forth. Has been witli the Horton paper for some years, a careful, conscientious, and hard-working reporter. "Bob" Algoe, the deliberate, who also sustained blessings and razors at the hands of his inky companions, is a Christ-

church "Press" product, an excellent recorder, and a popular person. He has wagged a pencil likewise for Gisborne "Times," for the "New Zealand Times," and for the illustrious local morning paper. If by any chance Malcolm Ross should ji\tve Gallipoli to assume the dictatorship of the Empire in Londfon, New Zealand .pressmen who are soldiering close by avMI be so numerous that there Avoiild be no difficulty in filling his number tens twenty-five times over.

They have a convenient way of conducting political affairs in Maoriland, according— to Melbourne "Punch." "Plain Bill" Massey, who, minus a majority, achieved an administrative record by carrying on the Government without the awkward necessity of meeting Parliament for six months after the elections, coalesced with his arch-enemy, Sir Joseph Ward. Heaton Rhodtes, the ultra-Avealthy squatter Postmas-ter-General, resigned to make room for the incoming Ward Ministers. But he remains Avithin the charmed circle of the executive, and goes to Egypt to administer New Zealand affairs, by the grace of tlie General Staff at the Army Base. Two or three additional Ministers Avere appointed, and rumour hath it that Mr. Massey will shortly and! gracefully make way for the pushful Sir Joseph by accepting office as High Commissioner in London. And New Zealand is a land where respect for public men amounts almost to reverence !

That keen ex-Governor, the Earl of Ranfurly, was lately added to the committee of the Royal Yacht Club, a frightfully exclusiA r e body which thinks nothing of blackballing a duke. His ex-Ex. got the job on his 59th birthday, whioh was on the 14th August. Scarlet fever settled Lord Ranfurly's Navy career. Fortyfive years ago he was a cadet on H.M.S. Britannia, but fell sick, and Avas considered permanently unfit for sea life. During the Earl's long Governorship of New Zealand,, the Countess went Home on a visit. She was booked to return to Sydney, en route to New Zealand, by the P. and 0 .liner Himalaya. So this is how an English provincial journal dished it up:—-"The Countess of Ranfurly, wife of the Governor of New Zealand, who has been staying at the family seat for some months, will return to the colony via the Himalayas."