IN THE PUBLIC EYE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17906, 23 July 1926, Page 8

IN THE PUBLIC EYE.

NOTES AND ANECDOTES. M p W. GROUNDS, pictured here, was recently re-elected chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board, a body responsible amongst other things for the distribution of dairy products in overseas markets. Matters concerning advertising in the Eastern world commanded attention at the annual meeting of the board, suggestions having been received from most of the merchants trading in Easttern markets. That the board is out to boost New Zealand's dairy produce as much as it possibly can, not only overseas,. but in the Dominion itself, is borne out by the fact that it recently had prepared a number of films connected with the dairy industry, and I these will shortly be displayed through- , out the Dominion for the edification !of New Zealanders, who, rightly or wrongly, have been accused on more than one occasion of knowing very little about their own country. 9 ¥ ESCRIBED by the “Catholic Herald'’ as “blatantly Bolshevik,” Mr A. J. Cook, the redoubtable secretary of the English Miners’ Union, is known in England as “Emperor” Cook. His activities are well known. He is the foremost radical leader amongst the mine workers at Home. He is a stormy petrel with fixed ideas. It was stated in a cable received this week that the “Catholic Herald,” which so far has supported the Labour Party, declared that the party was falling more and more under the domination of the Left wing, which took orders from Moscow. Catholic miners were finding themselves rushed into the position where the “ frothy Communist,” Mr Cook, spoke for them; and the fact was greatly disturbing to trades unionists. V 9 A UTHOR of “Beau Sabreur,” which has just been published, Major P. C. Wren is well known as the man who wrote that delightful volume “Beau Geste,” a 1025-26 best seller. “Beau Sabreur” is a romance of the French Secret Service in Northern Africa. In no sense a sequel, it, however, brings back to us in other guises some friends in the Legion met in “Beau Geste.” Major Wren is descended from a near relative of the late Sir Christopher Wren. Matthew Wren, who fell at the Battle of Edgehill in the Civil War between Charles I. and the then Parliament. He was well known as a writer in India* before he gained world-wide fame with that thrilling adventure story, “Beau Geste,” which followed ‘The Wages of Virtue,” a book of high merit and stirring days. lie has seen life from the angle of a sailor, navvy, tramp, schoolmaster, journalist, farm labourer, explorer, hunter and slumdwelling costermonger. He has served as a Legionary in the French Foreign Legion, and has been a trooper in a crack British cavalry regiment. * 9 YOU see here Mrs Lovat Fraser, one of England's most famous dress designers. When, seven years ago, Mr Nigel Playfair determined to transform the Lyric Theatre, London, from a wretched s 1 u m building to a society centre of dramatic art, one of the first things he did was to engage the late Mr Lovat Fraser to design the dresses for his productions. Mrs Fraser helped him in his work, and with such success that she was besieged by designers intent on securing her assistance; soon she was l making dresses for such artists as Nor- j man Wilkinson and Bakst. A story is told that a certain actor objected strenuously to a costume Mrs Fraser had designed for him. When he donned the offending garment he looked so absurd that he asked in angry tones whether she really thought that it was fit for him to wear. “Certainly,” replied the dress designer, “when you put. it on correctly. At present you have it back to front.”

pRIXCE PAUL CHAVCHAVADZE, one °f Russia's aristocracy in the davs before the revolution, recently found living so expensive in London that he decided to pack up his belongings and take his wife and child to Paris. The reason for his change of abode was purely financial, it is said. The revolution had played havoc with the Princes family fortunes. lie was a youth too young to enter the army when Russia ceased fighting, and he left his home to go to Rumania. There he secured a position as interpreter being a fluent speaker in several languages. While, in London the Prince devoted his time to various activities: but though the remuneration he received may have been sufficient for a bachelor he' W*s a husband and father, and Paris offered a more advantageous field for his talents, lfis hobby is writing plays of English life.