People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18939, 9 December 1929, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

The King and the Canterbury Regiment: Sporting Families An Incident of an Oamaru By-election.

lORD BLEDISLOE’S appoint* J ment of his brother, Major A. H. Bathurst, as his Military Secretary, will be of special interest in military circles, because Major Bathurst’s regiment, the Royal Berkshires, is affiliated with the Hawke’s Bay regiment As a matter of fact there are numerous affiliations between British and overseas regiments. The Canterbury Regiment is affiliated with the Royal West Kents, of whom the King is Colonel-in-Chief. The band of the Canterbury regiment, which played in the Christchurch Gardens yesterday, wears the full dress uniform of the older regiment—bliie trousers, scarlet tunic, blue cap with red band, and red epaulettes with white facings. VICE- ROYALTY has always been Y deeply interested in the military organisation in New Zealand. Many will remember the picturesque green uniform and tricorn hat worn by Lc.dy Plunket (now Lady Victoria Braithwaite) when she accepted the position of honorary Colonel to the old Amuri Mounted Rifles. One wonders whether these old companies will be resuscitated if and when a volunteer system is reverted to in New Zealand. Lady Plunket’s memory, of course, will always be kept green in the Plunket Society, which was founded in New Zealand during Lord Plunket’s term as Governor. But that is a reminder that the names of few Vice-Regal ..p----resentatives in New Zealand remain in common association with the life of the people. The Ranfurly and Plunket Shields, those coveted Rugby and cricket trophies, are exceptions chat prove the rule, for most people would find a little difficulty in even naming the last half-dozen occupants of Government HoUvSe. T)0 elephants suffer from sea-sick-ness? It seems a queer question to ask, but the writer has twice been a passenger on the old s.s. Manuka between Australia and New Zealand when she has been turned into a veritable Noah’s Ark for the conveyance 01 Wirth’s Circus, and the elephants have been the most interesting and human of the four-footed animals aboard. And elephants can, indeed, be seasick in the conventional way, and they will also lie down and look as white about the gills as elephants may. Nine of them occupied a part of the foredeck of the Manuka on her last trip to New Zealand, and it was pathetic to see their excitement, after four days’ rolling at sea, as they lifted their trunks to sniff the land breeze off the Bluff, and how joyfully they trumpeted their way down the titanic gangway. Yes, elephants are very human, and one feels glad that they escaped the storms that the Manuka has just run into on her return trip to Melbourne, where she has just arrived thirty-nine hours late.

'J'HE HON T. M. WILFORD, who sailed from Wellington on Saturday for London to assume the office of High Commissioner for New Zealand, is regarded as something of a “ mixer,” who can adapt himself with ease to whatever company he finds himself in, and has the happy knack of making friends. In the very exciting Oamaru by-election of 1923, when the late Mr Massey and several of his Ministers were touring the electorate on behalf of the Hon E. P. Lee, who had been Minister of Justice in the Massey Cabinet, Mr Wilford paid a flying visit on behalf of the Liberal candidate, Mr J. A. Macpherson. On the night before the poll, Mr Massey was to give an address in the Opera House, and to make sure that there would be nothing in the way of a disturbance, he had ordered a dozen extra police to be drafted into the hall. The same evening, Mr Wilford, who then led the National Party, arrived in the electorate and addressed a meeting of 2000 persons, having only two policemen assigned to his meeting. Both meetings were very orderly, and Mr Wilford had a wonderful hearing. After it was all over, about midnight, those extra policemen were entertained at supper, not by Mr Massey, but by Mr Wilford, w'ho looked after them so well that they were loth to leave, even when dawn was breaking. Their parting cry was, “ Good old Tom.” Mr Macpherson won the seat, and still holds it. ]yjAJOR TRYGGVE GRAN, whose comments on the Byrd Expedition have been so pungent, was quite a picturesque figure in Scott’s last expedition. He played a very import ant part in one or two of the minor expeditions, and was with the party that climbed Mount Erebus. He, like many of the others, had his own sledge flag, which was given to him by Maud of Norway, whose name has figured constantly of late in references to the Queen Maud range. “The youngest and yet the most travelled officer in the expedition, except our leader himself,” wrote one of the party. “ Interested in sport, travel, music, literature and languages, ‘Trigger’ never let a day pass without enlivening our march by some of his many adventures.” Cooking for the scientists on the Western Journey, Gran enlivened the region by carolling grand opera “ When he felt the cold and soot and smoke too much for him, ‘ Pagliacci * or ‘ Bertran du Born * would sink to pianissimo. Then we would shout our ‘Bravos' and ‘Encores,’ and the northern Caruso would start off again, and away flew the skuas So by degrees a steaming pot of ‘ good stoof that will stick to your ribs,’ was brought to the tent by our hardy Norse mate.” Major Gran’s sister is the wife of Rear-Admiral Edgar Evans, now in command of the Australian station.

r JMIE financial results of the seaan of “Sinbad the Sailor,” the panv mime produced by Unlimited CharitU in aid of the orphanages of Chris church, has been most disappointing and it is doubtful whether there will be any profit available for distribution. Several factors are responsible for this position, the principal one being that the pantomime has been presented at a time of the year which is notoriously bad as far as theatres are concerned. The expenses were kept down as low as possible, but the attendances of the public were considerably' below expectations in spite of the fact that the production was one of the best y’et presented by’ this public-spirited organisation. Some comment has been expressed regarding the costuming, there having been an impression that there was undue extravagance in this respect. The true position, however, is that as a result of the efforts of Mrs R. Douglas, the wardrobe mistress, the total cost of the costuming was under £SO, which is the lowest sum that it has ever cost for this department. It is hoped that arrangements can be made for a repeat season to be held at an early date. TT is a fact to which attention has often been called that particular forms of sport appeal to certain families, and cases of football and of cricket families are by no means rare. At the carnival of the Opawa Swimming Chib on Saturday there were five girls named Rich among the competitors. They were all daughters of Mr C. H. 11. Rich, who for many years was without equal in Canterbury as a distance swimmer. As far back as 1898 he won the quarter-mile championship of New Zealand, and he was a regular and prominent competitor at New Zealand championship meetings for many years. He was one of the best water polo play’ers that New Zealand has possessed, and, in this capacity, represented Canterbury for very many years. His interest in the sport is still apparently as keen as ever. He was very busy at Saturday’s carnival discharging the hundred and one duties that can always be found for an old and tried official at a swimming carnival. His family is a family of swimmers, and some of them give prorrase of one day being as good as their father was.