People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 752, 4 May 1933, Page 10

People and Their Doings.

How the Yugoslav Government Subsidised the Publication of a Book of which It Disapproved : English Barristers Cannot Appear in the Manx Courts : Errors About Pepgs Exploded.

A MONG the celebrations of the tercentenary of the birth of Pepys on February 23 last, none was more interesting than the lecture delivered in London before the Society for Nautical Research by Mr Edwin Chappell in the Clothworkers Hall, Mincing Lane. Two common errors the lecturer exploded—that the Diary was written in “ a secret cipher,” and that Pepys never intended his record to survive him and be read by others. The “ cipher ” was none other than the system set out and in print for half a century in " Shelton’s Tachygraphy”; and Pepys himself set on the last page of his Diary a stamp some sixteen years after he had ceased to write his diary because of a fear of approaching blindness. Pepys was born in 1633 and died in 1703. ® ® ® PUBLISHING is a trade which is full of queer puffs, but one of the most daring has just been achieved by the producers of the last book by Mr Pribitchevitch, the exiled Yugoslav Opposition leader (says the “Manchester Guardian”). The work contained a violent attack on the existing dictatorship in Yugoslavia, and on his Government’s instructions Mr Spalajkovitch, the Yugoslav Minister in Paris (where the book was published), bought up all the available copies of the first edition as soon as the book was published in order to prevent them from getting into circulation. Now a second edition has been issued, with a foreword by the publisher stating that the Yugoslav Government has kindly subsidised the publication of this valuable book by buving up all the first edition! 9 & 9 JN “A Headmaster Remembers,” Mr Guy Kendall, headmaster of University College School, Hampstead, London, tells a story. In the middle of the Great War Mr Rashdall was appointed Dean of Carlisle. The Archbishop of Canterbury called at 10, Downing Street, and was received by a flapper sitting on the table swinging her legs. “ What can I do for you?” she asked. The Archbishop rather brusquely replied that he had come to talk about the vacant deanery of Carlisle, by appointment. “ Oh, \*es, I’ve got that matter in hand,” said the young woman, and proceeded to give the views of the Prime Minister (then Mr Lloyd George) !

jyjEMBERS OF THE MANX BAR objected to a proposal that Sir Patrick Hastings, K.C., should be permitted to appear in the Manx Chancery Court in an action arising out of the dispute over the will of the late Sir Hall Caine. Only on two occasions have English barristers appeared in Manx courts, and on both occasions it was necessary because allegations were made against members of the Manx Bar, and because none would act for the plaintiffs concerned. An English barrister can appear there only by permission of the Governor of the Island. Manx lawyers cannot appear in England except in cases of Manx appeals to the Privy Council. In the matter under discussion, Mr Gordon Ralph Hall Caine, M.P. for East Dorset, the plaintiff in the action, desired to obtain Sir Patrick’s services. The action was for a declaration that the plaintiff’s mother, the late Lady Hall Caine, took her “ benefit ” of an annuity of £3500 under Sir Hall Caine’s will, and did not exercise her widow-right under the Manx law, which entitles a widow to half her husband’s personal estate absolutely, and half the real estate for life. Sir Hall Caine’s estate was proved at over £200,000. and his widow’s estate was sworn at £IOO,OOO. & w a? SIX-FOOT GHOST is said to have been seen at the Prince of Wales’s farm, Stoke Climsland, a few miles from Callington, Cornwall. The first person, to see the spectre was a young woman walking near the farm in the late afternoon. She said: “ I saw an immensely tall coloured man, who looked at me and passed. His face wore an expression of terror. As I tried to look at him more closely he disappeared. I ran home, and was told that I had seen the Stoke Climsland ghost, that no one had seen for a generation.” The ghost appeared some years ago, and a number of men of the parish tried to track it, but failed. It is believed to date from 1790, when Stoke Climsland belonged to Sir Tohn Call, M.P., High Sheriff of Cornwall. He built a Grecian temple, and brought a number of native servants from India, where he had lived for years. One of the Indians met with a strange and mysterious death and was buried in the churchyard near.

]y£R GEORGE LANSBURY, the leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons, paid a tribute to his wife just after her death in London on March 23. Mr and Mrs Lansbury celebrated their golden wedding in May, 1930. “My marriage was the most blessed thing that ever happened to me,” Mr Lansbury said. ‘‘We met when attending St Mary’s School. Whitechapel, 58 years ago, and we walked out together when she was not yet 15 and I was 16. We were married when I was 21 ." . , Their early married life was one of hardship. Mr Lansbury in turn unloaded coal and managed a coffee stall. Then he took his wife to Australia, but they had a hard time there. “We got back to England a sad and disillusioned pair,” he said. “ Our house in Bow was a four-roomed cottage, our family numbered six, and my wages were 30s a week. How my wife managed to feed and clothe us all I don t know. Bessie has been all round the world with me. She has been a real pal. ’ Mrs Lansbury was the mother of twelve and the grandmother to sixteen children. 9 3? GIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star” ° of May 4, 1873) Latest from Europe : London, April 19.—Sir James and Lady Ferguson left by the Brindisi mail yesterday for Melbourne. The prospectus has been issued of an Anglo-Australian Steam Navigation Company for a service via the Cape; capital £1,250,000. Six steamers of large tonnage are to be employed, performing the voyage to Melbourne in 41 days. The managers are Messrs Gibbs, Bright and Co., of Liverpool and London, and the Board of Directors is an influential one, including Sir Daniel Gooch, Messrs Dillayn, Gilpin, Brassey and Charles Reed. The steamer Great Britain is to be taken at a valuation for paid up shares. April 21.—An official inquiry has been held by the Board of Trade into the loss of the steamer Atlantic. The supply of coal is held to have been dangerously insufficient, and the whole system of management glaringly deficient.’ The captain’s certificate is suspended for two years, and the fourth officer’s for three years.