People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20313, 24 May 1934, Page 10

People and Their Doings.

The Work of the Competitions Accompanist Did Not Betray Her Handicap : Mr Elliot’s Choir of Caddies : Hitler was Once a Water-colour Artist.

AMONG the officials of the Competitions Society whom the judges thank annually for their helpful work, the stage manager and his assistants deserve all the compliments they receive. . Commencing shortly after 9 in the morning, with onlyshort breaks until 11 o’clock at night, the work is arduous in the extreme. Supervising the entrances and exits of as many as 140 competitors in a day, changing the setting of a stage about 50 times, changing numbers between the items, conferring ■ with judges, and finally announcing the ■ prize-winners are some of the duties that fall to Mr IT. Sweney during the three weeks cf excitement. He is assisted at the evening concerts by Mr Cyril J. Goode and two other men who control the curtain and the lighting effects. At the Caledonian Hall Mi R. B. Hean is the official stage manager. 9 W 9 ALTHEA HARLEY SLACK, the * official accompanist at the Competitions, also spends a busy three weeks during the festival. Iler work includes the playing of accompaniments for hundreds of singers and instrumentalists, many of whom she has never seen or heard before. When Mr Jenner, the musical judge, complimented Miss Slack yesterday on -the high standard of her playing, few people knew that she has been handicapped by a dislocated finger, injured while playing over the air just before the Competitions commenced. Miss Slack, holds a special diploma for pianoplaying from the Sydney Conservatorium, where she spent some time studying. 9 9 9 J-J ITLER is one of the most astonishing i and interesting instances of the politi- I cal self-made man, says the Hitler number ' of “ The American Illustrated News.” a : Berlin publication. While he was still a lad 'not yet fifteen years of age and an ' orphan he left his home for Vienna about 1 the turn of the century-—with nothing but j

his marshal’s baton in his knapsack—in order to earn his own living. For five y-ears he struggled along as a casual lab- : ourer and mason. . . When he was twenty- j three Hitler went to Munich, where he earned a living as a draughtsman and water-colour painter, thanks to his great , artistic talent. In 1914. when the war broke j out, he volunteered for service in the German Army. He was severely wounded on the Somme. A few days before the armistice he was again rendered unfit for ser- j vice by a severe attack of mustard gas . poisoning which deprived him of his eyesight for a long period. While he was still in hospital the revolt of November, 1918. , broke out in Germany. While still con- < fined to his bed he was overcome with anguish and indignation at what had taken place. He decided to take up politics, animated solely by the ardent wish to j wipe out at some future day- the shame which had been heaped upon Germany by the conditions of the armistice and, later, bv the peace treatv $$ 3$ @ WHEN Mr Walter Elliot took time away ; ** from the quota discussions to marry Miss Katharine Tennant, the daughter of the late Sir-Charles Tennant and half-sister of the Countess of Oxford and Asquith, the choir at the wedding service was composed mostly of caddies employed on the North Berwick golf course. The wedding took place on April 3, and followed the Episcopal Church ritual. Mr Elliot is a member of the Presbyterian Church and the address was delivered by the Very Rev Dr Charles L. Warr, Dean of the Thistle of St Giles’s Cathedral. Edinburgh. The bride is well known in Berwick. Indeed, along the Firth of Perth the country people did not refer i to the ceremony as “ Miss Tennant’s wed- : ding ” but as “ Kathie’s.” Mr Elliot is a Glasgow University man, 1 formerly Under-Secretary tor Health in Scotland and Under-Secretary of State for J Scotland. |

WHEN THE TERM of Lord Somers as Governor of Victoria ended in 1931 no fresh appointment was made from England for reasons of economy. For three years the State Chief Justice (Sir William Irvine) has been acting. It was the same Sir William Irvine who, as Premier of Victoria, smashed the railway- strike there in May, 1908, and earned for himself the soubriquet of “ Iceberg ” Irvine. His gubernatorial term came to an end on May 14, when Lord Huntingfield arrived in Melbourne from England. Lord Iluntingfield is the first Australian-born man to return to his native land as Governor of a State. He was born at Gatton. Queensland, but had been living out of Australia for many years. Lord Iluntingfield was accompanied by- his wife, formerly Miss Eleanor Crosby, of New York, two sons and two daughters. There will be plenty of room for all at State Government House, Melbourne, as it is the largest mansion in Australia. Incidentally-, its ballroom is larger than that at Buckingham Palace. Its size is likely to come in useful next October. i? 3S? CIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “ Star ’ ° of May 24. 1874) Wellington, May- 23.—The Resident Magistrate dismissed the case of the Kaiwarra tollkeeper v. Young, mail coach contractor, on the ground that a mail coach is not liable to pay- toll. The case will now be brought before the Supreme Court. Wellington, May 22.—The New Zealand Steam Shipping Company advertise their fleet for sale bv tender; Phoebe, Taranaki, Wellington, Ladybird, Rangatira; collier Ann and .lane, and coal hulk European. Port Chalmers, May 22 Endeavours are being made to establish a sailors’ home here. The Superintendent is in favour of it being a provincial institution. A persistent system of crimping having been carried on some time, such an establishment, it is thought, would render it less prevalent.