People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20603, 2 May 1935, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

Sydney Will Celebrate the King’s Jubilee With a Ring of Bonfires and a Fireworks Display : Six New Zealand Prime Ministers in the Present. Reign.

CORRESPONDENT has asked how many Prime Ministers have served in New Zealand in the reign of George V., and the answer is six, although one of these was in office only for 16 days after the death of Mr Massey. Sir Joseph Ward assumed office on August 6, 1906, and was in office till March 28, 1912, when he was succeeded by Sir Thomas Mackenzie for less than four months, and then by Mr Massey, who remained in office from July 10. 1912, until his death on May 14, 1925. Then came Sir Francis Dillon Bell for a fortnight, and after him Mr Coates, who was in office from May 30, 1925, to December 10, 1928. Sir Joseph Ward then assumed office again until his retirement on May 28, 1930, when Mr Forbes assumed office, and has retained it ever since.

9 '9 OTHER CITIES are doing for the King’s Jubilee is always interesting. Sydney has an organising committee which has tried to inspire uniform movements, and among these tree-planting will be carried out by many shires and councils. One metropolitan council will plant a thousand trees. On Monday Sydney will have a morning thanksgiving service in Centennial Park, followed by a review. In the afternoon the A.J.C. will hold a special race meeting, and there will be a baseball match between New South Wales and teams from the Japanese warships, as well as an interstate Rugby Union match. In the evening Sydney Harbour will be the scene of a special fireworks display, and the heights around the harbour will blaze with a chain of bonfires, including two huge fires on the North and South heads. On Tuesday the school children will give a display, there will be a garden party at Government House, and in the evening a military and police carnival in the showgrounds. The week will close with a race for the King s Cup on the Paramatta River and the Australian sculling championship. 52? 52? 32? GTALIN has received a unique present from an aged admirer, the product of many years’ leisure. It is an up-to-date grandfather clock which bears on its dial representations of an aeroplane, a machinegun, an armoured car and other warlike symbols. When the clock strikes the hour a portrait of Stalin is disclosed in its front panel and a musical record inside the case plays the “ Internationale.”

CINCE parentage and origin have become of primary importance in the new Germany, a new profession is growing up. Enterprising people have long set up as “ genealogists, to assist those who are in difficulties over their pedigree,” but it has now been decided that persons who are to give advice on family matters must pass an examination in history and heraldry. Knowledge of Latin and ability to decipher ancient church records will not be obligatory, and persons with special knowledge of their own part of the countryside and the ancestry of local families will be eligible to act as assistants to research workers who are academically trained. By studying local history, in fact, one may become affiliated to the new “ Board of Family Research ” and call oneself a genealogist, receiving a set fee for information provided.

9 9 9 gix YEARS AGO, over 2,000,000 tourists visited France. Last year there were only 700,000. Great Britain received 400,000 in 1934 and from hotel reservations already made expects to double that number this year, so Paris is very active, and “ attracting the tourists ” is to be one of the staple industries throughout the spring and early summer. The railways and steamship companies, the passport and customs authorities are all doing their best to make a visit to France easier and more attractive than ever before. Rates are coming down and restrictions are being abolished. The international driving license and the international car certificate are already things of the past. It is likely that the complete reorganisation of travel propaganda will be placed in the hands of Roland Marcel, formerly chief librarian of the Bibliotheque Nationale and now Prefect at Strasbourg. He will also probably be placed at the head of the next Paris exhibition, scheduled for 1937 but now likely to be postponed.

9 9 9 BEAUTIFULLY constructed club, with sun trap windows, its own swimming pool, afternoon nursery and gymnasium, has been opened in south-east London. It is Britain’s first health club, established by two doctors, where people may come not only to be treated for specific diseases, but for the safeguarding and maintenance of their health from infancy onwards. There will be accommodation for 2.000 families at the club, and the subscription per family will be only a shilling a week. “We are really adopting the old Chinese custom of

paying your doctor when you are in good health and not when you are ill,” said an official of the club. “We hope to establish a kind of human maintenance garage, where, by encouraging the full use of all the amenities, the health of the subscribers will become A 1.”

W W MR CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, JUN., x in his book “ Farewell to Fifth Avenue,” just published, is not at all impressed with American society, in spite of the fact that he is a member of one of the “ backbone families.”

He says that, “ contrary to popular belief, no attention is paid by the leader of society to the thousands of names decorating the pages of the numerous social registers.” Mr Vanderbilt refers to the America’s Cup as “ the ugly silver pitcher,” though he would hesitate to refer to it as that in the presence of his father or cousin, Mr Harold Vanderbilt. “To both of them,” he says, “as to all men of their set and generation, America’s Cup is as sacred as the Holy Grail, as awe-inspiring as the Springfield Memorial.” There are some very interesting impressions about the recent yacht races, in which the author is not at all complimentary to his cousin. And he adds that “No city on earth is as indifferent and as hostile towards outsiders as Newport. Thomas Lipton discovered it in 1899. 1901, 1903. 1920 and in 1930. and Sopwith in 1934. The more I see of Newport, the better I understand how Theodore Roosevelt felt when he begged his peaceful author-friend, Owen Wister, to ‘ Smash the divorce-ridden, arrogant, preposterous Newport.’ ”

9 «F gIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star of May 2, 1875)

From the Lyttelton news.—Our public garden. When I read those remarks I thought ©f Tennyson’s poem, “ Come Into the Garden Maude.” From the reports of that council I learn that the worthy exMayor spoke to the ex-secretary, Mr Maude, about this matter; but evidently Mr Maude did not see it in the same light as proposed. Now Tennyson’s Maud preferred the Sumner road to climbing up goat-like to the Botanical gardens. Timaru school.—Up to Friday evening last no less than sixty applications for the head master-ship of this school had been sent in to the committee, the members of which meet this evening to make their choice.