People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20629, 1 June 1935, Page 12

People and Their Doings.

Sir Keith Smith’s Advice About Landing Aeroplanes at Akaroa : Two Men in Christchurch Interested in Racing are Constantlg Mistaken for One Another.

gIR KEITH SMITH, now revisiting Christchurch, may recall the time, ten or fifteen } r ears ago, when he first visited Christchurch, not long after the death of his famous brother, Sir Ross Smith, who piloted with him the first record-breaking flight to Australia. During his visit he was taken by the then mayor, Dr Thacker, for' a trip round the bays, in company with Captain Euan Dickson and a Christchurch journalist. Sir Keith was a very light-heart-ed fellow, and when the Mayor at one particularly dangerous hairpin bend on the way to Okain’s Bay admonished his chaffeur with a “ Round to the left, Frank,’* Sir Keith added, from the back seat, “ Not over there, Frank,” pointing to a sheer drop on the bend. The aviator also told a very venerable Akaroa councillor, who seemed to think that the peninsula might have its good landing ground, that as far as he could see the best thing to do wquld be to fix claws to the aeroplane, and let it land on the hillsides like a bird. It was a very joyful occasion. Akaroa wished to give the aviator a dinner, but the party were due at Mr Christopher Thacker's house at Okains Bay. There the party dined and at Mr Thacker’s request wrote their autographs on the wall of his dining room, and there they ought to be to this day, even if they are under a layer of wall paper.

SSF ■ ® $F CIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star” of June 1, 1875) : Improvement of Ileathcote Navigation.— A meeting of residents was held at Mr Horneman’s Hotel, at Sumner, on Monday, May 31, to take into consideration the best means of improving the navigation of the river Heathcote. The meeting was well attended and the following resolution was passed : —“ That a deputation be appointed to wait on the Government to ask that a sum of money be placed on the Supplementary Estimates for the purpose of making a wharf at the Shag Rock, Sumner, and filling in the rocks at the Cave according to the promises of the Executive last year.” Auckland, June I.—The Mary Webster cn her passage from Taranaki encountered a fearful gale, and lost 243 sheep. She had to batten down hatches, as the water was going down the hold, and drowned some of the sheep there. Other reports from vessels on the West Coast show very severe gales.

MAN is said to have his double but it is only rarely they live in the same town and share a particular interest. The two gentlemen whose portraits appear with this note have been constantly mistaken for one another, and even spoken to in the street both by men and women. What is more, they know one another quite well, and have often compared notes about other people’s mistakes. The gentleman on the right with the dark-rimmed spectacles is

Mr Donald McLean, a retired Canterbury farmer, -i\ow living in Fendalton. Many years ago he owned one or two racehorses, which were trained by Mr George Murray Aynsley, who is still actively following the racing game as an owner-trainer at Riccarton. One horse he owned was the pony Reduction. Thirty years ago she was taken to Auckland for the Christmas carnival. Pony races were included, at that period, in the programmes of the Auckland Racing Club and the Auckland Trotting Club. Reduction won three of them, winding up by carrying 9st 61b. She was ridden by L. H. Hewitt, who was in New Zealand recently on a holiday .visit from India, where he has built up a reputation as a successful trainer. On the left is Mr Alf Dickson, a wellknown racing journalist and racing judge. The resemblance between these gentlemen is even more striking than it appears in the photographs, for if they had been dressed alike and worn uniform spectacles they would hardly have been known apart. © QNE OF THE most thoughtful gifts received by “ The Lonely Man ” was from a young lady in Christchurch who is a talented water-colour artist. She thought hard as to what might be novel for his living quarters, and then decided to send

him a bright little canvas in warm tones of a vista through park trees in autumn. The gift has been sent through the “ Star,” together with a number of handkerchiefs and some literature from the same quarter, and it has proved one of the most brightening influences in “ The Lonely Man’s ” life. 9 & ]ITR MITCHELL HEPBURN, Prime Ministetr of Ontario, the man who made the Diopne quintuplets wards of the King to sa\*e them from being exploited by showmen, is himself a showman in politics. He is often called “ the Huey Long of Canada.” He proposes to build the Dionne family a new home beside the Dafoe Hospital, which houses the quintuplets, but the father refuses to live in such a palace, saying, “ If I want a home, I’ll build one myself.” Mr Hepburn is a mercurial radical. During the general elections last June he exhorted the farmers to do away with “ Conservative tea-sippers ” in government. He said that men “ could not run the province of Ontario- except from flashy motor-cars paid for vrith your money.” When he leapt into office he held a public auction of all nlotorcars run by ex-Ministers at the expense of the province. TNCENSED by so much tea-drinking on State occasions, Mr Hepburn at once declared: “ will be no jiggling of teacups at this year’s opening session.” Distinguished citizens of Toronto received the following notice: Government House, Toronto. His Honor the Lieutenant-Gover-nor regrets that, the Prime Minister of Ontario and his Cabinet having declined the invitation to be present at the State dinner on February 20, this function will not be held. His Honor trusts that you have not been inconvenienced. The Legislature was nevertheless opened with brilliance. The champion of “ the forgotten man ” of Ontario was there in his spats. For the Prime Minister, unlike Huey Long in this respect, loves immaculate dress. Mr Hepburn is only 38. He began life as a bank clerk. Ho rejected for the war because he was undejr age, but later joined the Royal Flying Gorps. Then he went into farming, and afterwards into politics, accepting the Liberal leadership in Ontario in 1930.