People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20649, 25 June 1935, Page 8

People and Their Doings .

'‘The Lonely Man” Celebrated His Fiftieth Birthday Yesterday : Miss Gertrude Stein Thinks Huey Long is More Important Politically Than President Roosevelt.

WHEN Miss Gertrude Stein returned to Paris after a lecture tour in the United States she spoke out strongly on behalf of Huey Long. Roosevelts come and go, she said in effect, but Longs go on and up for ever. “ Political theories bore me,” she said, “ because political theories end in nothing. Soviet Russia will end in nothing and so will the Roosevelt Administration end in nothing: because it is not stimulating it will end in nothing. They are not transitional because they end in nothing. Huey Long will not end in nothing. lie is stimulating, he is not ephemeral and he will not end in nothing because he has a capacity for knowing what men are doing and that will not end in nothing because he has a sense of human beings and is not boring the way Harding, President Roosevelt and A 1 Smith have been boring. “ Huey Long may not become President, but most important political men never become President. Daniel Webster never became President, therefore one of the troubles of America is that we think it important that important people should become President. Democracies are more conservative than monarchies.” W 3p W JT SEEMS a far cry from the Spanish Armada to England’s famous Derby Day, writes a London correspondent. But it was the superior quality of the horses the Spaniards threw overboard, and which swam to the shores of Scotland, that aroused the interest of James VI. in the breeding of “ running horses.” When he became James I. of England and lived at the palace of Nonsuch, near Epsom, he

the same reign a labourer dug a hole to collect spring water which he found the cattle would not drink, and which led to Epsom becoming a fashionable spa. The notable people who collected there followed the King s example, and held annual horse races. The race for the Derby Stakes, instituted in 17S0. has become the greatest sporting event of the year. King George IV. gave a dinner at Buckingham Palace on the eve of Derby Day to the members of the Jockey Club, and from that day this function has been as famous in the social world as the Derby is in the sphere of sport. During the reign of Queen Victoria the dinner used to be held at Marlborough House, with King Edward, then Prince of Wales, as host. King George V. gave his first dinner in 1911. W 6 6 T HE Lonely Man ”at Halswell had his fiftieth birthday yesterday, although the fact was known to no more than a few friends, and certainly not to the members of the “ Star ” staff, who have been helping in dispelling the loneliness. Nevertheless, a good fairy from Merivale was in the secret, and sent a lovely birthday cake, as well as a beautiful black hand-knitted scarf and necktie. Constant contact has been established between the editor of the Star and the “ Lonely Man,” and it is hoped that the special effort made on the Halswell man’s behalf will not be neutralised by an officious attempt to reduce the benefits that have been extended to him through the Hospital Board.

M R ERNEST G. GILLICK, the sculptor, and Mr James Bateman, the painter, have been elected Associates of the Royal Academy. Mr Bateman is a sculptor turned pOTiter. He was a member of the sculpture classes at the Royal College of Art when he enlisted in the war. He was badly injured in the spine, and was told he must give up sculpture for something lighter. So he became a painter and won the first prize for painting at the college. Mr Gillick also studied at the Royal College of Art and has exhibited at the Royal Academy. His principal works are memorials at Winchester College, St Paul’s Cathedral, Burlington House, the City Hall, Cardiff and in India. His wife, Mrs Mary Gillick, has also exhibited sculpture in the Royal Academy. & 9 ® CIXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star” of June 25, 1875) English Parliamentary reporting.—The London papers have discontinued publishing lengthy reports of the proceedings of Parliament. Where fourteen or so columns used to be devoted to Parliamentary reports, the debates in both Chambers are condensed into about five columns or less. The Daily Telegraph, in four columns, reports the whole debate on the Address in Reply. The other papers have adopted a similar plan, and although members who like to be fully reported complain, the plan is not likely to be abandoned