People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20653, 29 June 1935, Page 10

People and Their Doings.

Plymouth is Linked With Christchurch by Friendship and History : Film Rights of Colonel Lawrence s Books Have Been Sold to a Lon don Company.

THE FILM RIGHTS of Colonel Lawrence’s books which describe the Arab war, “ The Seven Pillars of Wisdom ” and “ The Revolt in the Desert,” have been purchased by London Film Productions, an English Company. Only a short time before his death Lawrence asked Mr Alexander Korda, the managing director of the company, not to make the film in his lifetime or until he gave his consent. Mr Korda has now decided that, if Lawrence’s close friends and relatives object, the film will never be made and the rights will never be allowed to pass into other hands. Lawrence could have made a large fortune from the film rights of his literary work, but he declined to profit from the war or his part in it. He gave the copyrights in both books to a trust fund for the benefit of widows and orphans of men in the Royal Air Force, in which he served as an Aircraftman until his discharge last March. Six months ago the trustees sold the film rights of the books to Mr Korda’s company. Lawrence did not make a halfpenny from -the transaction. 'JTALK about the Hapsburg Restoration in Austria is intensified by the FranzJoseph Exhibition to be opened in the Schoenbrunn Palace. The Emperor is depicted as a paragon—not only a statesman, soldier, patron of the arts, but also as huntsman, lover of nature, simple citizen. All visitors will become wistful about the glorious past. But does the Archduke Otto command support? “If you had to choose between Adolf and Otto,” said a journalist to several Socialists, “whom wottld you choose?” Every time the answer came immediately: “ Adolf, of course.” _

'JHE NEWS THAT Mr J. E. Pillar, Mayor of Plymouth, has been installed as the first Lord Mayor of Plymouth, was received with much interest by several of his friends in Christchurch. This city, indeed, has a permanent link with the old historic port, because that was the last port of call for the First Four Ships, and a great many of the pioneers then and later embarked there. Mr Pillar is a keen bowler, and a member

of The Hoe Bowling Club, on the green of which Drake played his famous game. The picture of The Hoe, which has kindly been supplied to the “ Star ” by a friend from Plymouth, shows the bowling green, The Hoe and war memorials, and the Eddystone Lighthouse. Mr Pillar, for his extensive local geological research, was made a fellow of the Geological Society. lie has been for many years a lav preacher of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and he is a past president of the local Free Church Committee.

/ pi!E DUKE OF RICHMOND, who died on May 7, demonstrated two noteworthy things, says a London correspondent. One was that an aristocrat can be a good business man. The other was that a serious physical infirmity exists only to be overcome. The Duke was a descendant of Charles 11. Even as the heir (until he was middle-aged) to four dukedoms and an estate of more than a quarter of a million acres, he was a comparatively poor man. In 1928, when 58 years of age, he succeeded to the title. In the public eye he was simply and inevitably the owner of the racecourse at Goodwood, with all the prosperity it suggested. Actually he had to face from the outset the heavy financial responsibilities of a 20th century landed proprietor. His great desire was to meet the formidable death duties without destroying his ancient possessions and without interfering with the welfare of the many people dependent on them. One method he found helpful in this respect was to dispose of 70,000 beech trees on his estate at Goodwood. He was careful to select trees which when cut down would not spoil the beauty of the surroundings, and the clearance brought in a sum of £45,000. Then came a sale of a portion of his library. Philosophically he chose to regard the precious books disposed of as “ surplus volumes.” At a later date he found it necessary to sell the estate of Glenavon of 45,000 acres. Earlier than this, his business sense had induced him to form the Goodwood estate into a limited company, and to carry out a similar plan in regard to Gordon Castle and its domains.