GREAT POSSESSIONS

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160737, 25 August 1920, Page 10

GREAT POSSESSIONS

FORTUNATE YOUNG MAN. Sir Philip Sas soon, an extraordinary young man who has been entertaining the Premiers, Chancellors, and Ambassadors of France and Britain at his villa at Belcairo at Lympne, has been the one really interesting feature of the conference—a silent figure standing out in sharp contrast agayist thq background of British politicians and their secretaries. “Sir Philip Sassoon, third baronet and owner of Bolcaire, is one of the lucky young men of the day” (says the correspondent of the Daily Mail) “Great wealth and many friends were bequeathed to him by his grandfather, the Bombay merchant prince, and his father, Sir Edward Sassoon, known universally as ‘the friend of King Edward.’ His only sister, who has been helping him to entertain the Premiers, is married to the Earl of Rocksavage, eldest son of the Marquis of Cholmondeloy. Being both host and servant of his guests, owner of the house, and private secretary of the Premier, he lias busied himself with the affairs of Bolcaire, seeing to the comforts of the table and the contents of the cellar, and arranging rooms for the sub-conferences between Chancellors, v Ambassadors, and secretaries which have been a feature of this ‘private talk’ in his villa. “He is 31, healthy, happy and unmarried. “When the conference members have been weary lie lias refreshed them with the music of the gramophone, the play of a kinema, and excursions in three of his five RollsRoyce cars. In truth a very pleasant and agreeable young man. Aladdin and his wonderful lamp are an inevitable comparison. The owner of Belcaire has only to wish for a thing and, lo! it comes. “At 24 he inherited a seat in Parliament. At 27 ho became private secretary to Sir Douglas Haig— ; a very efficient secretary, speaking nine languages. At 31 he is private secretary to the Prime Minister, and in the running for Cabinet honours and a probable peerage. “Sport, indeed, plays a great part in his life. He loves exercise, and has all the desire to excel in many games. Thus you may see him in the morning wearing running shorts and sprinting round his estate. In the afternoon he plays lawn tennis upon his superb court with a professional coach from a famous London club. In the evening he plays billiards, and if there is no guest in the house his oppouent will be another professional coach. A ROMAN STYLE OPEN-AIR j BATH. “Swimming is with him a passion rather than a pastime. He has constructed a delightful open-air bath at Belcaire in the Roman fashion, and swims for exercise as well as the pleasure of a plunge. Within doors he indulges in the same delight in bathing, and his mosaiclined bathrooms, with their variety of shower baths, are a joy to himself and his guests. “Belcaire and the estate which surrounds it are still unfinished. The war checked the development of the place, and 50 to CO workmen and labourers are now busy making a veritable pleasaunce out of this old seaside cliff now separated from the sea by miles of Romney Marsh, Two new drives are being made, one of which runs for half a mile under the cliff parallel with the public road. The other is a short and steep descent direct to the house. “Approached from the east the place has the appearance of an old manor house in well-toned red brick. From the south, where it looks out to the Channel, it is Italian, with a terrace and loggia where the Premiers have been walking and discussing when tired of the magnifi-. cance of an Oriental interior or anxious to 'breathe the sweet airs which come over the green marshland from the Channel.”