People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXI, Issue 38, 17 September 1903, Page 10

People We Hear About

Mr Alfred Percival Graves, author of 'Father O'Flynn,' has contributed a poem on the death of Leo XIII. to 1 John BulL Mr. William O'Brien, M.P., has undergone a slight operation for an affection of the throat, and has been ordered abroad for some time. Cardinal Vaughan's small estate of £700 at his death is no new thing in the diocese of Westminster. His predecessor, Cardinal Manning, left only £100 as his whole worldly wealth. c There are many men,' says the Sydney « Telegraph, 1 1 who have closely watched the work of the Federal Parliament, and seen something of the methods of the Federal Administration, who regard Mr. O'Connor as the real strong man of the Barton Cabinet. Certainly, as a Parliamentary tactician and as a manager of men he has no equal in either House.' Mr. Justice Conolly, who is retiring from the Supreme Court Bench, has just entered on his 82nd year. When in ,Gisborne lately he expressed himself that August had been his eventful month. He was born in August, called to the Bar in August, made Minister of Justice in August, and would most likely die iff the month of August. Mr. F. R. Chapman, barrister and solicitor, of Dunedin, son of the late Mr. Justice Chapman, has been selected to succeed Mr. Justice Conolly as a Supreme Court Judge. The new Judge, after completing his education in England and on the Continent, was called to the English Bar in 1871. He came out to Dunedin in the following year, and was in partnership for some time with Mr. Strode before joining the firm of Messrs. Smith, Chapman, and Sinclair. Mr. W. F. Massey, the member for Franklin, who has lust been appointed leader of the Opposition in the llouse of Representatives, is an Irishman. He was born in Londonderry in 1856, and arrived in New Zealand in 1871, being then only 15 years of age. He is engaged in farming pursuits at Mangere, Onehunga. In 1894 he was elected as member of the House of Representatives for Waitemata. He represented this constituency for three years. Since then he has represented Franklin. He was appointed Opposition Whip in 1895, and has practically acted in that capacity ever since. It is a mistake to suppose that Dr. Kevin Izod O'Doherty is the last survivor of the Young Ireland men. Mr. Martin MacDermott, also a ' Nation ' poet, and the man who represented the Young Ireland Party in Paris before the attempted insurrection, is still living, and is at present residing in Bristol. He was born in Dublin just eighty years ago. Mr. MacDermott was; chief architect of the Khedive of Egypt for many years. A few years ago, at the request of Sir Charles Gavan Duffy he edited the ' Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland,' and also Tom Moore's ' Memoir of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.' Sir Anthony MacDonnell, Under Secretary for Ireland, has (says the ' Tablet ') been added to the Privy Councillors of Ireland The honor, higli in any case, is enhanced by the fact that its latest recipient was only last year created a Privy Councillor in England. Fiftynine is the age of the new colleague of the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, of Mr. Justice Kenny, of The MacDermot, K.C., of the O'Conor Don, of Lord Chief Baron Palles, and of the Earls of Fingall and Westmeath— to name the Catholics already upon that Dublin roll of responsibility and honor. The Right Rev. Dr. Bourne, Archbishop-designate of Westminster, was born in Clapham, London, four years before the death of Cardinal Wiseman. His education up to his ordination was obtained at St Cuthbert's College, Ushaw ; St. Edmund's, Ware ; St Sulpice, Paris ; and the Louvain University. His brilliant attainments caused his appointment as Rector of Southwark Diocesan Seminary in 1889. In 1895 he was appointed Domestic Prelate by Leo XIII., and in 1896 was chosen as Coadjutor-Bishop of Southwark ; and in 1897 succeeded to the full government of that diocese. Youth, scholarship, zeal, and a training amid the new conditions which affect his native London more perhaps than any other portion of the > world, d.stineuish Dr. Bourne as a fit successor of the three great men who in modern times have well filled the- chair of Westminster.