People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 3 December 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

Of the fourteen members who were, elected at the second ballot contests last week, and ' 'who did not sit in the " last Parliament, six- are farmers, whilst the* following profession's and trades have one representative each : — Solicitor, grain merchant, journalist, painter, printer, ironfounder, bootmaker, builder. Nine are native's of New Zealand, three were born in England, and two in Scotland.

The Right Hon. Sir James Mathew, a former Lord Justice of Appeal, who passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 78 years, was father-in-law of -Mr. John Dillon, M.P., and nephew of Father Mathew, the famous Apostle of Temperance. Mrs. Dillon, it will be remembered, died last year. The late Lord Justice Mathew, who was a son of Charles Mathew, of Lehena House, Cork, was born in 1830, educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A. 1850 and LL.D. 1851), and called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn, 1854. He was a junior for the Crown in the Tichborne case, and was created a judge and knighted in iBSt. He presided over the Evicted Tenants Royal Coommission of 1593, appointed to advise the Lord-LieuterYant of Ireland concerning the best method of reinstating those men. Later he received appointments as Lord Justice of Appeal and Privy Councillor. He was the third Catholic judge appointed in England since Catholic emancipation. In 1901 Sir James Mathew was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal, and he resigned in 1906.

The Daily News in its issue of October 10 paid the following tribute of praise to the Marquis of Ripon for his services to the British Empire : — The resignation of the Marquis of Ripon of his seat in the Cabinet removes from the public service an historic figure, and one of the most high-minded and unselfish men who ever served the State. It is a break with a great past. With him disappears our living contact with that memorable summer of Liberalism which marked Gladstone's greatest Ministry. Noone is now left in office who served with Gladstone in the sixties and seventies. Lord Ripon belonged to the old guard, in spirit as well as in time. He carried with him the tradition nf a spacious day, and of a rare conception of disinterested labor for the commonwealth. Above all, he carried with him the memory of inestimable service in a field where few have succeeded. The name of Lord Ripon is honored in India beyond that of any Englishman of our time. It is honored as that of a man who embodied the purest ideal of British Liberalism in relation to subject peoples. His tenure of the Vice-royalty was coincident with the happiest relationship ever established between us and India. It seemed like the dawn of a better day. Unhappily there has been a lamentable reaction since then, but Lord Ripon 's memory is still honored beyond that of any other personal memory and his name constantly appears in streets and public places, and even in the names of thj children.

This is an age of young men (remarks the Sydney Catholic Press), and the Federal Ministry certainly cannot be called elderly. The Prime Minister is only 46 years of age, the Attorney-General is 44, the Minister for Defence is quite a young man, the Minister for External Affairs is 43, the Minister for Customs is 42, the Postmaster-General is 45, and Mr. Mahon, who owns to 50, is only in the very prime of life. Senator McGregor, the VicePresident of the Executive Council, is the father of the littlefamily, but his 60 years have been very kind to him, and he looks as robust as his youngest colleague. There are only three* Australians in the new Federal Ministry — Senator Pearce, MrBatchelor, and Mr. Tudor. Pearce is a South Australian, andi so is Batchelor, whilst Tudor was born in Victoria. Scotland is represented by Fisher, Hutchinson," and McGregor,' Ireland by Hugh Mahon/ and Wales by W. Hughes. Thomas hails from - ( Cornwall. At one time it was a rare thing to find an Ausralian ' native in a big political position, but nowadays the native-born are elbowing the old men out, and are well represented in the „ Ministries of the various States as well as' in the Cabinet of ' the Commonwealth. Senator Pearce, the new Minister for De- ■ fence, is a carpenter and joiner by trade ; Batchelor (Minister for External Affairs) was a hand in the Government locomotive workshops; Tudor (Minister for Customs)-' Was an operative in a hat^factory ; Postmaster-General Thomas was a working miner, and Hugh Mahon (Minister for Home Affairs) is a journalist. ■ Prime Minister Fisher, like Tho.mas^ knows what it is to swing a pick underground. All the Ministers without exception had to make their own way in life, and owe very little to fortune.