People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 10 February 1910, Page 228

People We Hear About

The new House of Commons contains 125 barristers, ob land owners, 51 manufacturers,'4s Peers’ sons, 44 military officers, and 38 journalists. Mr. John Dillon, who has been re-elected M.P. for Mayo, entered the House of Commons over thirty years ago as member for Tipperary. . Captain Fitzgerald, aide-de-camp to Lord Kitchener, ls , ii e ' V Lord Charles Fitzgerald, who has resided at Riddell, Victoria, for nearly twenty-five years. Lord Charles Fitzgerald is a son of the fourth Duke of Leinster, and uncle of the present Duke. Lieutenant-Colonel Talbot, M.WO., D. 5.0., who has been re-elected in the Conservative interest for Chicester, is the second surviving son of the 14th Duke of Norfolk, and was born in 1855. He was, educated at the Oratory School, and entered the 11th Hussars in 1877, of which he was Adjutant from 1881 to 1883, and Lieutenant-Colonel in command from 1900 to 1902. He served in the South African War, and retired in 1905. Mr. Poynton has been appointed to the position of Secretary to the Treasury in place of Colonel Collins, in addition to his duties as Superintendent of the State Guaranteed Advances Office. Mr. Poynton was born in Victoria. As a young man he worked as a gold miner, but studied law in his spare time, and qualified as a barrister and solicitor. He was appointed a magistrate in 1895 and Public Trustee five years later. Mr. Laurence Ginnell, who has been re-elected M.P. for North Westmeath, was born in 1854. He is the son of Mr. Laurence Ginnell, of Castletown, Delvin. The future M.P. was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1893 and at King’s Inns, Dublin, in 1906. Mr. Ginnell was one of the founders of the Irish Literary Association of London, In 1902 Mr. Ginnell married Alice, daughter of . Ja T s Kingj JP > of Kilbride. He is the author of Ihe Brehon Laws and The Doubtful Grant of Ireland. Mr, Hilaire Belloc, who has been re-elected for South Salford, is a well known Catholic author and lecturer. His early education was received at the Oratory School from which he passed to Baliol College, Oxford. At that time he was a French citizen, and his scholastic career was broken in order that he might serve in the French Army. In 1902 he naturalised as an Englishman, and he is now one of the most brilliant of the literary profession in London. He is a frequent contributor to the London press, and has written several popular books. - He is a member of the Catholic Education Council. Colonel R. J. Collins, 1.5.0., has been appointed Auditor and Comptroller-General. Cblonel Collins a member of the New Zealand Council of Defence and principal executive officer of the New Zealand Rifle Association, joined the New Zealand Government service as clerk at New Plymouth in 1865, and in June, 1878, was appointed clerk in the Treasury Department. In August, 1890, he was appointed accountant to the Treasury, in 1903 assistant secretary, and in November, 1906, promoted secretary to the Treasury, Receiver-General, and PaymasterGeneral. He was commandant of the New Zealand Rifle Team to Bisley in 1904 (winners of the Kolapore Cup). In recognition of his long and public services he was awarded by his Majesty a few months ago the decoration of the Imperial Service Order. fi Mr. William O’Brien, who has again entered public life as M.P. for Cork City, is in his 58th year. His first journalistic work was on the Cojh Herald, with which he was connected until 1876, when he became a member of the reporting staff of the Freeman’s Journal. He did the ordinary work of the reporter for several years, with occasional excursions into more congenial occupations in special descriptions of particular picturesque incidents. Whenever his work had any connection with politics, condition or prospects of his country, he devoted himself to it with special fervor. It was his descriptions of the County of Mayo in the great distress of 1879 which first concentrated the attention of the Irish people on the calamity impending over the country. In 1881, when the conflict between the Government and the Land League was at its fiercest, the idea occurred of establishing a newspaper as an organ of the League and the Parnellite party. At once the thoughts of several people turned to the able and brilliant writer on the Freeman’s Journal, and he was invited by Mr. Parnell to found United Ireland, and to become its editor. It was then for the first time that the higher powers of O’Brien were discovered. ■ He entered Parliament in 1883 for Mallow, and subsequently represented South Tyrone, and North-east Cork. In 1890 he married Sophie, daughter of Herman Raffalovich, banker, of Paris. Both Mr.’ and Mrs. O’Brien have written books, principally dealing with Irish life.