People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 17 March 1910, Page 428

People We Hear About

, . ~M ach, 2 was the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the late Pope Leo XIII. Mr. Franois McLaren, who was returned for-the Spalding Division of Lincolnshire, is the youngest member elected to the new Parliament, being only twenty-three years Count Plunkett, the -Director of the Irish National Museum, lectured recently on Thomas Frye before the Architectural Association of Ireland. Frye, who was born 111 Dublin in 1710, became a famous engraver; and he invented Bow china, the first porcelain manufactured in England. . & James D. O’Connell, grand-nephew of Daniel O’Connell, died at Los Angeles on December 22. Mr. O’Connell was forty-five years old, and went to America when he was a boy with James J . Hill, the railroad magnate. For several years he was connected with the railroad business, and for the past nine years had resided in California, being in the insurance business in San Francisco until after the earthquake, when he went to Los Angeles. Mr. Joseph King, who has retained North Somerset for the Liberals, is the only blind man who faced the electorate as a candidate. Despite his loss of sight, he leads a most' active life, and is an accomplished musician. As a speaker he is eloquent and impressive. Former blind members of the House of Commons were Mr. William Macdonald, who sat for Queen’s County for several years as a Nationalist, and Dr. Tindal Robertson, who at one time represented Brighton as a Conservative. King Albert of Belgium is one of the most versatile of Royalties. His Majesty is thirty years of age, and a few months ago he astonished the Belgian Senate by making a speech upon the shipping industry which showed he had special knowledge. The Prince, it transpired, had worked up the material in the guise of a reporter, his visiting card for the purpose describing him as a member of the reporting staff of a maritime newspaper. His Majesty is one of the best shots in Europe, and, like his uncle, the late King, is an architect of .no mean ability. The Hon. Archie Gordon, whose death recently was the result of a motor-car accident, was the youngest of Lord Aberdeen’s three sons, and, like his father, had a strong taste for things mechanical, so much so that along with his brother Dudley he served for some time in one'of the shipbuilding yards in Aberdeen as an ordinary apprentice. The two lads were treated in exactly the same way as all their comrades, going to work at six in the morning and submitting themselves cheerfully to all the other rules and regulations. Mr. Archibald Gordon was also an excellent shot, and did well at Bisley. The new King of the Belgians is the tallest monarch in Europe, for he is 6ft Sin in height. It is a curious fact that the majority of reigning monarchs are deficient in stature and shorter than their consorts. King Edward : s rather shorter than Queen Alexandra. Czar Nicholas 11. looks quite small by the side of the Czarina, and so does the King of Denmark beside his Queen. The King of Italy hardly reaches to the shoulder of Queen Helena. King Alfonso of Spain is half a head shorter than Queen Victoria Eugenie, and the Kaiser always insists on the German Empress sitting down when they are photographed together, because she has slightly the advantage of him in height. In a letter to a friend in Sydney, Father Fitzgerald, 0.F.M., writes: —‘I heard Rev. Robert Hugh Benson lecture last night on Spiritualism, and to-night I heard him on Lourdes. It is a great treat to hear him. He is medium height, slender build, longish, oval head, covered with a profusion of brown hair flattened down. You would pass him a dozen times and never think him anybody. His lectures are hard-headed, scientific, relentlessly logical, and profoundly religious. All these qualities he especially displayed in his magnificent lecture'on Lourdes. He spent four days there, and nine hours each day in the medical examining bureau, and tells in unadorned language what he saw. He has , no, oratorical gifts or graces, natural or acquired. He has no time for. them; he is absorbed in his subject. Several miracles occurred during his visit, and it brings tears to the eyes of all to hear his description of such occurrences, which took place at the procession of the Blessed Sacrament, in which he was a participant. He brings the event before you justas it occurred, for he is a master of language, and an artist in the use of it. He makes no attempt to make an impression, but gives you the idea that he has a message weighing on his heart, and he pours it out in a stream of fast-flowing words, and says in half an hour what ordinarily would take an hour and a half.