People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 2 June 1910, Page 868

People We Hear About

Madame Melba entered on her forty-sixth year on May 19. ; Major-General Barry’s appointment as head of the United States Military Academy at West Point has - been reported in the daily press. General Barry is a Catholic, whose work in Cuba has been highly praised. At the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the New York diocese he was chief marshal of the parade. Mrs. Meynell, the poet and essayist, who is always so charming in whatever she does, is said to be one of the few literary workers who can write in the midst of interruptions and disturbances. Even the immediate presence of children, of whom she has several, does not interfere with her mental serenity. ’ Mrs. *Meynell is a lady of charming and .unassuming manners and a most devout Catholic.

Mr. Thomas F. Walsh, the business partner of the late King Leopold, died at Washington, U.S.A., on April 9. Mr. Walsh's Career has been phenomenal. He Was born at Clonmel in 1851, and went to America as a steer, age passenger in 1870. Beginning as a day laborer in the streets of Boston, he became a millwright and carpenter, and went to Colorado, where he followed the occupation of a contractor. He built several hotels, and finally managed one at Leadville, where he soon became known for his liberality. He would not press for payment of bills from unfortunate prospectors, telling them to pay when luck came their way. As a result he was given an interest in, many mining claims. Seventeen years after arriving in America he announced his intention to retire and live on the fortune he had accumulated. An unfortunate investment rendered him poor, and he started again. Having studied mining scientifically, he became impressed with the possibilities of the Camp Bird Mine, feet above sea level. Experts who examined its prospects unanimously agreed that the mine was worthless. Mr. Walsh contended that the best ore bodies are found on high altitudes. In three years he produced gold worth £600,000. An English syndicate is reported to have offered £7,000,000 for the mine, which Mr. Walsh refused. He sold part of his interest for nearly £3,000,000. At the Paris Exposition in 1900, Mr. Walsh met King Leopold, who wanted him to manage his Congo properties. Mr. Walsh refused, but the two became associated in gold mines.

With Mr. Dillon and Mr. Swift Mac Neill both away ill, the Nationalist Party (says the Manchester Guardian) loses for the time much of its power over the eye and ear of the House. "The two have sat together for many years on the bench below Mr. Redmond, and Mr. Dillon, in addition to his own work, has officiated usefully as a kind of moderator to the learned friend at his right or left elbow. Mr. Swift Mac Neill, a most sincere and learned publicist, takes his politics very much to heart, and it is a common thing to see Mr. Dillon lay a hand on his arm when he wishes to accompany an unsympathetic speech with a more liberal measure of comment and ejaculation than the rules of Parliament allow. In all these matters of Parliamentary usage Mr. Dillon moves with a certain instinct which comes of aptitude perfected by the training of years. Dillon is the brain of the Nationalist Party. He has taught many Liberals all that they know about foreign polities, and he will often intervene with authority when the leaders are discussing among themselves some intricate point in the working of the Parliamentary machine. To see him read his daily paper, underline' and annotate it with a pencil from his pocket, is a lesson in the art of mastering public affairs as they change from day to day. The men who learned public affairs under Mr. Parnell, and still play a part, are growing very few, and events have taken them far apart from one another, but they still have some characteristics in common. They all protest as Home Rulers against being kept at Westminster, and most of them have on occasion been suspended for a time for breaking the rules, but in the minor matters of Parliamentary law they are all marked by a propriety as of the Scribes and Pharisees. Mr. Dillon, for example, in his black morning coat and sober tie. dresses exactly as Parliamentarians are supposed but not always found in dress. He wears his silk hat in the House, following the custom which was once more commonly observed than it is to-day, and nobody ever sees Mr. Swift Mac Neill or Mr. Tim Healy or Mr. T. P. O'Connor in anything but clothes of a most formal cut. Mr. William O'Brien is more unconventional in tweed clothes and a soft hat. Mr. Redmond and his brother come down to the House from their homes at Earl's Court in overcoats and bowler hats, Mr. W. Redmond smoking a pipe as he travels on the Underground, but they always leave their hats outside the House itself, and Mr. John Redmond likes a frock coat for an important speech. In = the early morning Mr. John Redmond may be seen riding in Rotten Row, looking a much less dangerous and revolutionary person than many of his critics take him to be.' : •.''."* ■ •