People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 23 November 1911, Page 2373

People We Hear About

Mr. H. Joubert, son of General Joubert, who took such a prominent part in the Boer War, was one of the 200 immigrants on board the Turakina, which arrived in Melbourne recently. Miss Annie Leary, well known in New York society, has announced her intention of founding a Catholic University for Italians on the highest point of Staten Island in memory of Christopher Columbus. Mr. Martin I. J. Griffin, of Philadelphia, having firmly established Commodore John vßarry (a native of Wexford, Ireland) as ' Father of the American Navy,' is now (says the Sacred Heart Review) reminding the reading public that the ' Father of the Argentine Navy' was Admiral William Brown, of Foxford, County Mayo. Irishmen have left their mark on South American history as on the history of our own country. Mayor Guerin, of Montreal, has been created a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by his Holiness Pope Pius X. This honor was conferred on the Mayor for his work during the Eucharistic Congress last September, at the suggestion of his Eminence Cardinal Vannutelli, the Papal Delegate to the Congress. The parchment conveying the title was delivered by his Grace Archbishop Bruchesi in person to Ma3 r or Guerin. Mr. Henry Labouchere, for years one of the few friends of Ireland in London, entered on his eightysecond year on November 9. The keenest of wits, the cleverest of raconteurs, the most biting of cynics, yet behind it all a kindly and generous man —such is Henry Labouchere. As a politician Mr. Labouchere was a Radical, and a great friend of Ireland. He always fought for the weaker side, and, as a journalist, he has always denounced jobbery and roguery, being a tireless hunter down of quacks, imposters, and scoundrels of every degree. Eloquence and wisdom (remarks the Daily Chronicle) were the marks of the powerful speech delivered by Mr. John Redmond in unveiling the Parnell Monument in Dublin. 'We cannot spare a single Irishman'—Mr. Redmond quoted this memorable utterance and endorsed it, pleading for the co-opera-tion of Irishmen of every party and creed in the rebuilding of the nation. ' Let those words/ he said, ' be our watchword in the future of construction and reconciliation.' This aspiration, in fact the whole speech, was worthy of the leader of a nation. The Prime Minister (Mr. Asquith) entered upon his 60th year on September 12. He has now joined the little band of members who have represented one constituency without a break for a quarter of a century, among those who share the distinction being Sir Edward Grey, Mr. Burt, Mr. Fenwick, Mr. T. P. O'Connor, Mr. Atherley-Jones, Mr. William Abraham, Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Dillon, and Sir Henry Kimber, all of whom were returned at the general election of 1885. In point of age the Prime Minister has four seniors in the Cabinet— Morley, Lord Carrington, Lord Loreburn, and Mr. Birrell. A signal honor (says America) was recently conferred on Madame Curie, to whom belongs, as Professor Curie told the world, more than half the credit for the discovery of radium. At the congress of radioactivity and electricity, lately held in Brussels, an endeavor was made to establish a standard of measurement for the emanations of radium. Madame Curie was appointed to conduct the investigations, as the only person possessing sufficient knowledge of the subject to do so. The unit of measurement, it was decided, will be the ' curie,' and thus the name of this distinguished woman of science will be perpetuated as the names of Ohm, Volta, and Ampere are commemorated in electrical units. The world in general will look upon this distinction as greater than that of membership of the Department of Science in the French Academy, to which the ' immortals' of that body, through respect for a tradition, declined to elect her.