People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 15 May 1913, Page 41

People We Hear About

Sir 'Joseph arid Lady Ward (writes a London correspondent; are? still [ keeping • to their plan of remaining here until the • end of May, and New Zealand should see them again about the middle of July; Miss Ward returned a few days ago from Ireland, where she had been staying with Mrs. Woods (nee Miss Rubi Seddon), at Queenstown. '--■■"■ The Nobel roll of -honor affords a unique opportunity to see which nations are 'doing the most for civilisation as indicated by the sixty-five individuals who since 1901. have received this award. Germany has been so honored sixteen times, and stands at the head in all five departments except peace. France stands second with ten Nobel prize men, followed by England with seven, and Holland with five. Then "come Russia, Italy, Switzerland, and aweden with four each, and Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Austria, /and the United States with two each, and Norway with one. ' Very Rev. Sir D. Hunter Blair, Bart., who~has just been appointed Abbot of St. Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus, was, in his early days, an officer in the Ayrshire Militia. On his father's death he succeeded to the estate of Dunskey in Wigtownshire, but \ Blairquhan, the Ayrshire property of the family, passed to his younger brother, Commander Hunter Blair. The first baronet of the family was a member of the famous banking-house of Sir Wm. Forbes and Co., and was at one time Lord Provost of Edinburgh. For several generations the Hunters held tne office of official printers of the Bible in Scotland. '• , , Senor Merry del Val, the new Spanish Ambassador, has arrived in London with Madame Merry del Val, and has taken up his residence at 72 Queen's Gate. ;- The new Ambassador is the brother of Cardinal Merry del Val, "the Papal Secretary of State, and is a son of a former Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. A relation of the family, Count de Torre Diaz, is one of trie most prominent figures in Catholic life in London. Senor Merry del Val is about 50 years of age, and has served as Spanish Minister at Tangier, and latterly at Brussels, where he has been in residence since 1911. He is a very good linguist, and speaks English perfectly, in addition to French, German, and Italian. Madame Merry del Val is the daughter of Senor Alzola, of Bilbao, who has some reputation as a writer. An Irish Home Rule peer, such as Lord Granard, is, in these days, the exception to the rule i( (says the Freeman's Journal). Staunch to the demand of Ireland for self-government, an Irish nobleman of whom our country can be proud, his name has been mentioned as a probable Viceroy after the Home Rule Bill has reached the Statute Book and our Parliament has been restored. He is in his prime, and a Dublin man to boot. The Right Hon. Bernard Arthur William Patrick Hastings Forbes was born at Merrion square in 1874. His father was the seventh Earl, and his mother daughter of the 12th Lord Petre. The late Earl was a convert to the Church in 1869, and received from his Holiness Pope Pius IX. the Grand Cross of St. Gregory in recognition of his zeal in religion. Lord Granard was educated at Beaumont and the Oratory School, and succeeded his' father in 1889. He served in the Scots Guards, was A.D.C. to Earl Cadogan in Ireland, and has filled many high offices of State, including Lord-in-Waiting to King Edward VII., and Master of the Horse. He wears the Grand Cross of the Order of Isobel la Catolica, is a Companion of the Spanish Order of Merit, and was a Special Ambassador to announce the accession of King George* V. at Foreign Courts in 1910. He is a Privy Councillor and Knight of the Order of St. Patrick. He married, in 1908, Beatrice, daughter of Mr. Ogden Mills, of Staatsburg, Dutchess County, U.S.A., and niece of Mrs. Whitelaw Reid. Amongst all his honors it is not unlikely that that which he himself and his uescenuanus win vaiue mosu is iMu ue was one oi tue Peers, who voted in the House of Lords for the Bill destined to restore her Parliament to his native land.