"THE NITRATE KING."

Auckland Star, Volume XX, Issue 58, 9 March 1889, Page 4 (Supplement)

"THE NITRATE KING."

£10,000 FOR A DINNER.

(from our special correspondent.)

London, January 11. The Nitrate King's fancy ball at the Hotel Metropole on Friday evening last will long be remembered as the mosb unsatisfactory entertainment that ever cost —liberally—a mint of money. Colonel North spent (according to his own account) te7i thousand pounds on'this little do.' Every luxury which the heart of man could desire or even think of was liberally provided, down to, or rather up to, bedrooms for such guests as were too overcome by the Colonel's hospitality to be able to find their way home. The supper tables absolutely groaned under the weight of costly and unseasonable delicacies. Yet, bar perhaps 200 people who gob first into the supper rooms, and who stuck there for the rest of the nighb, I doubt if any of bhe guests did much else but grumble. For one thing far too many people had been asked. The whole of -the theatrical profession seemed to me to be present, and every Dick, Tom, and Harry whom Colonel North had ever nodded to in the city must have had cards. What our host would call " the swells" were, with the exception of Lord auciL'iclyßaiidolpliChurchill,conspicuoußby their absence. The overcrowding didn't really matter much till supper-time. Then, indeed, the fun of the evening began in sad earnest. The early birds (as I have said) swarmed the banqueting hall and bhe doors were promptly closed. Outside for bhe rest of the night stood a cross and hungry crowd. Dancing was given up. We were all too anxious to get a glimpse of the glories behind those closed doors to dance. Occasionally a few well-suppered persons merged and sundry supperles.3 ones were admitted, but I am sure as I can be that many of those who sot down to sab at the stroke of midnight were still feeding when ourpartyeftectedasu-ategical entrance by a side door two hours later. By that time the waiters were completely demoralised, and 'twas only by heavy tipping we managed to secure a slice of Pate de Perdreaux and a glass of " Koch fils 1880." The wine was excellent (the best I shouldthink ever given at such a feast), and the guests were hob slow to take advantage of the fact. Ab bhe table adjoining ours sab a porcine citizen consuming hot-house strawberries with intense relish (though they were really, I found, quite flavourless) and hiccoughing the while "five bob a berry." A sombrelooking old gentleman in a grey wig was pointed out to me as Harry Payne, the Drury Lane clown, and poor Toole in his " don " trencher and goM'n, seemed the reverse of hilarious. Your friend, St-uarb Cumberland, came disguised as a mediaeval knight of some order to which (so he explained) he really belongs, and Tom Thorne paid his host a delicate compliment by wearing a sort of smock encrusted with " nitrates." As a whole, however, the costumes were not strikingly novel or original. And what, perhaps you may ask, became of Colonel North himself? Well, I don't know. Some say he was shub up with a few intimates in" a room upstairs; others, that he permeated the crowd disguised .variously to, hear what was said. North's career, so far, has run very much on the lines of Baron Grant's. I fancy, though, he is a shrewder man than the versatile Albert, and therefore likely to last longer. At present the city estimates him worth £8,000,000. Colonel North's prestige arises, of course, in the main from the fact that he has never made a failure in anything he has undertaken, nor been associated with one. Now, directly his name is mentioned in connection with this mine or that patent there is arush for ib. "If North takes ib up, bhe mine will succeed whether there's gold there or not," I heard a city man of great experience say of some venture under discussion the other day. "He dare nob let ib fail. _ A failure would be too serious a thing for him." Unquestionably the Colonel, _ besides having great good luck, possesses immense perspicuity and knowledge of men. The way in which he converted an unpromising venture like the Italian Exhibition into a huge success, despite the serious drawbacks of bad weather "and royal disapproval, has inspired me with imjnense respect for the man. He must be a genius at organisation. The papers are, of course, full of North and his coups, his presentations, his hounds, his horses, and his followers.

I suppose there never was a man surrounded by more vultures and hangers-on. " Catch him in a friendly mood, and he'Ji as like as not make your fortune," said Geoffrey Thorn the other night at the Metropole. " Why, he gave Tom Thorne, of the Vaudeville, a hint out of which he's made £8,000 without spending sixpence," and so on. George R. Sims is, a3 usual, on the spot with some apropos lines, vide the following : — Colonel Crcesus. Have you heard of Colonel Croesus 1 What! you haven't ? Gaze on high. Do you nee that comet blazing in the vast financial sky? Note its sixo and note its splendour, and the glory of its tail— . By its side all stars and planets stop their twinkle and turn pale. There are people still in Asia who bow down before the sun, And the moon of many races has ere now their homage won; But the idol of the moment is the comet of the It's to blazing Colonel Croesus that no end of people pray. When his housemaid in the morning goes to shake the mat outside, There are crowds of people waiting, and tne mob spreads far and wWo ; They are waiting for the Colonol, and they ■jostle, push, and try , To geb near enough to touch him or to catch liiß kindly eye. Statesman, poet, author, actor, artist, merchant, and divine, All in humble adoration come to worship, at nis shrine; , , , And their cheeks are flushed with gladness, and there's triumph in their eyes. If he gives cheman allotment in his latest enterprise.

He's a heart beneath the waistcoat that enfolds his spacious chest, And a hand thai; scatters bounty north and south and oast and west. No one asks ih_yain a favour—in his easy-going way He will scatter golden chances 'mong the suppliants every day. Here's a health to Colonel Croesus-bluff, bighearted millionaire— Who's content his princely fortune with his followers to share. But he must be getting tired of the crowds that daily come. Greedy Lazaruses waiting at his table for a crumb. He has given them High Kickeys, and Alpacas, and the rest, And has told them when in Dayrates they with profit can invest. He has flung the crowd his favours, and has loaded all his friends, And they now might leave him quiot just to n: ake some slight amends. To be pestered and surrounded, morning, afternoon and night, May not seem to Colonel Croesus a perpetual delight; And I shouldn't be astonished if one morning he should say, 'O, here—hang it, you're a nuisance! Do.confound you, go away!'