Illustrated London Letter.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 145, 20 June 1891, Page 4 (Supplement)

Illustrated London Letter.

([•ROM OCR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, April 18, 1391

COKDrKOY AND CAPITAL. Thjj Koyai Commission on Labour, aa gazetted, i.-- variously described as " a mixed lot," and a body " that cannot fail to give general satisfaction," according to the political loaning of the party expressing an opinion. To the unbiassed, there may be some regret ab the absence of men who had at leasb as strong, and, perchance, stronger claims to represent labour, to those who have been chosen. Bub perhaps we havo gob quito as much as wo expected, and as the end of Royal Commissions has invariably been to leave us precisely ab the point from which they started, it will probably be superfluous to be hypercritical as to the constitution of the new body. The Commission will sib in a fine new committee room which forms part of the new wing of the House, erected on the historic site"of the old Westminster Hall. The room is being rapidly trot ready, and in the fitting and furnishing, LordHartington, as Chairman of the Commission, has been able to secure several alterations which will add to the convenience of the members of the Commission. The Maniclt. Massacre. News from Manipnr confirms the worst fears of the pessimists by detailing the murder of Mr Q.uinton and his suite. The audacity of the massacre proves how incompletely the conquest of India has been carried out, and how precarious are the lives of British subjects whose duties brin^ , them into contact with the fierce tribes on the borderlands of the Empire. Manipur is a disaster thab will do much among the Indians to revive the rebel feeling created ab Maiwand. It must be taken both as a lesson and as a warning ; in the lirsb place ; to teach us more tact and toleration, and, in the second, never to attempt to dictate to a tribe until we have a sufficient force at our backs bo ensure immediate obedience.

The unfortunate gentleman who has paid with his life the penalty of holding his enemy too cheaply, appears to have been a courageous Irish gentleman, who allowed his valour to carry him into the irresponsibilities of rashness. The son of an EnniskilJen wine merchant, he passed through Trinity College, Dublin, in 1853, where he greatly distinguished himself. Ho was appointed to the Bengal Civil Service after open competitive examination in 1356, going to India in the sama year. There his rise was rapid : he becoming after various missions to the northwest provinces, Oudh and British Burmah, an additional member of the GovernorGeneral's Council in 1883, and acrain in 1384, 1886, and 1889. Ho was made C.S.I. in 1887, and became Chief Commissioner of Assam in October, 1889. A Wonderful Child Pianist. "Last week," writes my Paris correspondent, " the subject of my communication to you was Madauie Melba, the Australian prima donna. Curiously enough, the person who this week has been perhaps most discussed in Paris society is another Australian musician, but this time it is a little girl, who has come before the musical world as an infant phenomenon. Her name is Elsie Stanley Hall, and her debnls dans Iβ monde wore made last Tuesday, at Elysee, at one of Madame Carnot's Tuesday receptions. Miss Hall is barely fourteen. She was born in Queensland, her mother being a professor of music in the town of Toowoomba, in that colony. She made her debuts ab a matinee ab Sydney, at the age of six and a half, where she made a greab°success. From Australia, she came to Europe, and since then has been studying hard, chiefly at Stuttgart, where she was the favourite pupil of the celebrated Professor Goetschius. Sho passed the btutbgarb method in the phenomenally abort time of eight wesks, a feat which so excited

the admiration of Professor Pruckner, the principal pianoforte player at the Conaervatorium, that he at once took her under his epecial care. The Queen of Wurtemberg, hearing of the feme of the young Australian

tfirl, invited her to the palace, and was delighted with her, and made the stay of .Miss Hall and of her mother as pleasant as possible in the capital. Mrs Stanley Hall tells me that on leaving I'avia after this season, she will return to Stuttgart. Elsie came to Paris with her mother during the Exhibition, and gave one or two concerts hero. The Parisian critics wore delighted with her, although, as a general rulo, infant phenomena are nob as highly appreciated here as they appear to be in the United States. It was this thab encouraged Mrs Hall to bring her daughter back to the French capital a few weeks ago. It was a fortunate venture, for, thanks to a lucky chance, little Elsie had tho opportunity given her of playing before Madame Carnofe, ani has thus made her entree into the very best Parisian houses. She played at a grand fete recently given by tho Princess de Leon, and will be heard this week or next ab the British Embassy. Those who aro best able to judge say that this little Australian girl is the most wonderful child-musician that has been heard, far superior to ITegner or Hoffmann. Besides playing, she composes, and I understand that a piece of hers is about to be published by Gounod's own publishers, and under Gounod's own supervision. Elsie is a very pretty child, with excellent manners, and without tho slightest trace of that bumptiousness of bearing which too often characterises tho true infant phenomenon.

Since golf was discovered to ba the favoured pastime of the Irish Secretary, and Mr Andrew Lang so suddenly became enamoured of its pleasures, this glorified kind of "shinty" has been permanently imported from the links and sandhills of bonnie Scotland, and is now a highly favoured game on our suburban heaths and commons. The fair sex, " outside the four irilea radius have also " gono for golf" with the utmost unanimity ; having discovered in it unsurpassable opportunities for flirtation ; and, now that certain members of Parliament for English constituencies have been indulging in a match on Tooting Common, we may safely pub down golf as one of the fashionable recroations that "has come to* stop." During last week and this, Tooting Common has been favoured with an unusually select audience, who assembled to witness the playing off the ties in the Parliamentary Tournament, held on the links of the Tooting Bee Club. This week, the tie between Mr Balfoar and Mr Webster, M.P., was eagerly sought by the Tooting early birds, while on Saturday last, the play between tho Marquis of Granby, M.P., and Mr W. C. Grant, of the " Scotsman ;" Sir Heron Maxwell, M.P., and Sir W. Houldsworth ; and Lord Balfonr of Burleigli and Mr Donald Crawford,afforded unbounded satisfaction to a large assembly of critical spectators. The Father of the Fleet. Sunday, April 12bh, was a red-letter day in the annals of Funbingdon, that sleepy little village a mile or two away from Bosham, the nearest railway station, on the Sussex coast, where Canute is said to have been taught his first lesson in Socialism from the sea. Funtingdon, since Sunday last, has reason to be proud, nob only of its picturesque beauty, which is above everything lying in the kingly vale, of its quaint old Normanroofed church, but of its "great house"— the solid-looking bow-windowed dwelling, with its moss-covered boundary wall and great lawn so common with the manorhouses about a century ago—in which resides the veteran admiral, " the Father of the Fleet," as he has long been affectionately called, tho gallant

who on Sunday last, amid the congratulations of the entire kingdom, reached the extraordinary age of one hundred years. The admiral's log reads rnoro liko a naval romance than a truo sea story. Born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1791, his name was entered on one of the King's ships when a child of four years o!d. With the first; year of the present century he joined the Cleopatra sloop, was captured by a Trench frigate, and retaken a week later by the- English warship Leander. In 1808 Jig was already a

lieutenant, and in H.M.B. Curieux first cut out one of the French vessels in St. Ann's Bay, Guadaloupe, and then got wrecked on the enemy's coast. It is, however, in connection with one of the fiercest sea fights recorded in naval history that Admiral Wallis' name will be indelibly associated—the memorable fifteen minutes' engagement between the rebel Chesapeake and H.M.s. Shannon in Boston Bay, on June Ist, 1813. The ehipe engaged at such close quarters that Captain Broke, of the Shannon, could lash his frigate to the American. In a quarter of an hour the Chesapeake was an English prize ; but so deadly had been the hail of lead in this short timo that the Shannon, out of a complement of 330 men, had 23 killed and 46 wounded, whilst the Chesapeake had 47 killed and 98 wounded. As Captain Broke, of the Shannon, was so badly hit as to be lion de combat, and the first lieutenant killed, the command of the frigate devolved on youn>_r Wallis, then only twenty-two, who brought hie cripple vessel safely into port. Despite his youth, he was promoted for this, commander, and, six years lator, post-captain. Subsequently he was employed in different naval services on tho coast of Mexico, the Mediterranean, and, in 1837, as Admiral and Commander-in-Chief on the south-east coast of America. He came home in 1868, and owing to the exceptional length of his services, it was decided to retain the name of Sir Provo Wallis on the active list for the rest of his life. At tho head of thab list he has now stood for many years. " God Bless the Lady Liftinant." "The Lord Liftinant" of Ireland is fortunate man. Nob only is he privileged to kiss the debutantes who are presented to him ab a Castle drawing room, but he is, happily, endowed with a wife thoroughly in accord with all the forma and ceremonies of tho viceregal office. It was in 1871 thab Lord Zetland married Lady Lilian Lumley, third daughter of the late Earl of Scarborough, and since that date the Countess has been of the utmost service and assistance to her husband, especially during the more recent period of his high official duties. Just now the Countess of Zetland and Miss Bali'our, the sistor of tho Irish Secretary, are making a tour in tho extreme wesb of Connaughb, so that they may make themselves practically acquainted with the afiliction which is said to prevail in thab portion of " the most distressful counthry." The progress of

these two Ladies Bountiful through the wilder parts of the island seems to have been everywhere marked with enthusiasm. Not only in the island of Innjskea, but throughout their journoyinga in County Mayo, the same feeling has been expressed, and priest and parson have etood side by side, as representative of their respective flocks, to assure their benefactresses of the people's gratitude. Loyalty was, I learn, observable everywhere. At Bolmullet the parish priest almost went out of his way to include Her Majesty's Government in the thanks which he offered to Lady Zetland and Miss Balfour ; whilst the people of Achill cried " God bless you!' when these ladies offered them all manner of good things. Surely, Ireland, or at least the west of it, cannot be so disaffected as it ie painted. A visit by the Duke of Connaught to the country from which he takes hi 3 dukedom would follow appropriately in the footsteps of Lady Zetland. A Founder of " The Old Stagers." The hand of death ha? been heavy on the House of Commons lately, and on the Conservative benches particularly there are many gace. Among these the mosb difficult, perhaps,' to fill will bo the place in Parliament left vacant by the death of Mr Caven-dish-Bentinck. Both in the political and social world he was conspicuous as a politician of pronounced Tory views, and a polished gentleman whose hospitality and bonhommie were by-words in London society. His house in Grafton-streetwas thefavourite resort of everybody that was anybody during the parliamentary sißtinjjs, where his unrivalled collection of French and Italian worke of art was justly held to be

Mr Cα 5-endish-£Sentinck,

the finest ever made by a private person. He was also an amateur actor of no mean parts, having in his early college days founded, with Tom Taylor, Spencer Ponsonby and Beresford Hope, the " Old Stagers," an amateur dramatic society, now so intimately associated with the Canterbury cricketing week. Mr Cavendish-Ben-tinck's parliamentary career dated from 1859, when he represented Taunton. Later, he was returned (1865) for Whitehavenj the seat now rendered vacant by hie death. In 1874 he took office as Secretary to the Board of Trade, and in the following year he was appointed Judge Advocate-General. By hie death, too, a trusteeship ot the British Museum becomes vacant. Mr CavendishBentinck was buried in the churchyard of Brankeea or Brownsea Island, near Pools, close to his mansion, rich in art treasure and rare marbles imported from Venice.

One of the minor troubles of housekeeping ie the breaking of lamp chimneys. Chimneys cost but little apiece, and break hut one at a time. You class these little surprises " among mysterious providences," and bear them meekly resigned. All wrong! the chimneye are wrong; the glass was ready to pop the minute it cooled. "Cokonet" Chimneys do nofc break in use. Sold only by E. Porter and CO., Queen-streeb> and at their retail branches.—(Advb.)