A MAID IN MAYFAIR

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 69, 22 March 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR

GOSSIP FROM LONDON

TOWN. THE WINTER SPORTS. (From Our London Lady Correspondent.) According to the popular conception, everyone went off to the Winter Sports this week. That, I fear, is a fallacy. There were more golf clubs than skis on the Continental trains from Victoria. A great many enthusiasts go off to Switzerland before Christmas and remain there as long as the snow or their money lasts. But the real Society exodus rarely starts before the middle of January, when there is a certainty of plenty of snow and when the winter sports season reaches its apex. Prom the middle to the end of January there is scarcely a room to be had at St. Mo'ritz and even the less fashionably Murren is uncomfortably crowded. Even then the rush does not last very long, for the "best people," as the society gossipers name them, soon move on to the Riviera, exchanging the exhiliaration of ski-ing and skating to bask in the sunshine of the Cote d'Azur. ON THE RIVIERA. But fashion is changing even on the Riviera. A few years ago you had little difficulty in booking a seat on the "Blue Train" until January was well advanced. But quite a number of society people have now adopted the practice of spending the Christmas holidays in the south with their children. Under these arrangements these lucky youngsters get two seaside holidays in the year. Often a travelling tutor or governess is taken with theni, so that they may improve their French or their Italian, as the case may be. For the Italian resorts like Bordighera, Sail' llenio, Rapallo and Santa Marguerita are enjoying a larger measure of this Christmas patronage than even the better-known French resorts. Needless to say, the hotels are catering enthusiastically for this new clientele, and but for the fact that there are great masses of raiinosa, ripe oranges on the trees, scarlet carnations in the fields and butterflies fluttering from bloom to bloom, it is difficult to imagine that you are on foreign soil: For whether you are on the, French or on the Italian Riviera, there is more English spoken in the hotels and in the shops than any other language.

LTJXURIOUS TRAVEL. With the exception of the De Luxe travel provided for princes and millionaires on the Indian railways, travel between London and the Eiviera is now more luxurious than is to be found anywhere in the world. The sleeping cabins of the Wagon Lit grow more comfortable and more roomy with every season that passes, and on the famous Golden Arrow everything has been provided that human ingenuity can suggest to while away the tedium of the long journey from Calais to Marseilles. When you have dined in comfort in the saloon and gossiped for a time over the coffee and liqueurs, the strains of an orchestra invite you to the ballroom. It is a little difficult to do the six-eight or the 1930 foxtrot quite accurately on a floor which jolts sometimes as you go crashing over the points. But it whiles away the time effectively, and the journey from Calais to Cannes is so pleasant under these sumptuous conditions that it becomes a pleasant part of the holiday, SOARING PRICES. People who scoff at the Riveira and go as far afield as Havana or Nassau in search of sunshine, will find that the recent hurricane has done a good deal of damage to their favourite resorts. There is a little coterie in Mayfair that returns to the Bahamas year after year. Lady Diana Cooper is of the number, and sailed for the south only a few days ago. There is plenty of life and gaiety at Havana, but it is less spoilt than the Riviera. But it is surprising how prices go up in the trail of Society. Delightful little estates in the Bahamas could be purchased a few years ago for a few shillings only. Much the same thing obtained along the Italian Riviera. Delightful little villas, with glorious grounds, could be purchased a few years ago with a mere two or three hundred pounds. To-day they are rented for the season at a sum well in excess of the price originally paid for their purchase..

KING AT YORK HOUSE. Special interest attached to the King's visit to York House, before travelled down to Sandringham, to dine with the Prince of Wales. It was not only His Majesty's first dinner engagement since his illness. But the first occasion he has been outside York House since the Prince had elaborate alterations carried out at his personal expense. Though the enlargement of the banqueting hall is still in progress, the original dining-room on the first floor was available, and the King, I am told, liked the alterations. The chief of these is the removal of the barbarous Victorian paint hiding the fine grain of the oak woodwork. Mottled glass has been substituted in the windows, and an electric fire adds to the general cosiness of the Prince's "home." But let it be noted that there is no more talk of removing the Prince to Marlborough House. After a long and obstinate Struggle, he wins hands down. ITALY IN LONDON. London's social life, at the moment, all seems to revolve round the Italian Exhibition. People slip into Burlington House whenever the opportunity occurs, and entertainments are all concerned with the Italian pictures. There are luncheons and at homes, musical soirees and dinner parties, Italian concerts, and conversaziones at which authorities discuss the different important canvases. Sir Austen and Lady Chamberlain are found at a great many of these functions cementing the happy relationships between English hostesses and Italian' guests which the exhibition has brought to London. Lady Chamberlain and her daughter, Miss Diane, hit upon a delightful scheme of decoration for Lady Chamberlain's own "Italian dinner party" a night or two ago. Down the centre of the long table were tall slender vases of exquisite Italian glass, each filled with foliage sent from the Italian "Riviera. Bunches of golden mimosa e a brilliant colour note, and the vases were "joined" by silken ribbons *n Italian colours laid flat on the cloth.