A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 261, 4 November 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

' WOMEN'S CLUBS. FAMOUS GOLF COURSE. '(From Our London Lady Correspondent.) Jlr. and Mrs. Baldwin are again off to jjx-lcs-Bains for their holiday. It is a very real holiday, so far as Mr. Baldwin is concerned. Prom the moment Je leaves London he easts the cares of office on one side. You could not imagine Mr. Baldwin going off to Aix-les-Bains to study the famous White Taper —with the black edging! "When he arrives at Victoria station he equips himself with the lightest of novels and the most thrilling detective tales he can find on the bookstall. And when he reaches Aix-Ics-Bains he lives the life of the country, going off for long tramps on the slopes of the mountains around Lake Bourget. Very often he stuffs a frugal lunch in his pocket, and then, with his beloved pipe, disappears after breakfast for the remainder of the day.

ROYAL ART PATRONS. Next year's January art show at Burlington House will, as already announced at the Koyal Academy, consist of British works. We have had, in brilliant succession, exhibitions of Flemish, Dutch, Italian, Persian and French art, but now the genius of our native painters, past anc 1 present, will he given a chance. Such masters as Hogarth, Keynolds, Romney, Gainsborough and P.aeburn will be included, of course, but later artists, too, and the show is not being restricted to painting and sculpture alone. Representative art work of all kinds, in furniture, armour, iewellery and textiles will find its ilace I hear that the King and Queen have" promised to act as patrons to this interesting exhibition, which may wove of as great popular attraction as even the best of the past foreign ones. NO SHOP! A new movement in the club life of London manifests itself amongst women. All manner of small clubs are springing up limited in the main to a dozen or a score of members. They have .no clubhouse and no headquarters of any • jjjnd, all the administrative work generally o«ng carried on by the hon. secretary from her own home. The members simply meet for lunch once a week at one or other of the London restaurants. A peculiarity of these clubs is. that only one member of any pp.rticular profession is admitted to membership. There may be one lady barrister, one journalist, one chartered accountant, and so on—but not more than one. 'The idea is to keep all the social gatherings completely free from "shop." Everyone has different interests, and they come together to pool their different points of view. GOLF "BIRDIES." A London newspaper, I notice, is commenting on the number of wild rabbits infesting the woods - which flank the course of the Royal Wimbledon golf course. Someone has rushed in to point out that at Woodcoto Park there are not only rabbits but partridges as well. As a matter of fact, there are at the present moment several coveys of partridges also on the Royal Wimbledon course, and playing round there recently I also saw a number of pheasants. This famous course, indeed, is something in the nature of a birds' sanctuary. On occasions you may see wild geese and wild duck flying across, presumably from Virginia Water. Naturalists assert that you'see more types of wild birds in the woods adjoining tho links than can be found at any' spot within such near reach of the centre of London. For, as the crow flies, the Royal Wimbledon is little more than half a dozen miles from Charing Cross. EVENING DENTURES. West End beauty specialists draw the line at nothing. They will equip the potential Venus with false hair, artificial eyelashes, imitation coloured finger nails, complesM>n make-up, and other aids to loveliness that assist to a svelte figure, and now they are going one better even than their previous best. The really serious devotee at beauty's shrine may now be equipped with camouflage teeth, whose pearly whiteness would put. to shame any Hollywood film vamp. These are not artificial teeth, but a facade! to improve the look of existing natural ones. The bright and glittering idea came, I suppose, when the adhesive tinted finger nail was invented. It will really be interesting to see whether there are actually women prepared to go even this length in the pursuit of unnatural charm. Modern feminism certainly takes on some queer disguises.

COWES. There is still a gay crush of yachts at Cowes, and almost a congestion of celebrities ashore in the narrow streets of the old town, but Cowes has changed profoundly. Time was when a house could be let for the Cowes fortnight for anything up to £300 or £400. Quite respectable modest mansions are now available for £15 or £20 a week. Hotel charges have: undergone a similar slump. The old merry yachting. spirit remains, but it has not the same backing of big purses. Men wear pretty much what they have always worn at Cowes. Yachting uniform remains much the same as it was in King Edward's time for men. But how Queen Alexandra would gaze at, and what crisp comments she would make upon, the up-to-date Cowes ladies. Navy blue trousers, cut a la bluejacket, are the vogue 'now. And every fair Cowes habitue is painted thick with shop suritan. f

WORLD'S BIGGEST CLUB.

What a contrast the small intimate clubs to be found in London present to another club of which I heard to-day— the great social club in Buenos AyrCs. It is easily the biggest club in the ■world. It boasts a membership of between half a million and a million members. "What would happen if they all presented themselves simultaneously at the clubhouse one shudders to contemplate. By reason of its huge membership, the subscription is low, amounting, in our money, to ony about £3 or so per annum. For this sum you get not only a magnificent clubhouse with all the_ usual amenities, but facilities for swimming, for lawn tennis, for racquets and even for golf, all within the confines of the club grounds. The golf course and lawns cover as much land as the whole of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens put together. It was bought, of course, before Buenos Ayres became the great city that it is, and the capital value of the property now must be snjiply enormous.