Afternoon Tea Gossip

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 98, 17 May 1902, Page 7

Afternoon Tea Gossip

By Little Miss Muffitt.

Inspectoi Hume ha& dropped lnito Auckland, and no races are on The 'OWnoi" «ante to know what's uu. ■t- * * An Australian pam'i I see, suggests, that the Gennaius sent that shipload of dirty and e\ il-vsme'lling clothes to the Boeis because the\ knew the Boers weie not used to clean ones. * ♦ * Pmg-pongers bew are A devotee of the miss-and-giggle game has recently died' ot collapse aftei a heavy match. What's the matter with blowing a, feather around, and calling it "Fhfffluff'"- 1 Bound to catch on. ♦ • » I see it stated that Trooper James Christie, who supplied the Clutha 'Leadci" with the details of the shooting ot unaimcd Boers bv the Bush Veldt Caibineers, was at one time a candidate for the Mataura seat in the House • * * I ha\e recently wondered win so mam gentlemen who are not teetotallers have left Wellington for SydneA . Now I know A Pitt-street wine shop contiacts to supply wine at a "boo an hour " What glorious possibilities to an able thirst-quencher 1 • • • The King never accepts free seats at theatres or concerts. "When any member of the royal family patronises a place ot amusement, the seats are engaged and paid for exactly as in the case of the King's subjects. As a crowned head he objects to being a dead head • • • Heie is a gem" advertisement from an Auckland paper -- Comfortable Home is offeied to 1 expectable Girl 12 01 13 years of age, clothes found, in return tor light services—Apply StaT Office" Just imagine the inestimable boon of being allowed to weai the missus's ' castoffs " All the child will have to do will be to drudge undei her kind guidance. While A.mv Castles was in Wellington she mentioned to a mutual friend that Regma Nagel is in beautiful voice but is moie nervous than ever. Amy herself suffers ternblv from nervousness. The people who attended her first concert in Wellington would hardly believe that she was quite sick in hei die«smg-room just before making her debut # * " B\ the wa\ , she laughs heartily at the stor\ that 2.1 per cent, of her earnings go to the Church, and says "No the chinch gets' 9o per cent of the grow, and Mi Williamson and I divide the balance after expenses are paid." Hei eight concerts m Melbourne Svdne.v and Bendigo netted £ofi7(i average over t7OO a night The Rc\ J Gibb of Dunedin weais a curious kind ot fanc> dress when he appears m full uniform as Moderatoi of the United Piesbytenan Church. It consists ot knee breeches, low shoes a bho\el hat with several corners, and a st\hsh coat with Homton lace up and down the bosom, and at the wrists. No wonder some, of the auld hchts" p layed up when they saw it. Just imagine our own Kennedy Elliott or James Pateison decked out in that fashion' As Nellie Stewart will be in Wellington a tew months hence, I may mention that hei gowns in 'Sweet Nell of Old Diur\" wUI open widely the eyes ot feminine Wellington, and wring its heart with despair. There is a petticoat ot white satin, which is beautifulh embioideied in a design of birds of Paradise, is 200 years old, and has been worn b\ many of the famous Lady Teazles and Pew Woffingtons in the. Old Country . Prior to its piesentation to Mi<*s Stewart, it was in the possession of the late Mrs. Scott-Siddons. - * * The over-dress is of palest blue brocaded satin, the sweeping train caught back with black rosettes, a flounce of antique lace finishing the petticoat hpin The jewels worn with this toilette are magnificent, comprising diamond necklets, stars, crescents, ropes and numerous designs beginning with a deep dogcollar. It is sufficient to say Miss Stewart blazes with diamonds, and wherever there is room pearls softly gleam.

The\ .say that David S\mes. of theMelbourne Age," pays income tax on £40,000 a \e«r I)a\ id knew how to take ccno of tlic bawbee « • • tldid luck' Han is, a tioopei who had just 1 etui ned from Africa to the Waikato nused e\ ci vtlung n. the shape o+ death and disease while 3oei fighting He went to work m the lv,:sh and a falling tiee killed him ♦ * * It i*s said that nose& have been countod, and there is a cleai majontv in the Federal Parliament m faroui of raising them own seiew- -repmsentatnes and fcenatois alike — to £V>o pei annum At that price polities will be one ot the hbeial professions * » * The Government Gazette" is following in the steps of the Defence Foice'fe Genet a I Oideu-s. A lecent number says 'The following gentlemen have bwn made vaccination inspectors " One of the 'gentlemen" gazetted is called Maiv Agnes Hickson •y- *• Prime Minister Baiton was quite overlooked at the swagger banquet tendered Diggei Dick Seddoii in Sydney, says Melbourne "Punch," The New Zealand Premier was mobbed by the dineis A stiong personality can still make a mark in this world. Toby Barton is the lath painted to look like iron , Premier Seddon is iron • • • A. R. Barclay, Dunedin's small-sized member wants to know why the State .should not go into ''the book-making mdustiv?" Well, does not it already hold a proprietary mteiest m that industry by reason of the ncr centre it levies on the 'tote"' J But an aimv of Government bookmakers — eood giacious, catch me while I faint. ♦ * * Somebody is alw ays striving to &a,\ something smait about ' Our Dick." A Southern paper, attacking the Pier.iier, got this hurled at it bv a champion of the "King," in a "reptile" contempora.r\ — "The writer of that article could not slacken Mr Seddon's waistband, for it is tightly secured bv a safety pin, the patent fastening of w Inch is Imperialism." What a strain on that safety -pin ! *■ r *■ They mean to get a reguiaa tip-top editor for that new Sydney daily. It is said that an offer of £3000 a yeai has been cabled to Massingham, the wellknown English Radical writer. What extravagance 1 lam sure, if it were put to him nicely, Allan On would fill the chan for something le&s than that. Bv the way, the Austialian Natives' Association also want an editor for a. projected weekly papei They are willing to pay the giddy sum of 30s a, week * V *• Some of the papers over in Svdne\ do not >veem to like Tom Mann but they keep paragraphing him a,ll the same One of them accuses him of trying to run the whole show m New Zealand. Well, it is a free country at any rate. And it adds that, 'Tom beats even Ben Tillett badly in the run off for the great-est-lude-in-creaition stakes." Abuse of this, sort, won't hurt Tom Mann. * * • New Zealand continues to be w ell advertised abroad. I s*ee ,the Sydney "Sunday Times" says that if there are to be any more gushing official reports of New Zealand as "a land of milk and hone\," the Seddon Government will need a big standing army to keep the world from rushing that coloav. Let them all come. That is, so long as the\ bung coin of the lealm along with them