Sossip from Sydney.

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 722, 2 May 1914, Page 7

Sossip from Sydney.

Dear Christabel, — EASTER, with its' penitential Friday bun and subsequent races, has come and gone. We are very much as we were before these events— that is to say, some of us are. That portion of the community which almost pledged its husband's incomes for the next three months in dressmakers' bills is probably suffering from a slightly tired feeling. * * * * The races brought warm shades of crimson, in tailored coats and skirts, to the fore. Though this beautiful colour needs more wintry weather than the autumn warmth of our Easter, young girls looked very charming in .this old favourite. We have had so many sickly shades of greenish yellow to look at, that even under its present name, "beauty red," we joyfully welcome a long tried friend that never threw a bilious tint on the most sallow complexion. * * * * The Governor-General and Lady Dentnan arrived in Sydney on a Friday morning and left by express on Sunday evening. They had a special train to take them off, as they were going to stay on Falkiner's sheep station, in the Riverina, for a few days. During their hurried visit to this city, the vice-regal couple, and I think one A.D.C., were the guests of Admiral and Lady Patey at Admiralty House. In order not to eat our . Commander-in-Chief out of house and home, other members of the staff were quartered, amongst their various wealthy friends. Have you ever observed that no nicely brought-up A.D.C. ever has any poor friends ? * * * * The last day of the A.J.C. races, which was quite warm enough for muslins, brought out many hew winter frocks. Perspiring woman —with heroic fortitude worthy of a better cause —added furs to her sufferings. For those who can afford it, leopard skin is the fashionable pelt. After this comes a fluffy creamy brown fur, called bearskin, though I doubt if that elusive beast would recognise it if he saw it. The squirrel coat, made very long, also appeared as a wrap late in the afternoon, though tissue paper would have been quite heavy enough so far as the temperature was concerned. * * * * Emerald green is hard to oust. Lady Barttelot. a friend of Lady Denmans, and. wife of a member of the staff, wore this shade in a .wide sash round her black frock, and repeated the Same colour' in her small hat. Lady Barttelot is very tall and slender, and when she first came out with the vice-regal people from England, was extremely pretty in a vivid pink and white style. Australia, however, seems to haye washed the colour out of her cheeks, and the untidy look of the modem drapery does not suit a figure which graced the precise fashion plate modes of two years ago. **' * * The same thing may be said of every tall woman of the smart set, just now. There is more of her to look untidy —you call it negligee if you. aspire to be considered a French scholar —than there is on the small person. A club-man's dictum in race-week on the present thrown-to-gether appearance of the fashionable making a distressful journey up the steep enly-looking lot of women in_ my life, and they seem to have done it on purpose!"

The dance on H.M.A.S. Australia was more lucky in its weather than are most entertainments on shipboard in this breezy port. The night was fine, and there wa;> only a pleasant catspaw of wind to ripple the harbour. The naval hosts had prepared for the worst—warned by past experience of female figures making a distressful journey up a steep gangway with their skirts in -full sail in a fierce southerly gale. A covered awning, wind-proof, had been thoughtfully prepared for the breezes that did not blow. * * * * One big dance on a mah-o'-war is very much like another. Guns draped with bunting, Chinese lanterns, and nooks—■ carefully arranged for prolonged tete-a-tetes far from the madding herd. Admiral and Lady Patey and Flag-Lieut. Poe. R.'N., all seemed to be rather new at the reception and entertainment business. They do not know the official people as yet, except in a vague far-off sort of manner, most discouraging to the ordinary personis who start the evening with a chilly smile fr-om the host and hostess. One -hesitates. to keep on insisting how thin the fashionable woman has become. But evening dress is no respecter of bones, and Lady Patey's otherwise elegant appearance in a beauty red frock with a long black tulle sash, was rather marred by too little flesh. The plump daughters of Sir John Maddep, who look as if they lived on clotted cream, are a positive relief after this 1914 plethora of salt-cellars. * * . * * Mrs. Alec Hay, the handsomest of the late Mrs. Burdekin's daughters, though a mere lathe for slim-lines,, must have very small bones. At the dance on the Australia she floated round in a filmy gown that seemed to encase a form of Fairy-like proportions, though very tall. The flounced effect of this beautiful gown was quite charming, but—only for a figure like .an osier wand. * * # * Some Scottish tourists, Mr. and Mrs. and Miss Dunlop, who are travelling round the world, are leaving Sydney for a trip through your North Island. * *' * * A Japanese merchant named B. Sutoh leaves Sydney on April 29th fir the Dominion. He manages the export and import departments of a Yokohama firm which has a big branch here. Mr. Sutoh is probably going to extend his. business to New Zealand, as his visit is not of the sight-seeing order. * * * * Mr. Alexander Campbell, better known to old New .. Zealand footballers as* "Alex," is over here, for the first time I understand. As you remember, he was for many years captain of the Melrose Football Club in Wellington, and was famous as a "place" kick. ' I am not quite sure what this means,-but suppose it refers to the Alex Campbell ability to kick a ball from here to the other side of next week.. * * # .* An Auckland family named J. C. Macky (or is it Mackay?) have been mentioned as due here on their return from Europe. They go on to the Dominion shortly. * * * * The microscopic details, published concerning the courtships and weddings of quite unimportant people in this State are becoming very tedious. For instance, one of the daughters of. a well-to-do head of a big boot business went to another State on a visit, with her mother. On the voyage they met a Dutch gentleman who was apparently more impulsive than the average Hollander is supposed to be. According to the newspaper account, the hero exclaimed, "That girl, and none other shall be my wife!" A swift engagement followed, and the wedding is to be in the very near future. One often wonders whether the man or the girl or the prospective (and pleased) mother-in-law hands out these intimate details which . would make sensitive folks shudder to see in print. - * « « « The Imperial dancing salon d© luxe, which was the very well managed Imperial rink a year ago, has been re-open-ed in o-reat glory. It is the finest place

of the kind" in any Australian city, for we are new to what the American calls" a "dancing saloon." Though the entrance is only 3s, the management are rigorously censoring the arrivals,, and no one with the least claim to a "loud" appearance would be admitted at any price. _ Over 2000 leading citizens and their wives and daughters were invited for the first evening of the season. The tango, which will be taught in the .afternoon by an American expert brought here for the purpose., will be the leading feature.. of this fashionable dancing hall. But it is an ethereal spirit of the tango as danced by this Carl Bentzen, which I doubt if Society, Avhich likes a romp, will take to with enthusiasm. *■* * * One hopes that the capital and enterprise sunk in this new departure, the Imperial salon, will be rewarded. Refinement in every dance is insisted on to a degree which makes those who watch the "kitchen lancers" style of. our smart set in other ballrooms, rather doubtful. The decorations are on the same aesthetic lines ais the dancing. The long dome roof is hung with Chinese lanterns. Below them is a trellis in which bloom gorgeous tropic flowers—mostly red and yellow. Hundreds of tinted electric,'lights fling an air of enchantment on the scene. You know the flowers are manufactured, and the electrician is controlling the atmosphere—but you are in fairyland all the same. * * * * Only an American would dare this lavish expenditure on a propsition that may, or may not pay. To the ingenuity and artistic ideas of Mr. James Benarodt, the young U.S.A. manager, who made the Imperial rink last year, is chiefly due this innovation! "Whether this luxurious to a dream-tango will pav its way remains to be seen. Most fervently one hopes it will. * * * At Living chess was the best item in the recent Shakespeare festival in the Town Hall. A champion and ex-champion played a special game on the platform, while a herald announced the moves. But the absurd antics of a girl who danced—for no earthly reason so far as the spectators could see—amongst the players, rather spoilt the dignity of the moves. ' • * * * *. Sir Gerald Strickland opened the usual, speech. A large gathering of official guests sat on the platform in the solemn fashion which is part of the business of beine official. They showed a tepid interest in human chess as it moved before them, but became more cheerful when afternoon tea cups began to tinkle. Next week I shall have more space to give to Shakespeare, who is too dead to mind being laid on the shelf for a few days. Yours discursively, Bora.