Gossip from Sydney.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 878, 4 May 1917, Page 20

Gossip from Sydney.

Deab Chbistabeio— TN the midst of war there is still the r*-, trousseau. This time the excitement lias concentrated on the wedding outfit of an Island Princess. I understand the royalties at Tonga still stand •on their dignity, unmindful of the upheaval which, hurls a mere Czar from, the throne- '

The Princess Salete, daughter of jfche King of Tonga, had her trousseau made •in Sydney: at Hordern Bros. The ■dusky bride is only 17—they marry young•! under tropic moons—and is 6ft 3£in in height. I have not any -quotations of the bridegroom's height. But, no doubt, he will be able to hold his own, in spite of the lady's inches. He is Prince William, Tuzi, who spent some time in. Sydney as a student at Newington College. The Amazonian bride and her sweetheart are followers of John Wesley, so the wedding takes place in June, in the Methodist Church, Tonga.

Princess Salete. evidently reads the fashion notes. Pal© pink is the predominant .colour. And" such exquisite filmy pink, like the first flush of dawn in . tropic seas.; The whole , trousseau •was on private view for days before the public tried to see it in the shop win>*dow. The wedding gown was reminis- . -eetrit of those wonderful- frocks worn by the fairy queens of childhood's fancy. "The most lovely Brussels lace of cobweb fineness formed an over skirt - caught garlands of orange blossoms. TJnthis was a creamy taffeta foundation. Above the Brussels lace fell; a pointed silk tunic embroidered, with seed pearls. The train, made of sump- • tiious cream brocade, was lined; with • pale pink. : Here, again, was the fairylike profusion of childhood's _ ary queens. Frills of fine chiffon andexquisite lace trimmed the lining of . the great train, and: garlands of silver - roses and orange, blooms finished the upper surface of brocade. - t ■ -i *

Imagine going away in white ciepe •' :de chine,- fine as a gossamer cloud, with an airy chapeau trimmed with -delicate pink blossoms -that looked as x . if the flowers had fallen in a dainty

handful of whipped snow. This will be Princess Salete's travelling frock— to" start with; anyhow. * - '".*■"•■ * " - * The bride was educated in one of your Dominion colleges, . and part of the honeymoon may be spent m your Isles of Beauty. Silver tissue and Brussels lace are freely used to deck the filmy evening frocks." What an episode this finery will be ;in Tonga, where the red hibiscus is still the average' dusky belle's festive wear. Even Auckland will be interested in such frocking, if the honeymooners pass that. way. In Sydney there was a wild rush to see the finery'. Men vied ' with women in their dash for Hordern's show window. . One enterprising girlvery young—made a sporty effort to swarm up the adjacent verandah poles, while two small girls were almost squeezed' into pan'cakes trying .to flatten themselves against the opposite window. . Then a stolid shop, assistant, to avoid further trouble, coldly rolled down a bleak calico blind.

- A wedding of local interest. united Major Hubert Stokes, recently back from _ the front; with, a charming Sydney girl, Miss Winifred Heron. The bride's mother is also a. decorative arid always _ beautifully dressed 'woman. Mrs. William Heron is the widow of a well-known citizen,' who mingled, the useful" business of making a competence, with the aesthetic - tastes of an art connoisseur. The bridal - gown was white taffeta veiled . in point d'Alencon ' lace. Orange blossoms caught this delicate drapery, and a huge true lover's knot of silver tissue was the motif on the train. This was of .^rucked tulle—a delicate finish to the artistic" gown. Miss Eveline Sandford and Miss Kathleen. King were the bridesmaids. Col: Bennett was best man. ' '. • » , » * t» Still. another wedding' interested many Sydney residents. Miss Sylvia Crace, the bride, belongs" to a leading pastoral family in the Yass district. Captain Arthur Champion, A.1.F., the bridegi'oom, has done distinguished work at the front. Twice wounded, be is now invalided from the firing line in France. Owing to his brother having

been killed in. action, not many months ago, the wedding was a quiet one.

Only bridesmaids, perhaps, really get a chance to! wear pre-war finery. And the revival of the rainbow tints of a few years back is a 1917 fancy in these diaphanous frocks. At'one fashionable affair lately, the pretty bridesmaids wore elaborate gowns of gold-tinted ninon over azure; silk. The effect was heightened by black tulle sashes and" gold and black hats. These blue and gold dresses glinted like a rainbow tipped with sunshine. •

Our French-Australian - League has sent over 300,000 garments and £10,000 to assist the war widows and orphans in' France. It has - also \ helped the French soldier, to the utmost of its -ability, with socks and other woollen comforts. < This" means a monthly' expenditure of about ; £ISOO.

x The Repatriation scheme is—on the ■ whole', wisely—usurping the place formerly occupied by too many - street collections.. Yet Sydney, and indeed ' the whole State, feels on its honour to support, by continued private subscriptions, the noble work done by the French-Australian7 League. A- big meeting was called at- the League's depot last week. Mr. Neville May man, . a pillar of strength to this society, told ' the meeting that only £1000 remained to their credit—less than a month's outlay. Probably on July 14, the "National. Day . of France, " Sydney will- - make a tremendous response to this appeal for help./ Mdlle. S'oubeirau, " founder and hon. organising secretary of the League, has-no doubt as to the result. . ' - k ' * ■» ■- .r. Sir William Cullen, our Chief Justice, is now for the third or fourth time Lieut.-Governor of New South Wales. Sir Gerald Strickland and his . family depart almost immediately for the old castle in Westmorland, England. - :

Lady Helen Ferguson has just returned to Sydney after a big tour to rally—or rather, meet, the Red Cross workers, in our northern towns. Her Ex. declares, that she has yet to meet the Red Cross centre which needs urging on in its efforts to. help the wounded.' - V-

Xfismore, a country town of no. great size, boasts aGirls' Patriotic League," which is its own missus, as. it were; yet Helps the" Red Cross funds with extraordinary success. Though all the girls connected with this League work for their living, in office, store, or room, they have in a few months organised a local entertainment which, has brought • already £1600 to the cause that labours for our wounded.

New Zealand's scenery—possibly the most varied for its space in the worldhas a magnificent advertisement in the movies just now. At one of our picture palaces. William J. Shephard has been showing kinemacolour scenes from the wonderland of your Dominion. In these you get an approximate effoirfc to reproduce the exquisite colouring of sunset on snowy Southern Alps, or the sapphire blue - of northern lakes. On the first evening yoxtr energetic Government Agent, Mr. Blow, entertained a party of. distinguished visitors at the show. Kinemacolour has. set huge audienries on the. qui vive to sample 'New Zealand- scenery for- themselves next season. You catch your tourist with all kinds of bait. But the movie, which is costing the Now Zealand Government practically nothing, is the best disguise for a pleasure tripper's book I know . «■ . e » • e Anzac Day, ever glorious to • Australia. and New Zealand —we were mates in that epic of Gallipoli—was celebrated here in magnificent weather. The day began with services in all our: churches to the memory of our immortal dead. Do you remember the lines by W.H.0., in London "Punch,"

that began: "The skies that _ arched his native land were blue—his bushborn winds were warm - and sweet, and yet from earliest hours he knew—the tides of victory and defeat?'' . © ■ ■ ■» . «' . It speaks eloquently of Australia's feelings on the morning of April 25 ' when one records" overflowing ? St. Andrew's Anglican Cathedral was surrounded by thousands of people unable to get in and , sadly turning away as the hour of service came. When ' churches cannot accommodate the crowds who wish to attend memorial prayers for our heroic dead, there is no fear that Australia -is forgetting her duty to the living. Sydney and its finest thoroughfare, Maequarrie-streot, flanked /by the flower-beds and velvet lawns of- _ the " Palace Gardens, is a natural amphitheatre for processions. As -the huge khaki line with glistening; bayonets • (these were our Reinforcements ready to "go when the transport' officer , says the word), swuhg.with gorgeous- silken banners past the saluting- base, there - was an exhilarated feeling of, race pride "that .broke into ringing, cheers. For : these Australians, who are going, look fit mettle to. follow the trail blazed by Anzacs. - • ; -•• Brigadier-General Lee, one of the most popular men r in the regular service, stood near 'the Governor, who took the salute, a fitting close to the last public duty of a departing State Governor/ ■■ • * * -s -Our returned soldiers, many of them yonng. in years; yet veterans in war, who" climbed those sullen J grey .'heights in~the-dawn of April 25, 1915, were the Real Thing- to inspire the crowd to cheer and In the afternoon a great- out-door memorial service at the Agricultural Society's grounds was ithe most pictur T esque function of a memorable day. !. r - Yours discursively.Soka.