OPERA COMFORTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 7975, 15 June 1887, Page 6

OPERA COMFORTS.

TO THE BDITOR. Sir, — is so seldom that we find an ordinary newspaper correspondent writing the Queen's English, without redundant expression or superfluous adjeotive, that it was a real pleasure to read iu this morning's Herald the elegant epistle of "Lillian." After briefly explaining in her own sweet simple style that she is una of the " numerous number " of ladies who " attend at " the opera during the opera season, your fair correspondent declares that she was '"greatly struck at " the " entire " absence of a person (to cut her short) in the cloakroom. The business agent of the company informs me that the season opened with auch an offioial, but at the end of the first week, owing to the injudicious liberality of the patrons of "The Mikado," she retired on her unearned increment, on which, like a millionaire with a "Lillian " air, she is now living luxuriously at Te Aroha. This is not the only instance of the kind, I regret to say, that has come under my notice. In the next most populous New Zealand city to Auckland, a former mistress of the robes is now keeping a first-class Scotch pie shop. In another city, not far from Melbourne, an ancient priestess of the sanctum now owns and runs a theatre, which hitherto has not proved so paying a speculation as the sacred temple at whose altar she formerly sacrificed. For the exclusive information of " Lillian," I may mention that i the cloakroom attendant at the Auckland Opera House (for a successor to the millionaire has been appointed) is paid by the management for the time being. In the same way, when a man [takes his passage for England, he reads on the ticket that " stewards' fees are included." But just as only one out of a thousand passengers leaves i a steamer without tipping the steward, so [ visitors to the opera will tip the attendant, , Managers are obliged to shut their eyes to ! the practice, but they positively object when | the tips are too substantial. For instance, during the run of " The Mikado," several I 1 ladies gave a half-crown, a few five shillings, while one elderly lady (who probably was so confused by the Japanese music that she thought she was coming out of church) actually gave a half sovereign. Such misplaced liberality as this demoralises the pampered menials. If, as one perfectly disinterested, I might make a suggestion, it would be that a fair tip for any little services rendered by the attendant would be ten or twenty per cent, of the sam put into the bag or plate on Sunday, whioh the minister of the big Wesleyan Church in Pittstreet tells me averages half-a crown for every statute adult worshipper. At the same time it is impossible to lay down any hard-and-fast rule to restrain the generosity of ladies, for it has been proved beyond doubt that the cloak room collections are in exact proportion to the success of the opera. For example,the "lolanthe" contributions always exceed those of " The Mikado," while those of "Patience" (which, by-the-bye, is to be revived on Thursday), invariably toD "lolanthe." Thus, the takings of the goddess in the cloak room ate a more reliable test of the popularity of an opera than the most elaborate critique. Newspaper men don't like to be told this, but it is true nevertheless. It is scarcely necessary to state that all communities are not so liberal as Auckland. In a mean Australian capital not long ago, all the attendant received one night was a solitary copper, although' the ladies had used a box of her pins, two boxes of hair ditto, and three packets of violet powder (Gosnell's best permmed). The following evening, pour encnurager les autres, the woman (who spoke French like an Australian native), as a gentle reminder, put 3s 61 of her own in the saucer that lay on the toilet-glass to receive the offerings of the faithful. But she reckoned without her host, or rather without her guests, No addition was made to the original deposit. Not only that, but after the last lady had gone, the unhappy woman discovered that her 3s 6d was gone too. The money was supposed to have been taken by two ladies who had come in with an order. They manage these things better in .New Zealand. Hoping to hear that " Lillian " is every night at the opera, where she will find everything as commodious as at a Queen's Drawing-room, and a great deal more so.—l am, &0., R. S. Smythe.