ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9166, 22 September 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[FROM the SOCIETY papers.]

The Queen has (says Truth) become so partial to Indian servants that another detachment ot these menials is now being selected in India for the royal household. The English domestics, however, do nob regard • the innovation with unmixed pleasure, and the business of finding the required accommodation for the Indians is a great bother, especially at Osborne and at Balmoral, as they demand separate kitchen;? and feeding-quarters, and are altogether very troublesome and exs.cting. Sir John Cowell would be delighted to pack the whole batch back to Bombay by the next ! steamer.

The Dowager Duchess of Montrose will again, says a writer in the Citizen, very shortly figure in the law courts, and on tnis occasion her grace's favourite orchids will be the bone of contention. A year or more ago the Duchess had erected a costly palm and orchid house on her little patch of ground adjoining Sefton Lodge, Newmarket ; the Duke of Marlborough, who is himself a producer of orchids, advising what to buy and inspecting the plans, which are on the same principle as his grace's orchid house at Blenheim. Tho Duchess of Montrose then opened up com- 1 munications with Mr. Sander, the orchid importer, of St. Albans, and ordered, as she {states, £1000 worth of plants. Mr. Sander, however, contends that the Duchess ordered 1000 plants, which is a very different matter, and he accordingly supplied specimens from £1 to £5 in value. Several well-known judges of orchids will be called on both side?, and it is just likely that the Duke of Marlborough will go intothe witness-box.

There has never been such a splendid show of jewels in London as during this season. They were brought out by Mrs. Vanderbilt and the new Duchess of Marlborough, who awakened a sense of rivalry in the breasts of the English peeresses, with the result that all the family jewels of the. great houses were resurrected from the bank vaults where they had lain, w ere reset] and all displayed at once to the Americans. Even the Princess of W ales was not quite superior to the feeling, and, not willing to be surpassed by foreigners in her own court, she has piled on everything at once, stars, crescents, orders, necklaces, and coronets, till on most of her public appearances she has fairly blazed with gems, after the manner of her sister, the Czarina, who always appears at her court functions . crusted with precious stones.

Truth says All 'those of my readers who respect and admire the traditional virtues of the British tar, will, I am sure, be ples.sed to read the literal text of Admiral Heneage's famous white shir order." Here it is :— "It having come to my knowlege that officers have been wearing coloured shirts when in uniform, and considering this a breach of etiquette and unoffice?likc and contrary to the regulations, it is my direction that officers are, on all occasions, to wear white shirts, and when, in tunics the collar and cufFs should be visible. I hear that a movement is on foot among the washerwomen of the Pacific coast to present the British Admiral with a magnificent testimonial. It is melancholy, however, to learn that the gallant Heneage's efforts on behalf of these ladies have been, to a great extent, frustrated by his officers taking to abominations called ""celluloid" collars and cuffs, on the ground that linen is out of the question with the thermometer at 90deg. in the shade. I should think this is a court-martial matter.

Mrs. Hamersley was married in such haste that her friends had no time, to give those little reminders of their interest and affection which it is customary to present on such occasions, but since the ceremony a number of her friends have sent little tokens, in some cases of considerable value. It is said that the Duke made her no formal bridal gift, probably believing that tho ducal title and appurtenances— the Marlborough diamonds, which are very handsome — was all that any reasonable woman who already had six millions of her own could desire. But among the pretty trifles sent her,' nothing is more charming than a jewel table, which is of satin wood and very ingeniously contrived. It looks like a simple round table, well finished- but; spin the top of the table and at a touch little leaf-shaped drawers spring out and at another touch disappear, leaving no trace of their existence. This table was presented by one friend, and a dozen put each into the different drawers some quaint or fanciful bib of bijouterie. So when the new Duchess spun her table for the first time every drawer that sprang open contained a pretty glittering trifle. It is said this pleased her more than anything that has been given her.

We regret to hear that the health of Lord Salisbury is hardly proving equal to the strain of his great position. It is stated that the session is being wound up in hob haste to allow the Prime Minister to comply with the orders of his physician, who has prescribed a visit to Roy at at the earliest possible date. We sincerly hope that Lord Salisbury is nob suffering from anything more serious than temporary nervous exhaustion, and that a brief sojourn at Royafe will restore his health and vigour. Lord Salisbury's constitutional tendency to pes simism and cynicism, which is his greates* weakness, can only be kept in check when he is enjoying, robust physical health.

A new paper in the Western States of America, called the Rocky Mountain Cyclone, opened the first article of its number as follows : —"We begin the publication ov the Rocv Mountain Cyclone vrith some phew diphiculties in the way. The typephounder phrom whom we bought our outphit phor this printing ophice phased to supply us with any ephs or cays, and it will be phour or phive weecs bephore we can get? any. We have ordered the missing letters, and will have to get along without them till they come. We don't lique the loox ov this variety ov spelling any better than our readers; but mistaixs will happen in the best regulated phamilies, and, if the ph's and c's and x's and q's hold out, we shall ceep (sound the c hard) the Cyclone whirling aphter a pbasion till the sorts arrive. It is no joque to us ; it's a serious aphair."

Writing on " Dress and Economy " in the July number of Longman's Magazine, Mrs. Henry Reeve gives us some very remarkable " facts and figures and other data for the construction of a scale of expenditure and of ratio to income of the cost of clothes.'" The writer has evidently been at much pains to collect these facts, etc., from various informants ; and though these latter often prefei to give the house rent they pay rather than the income they possess, their information is surprising enough. One lady who has a " small income of £SOO a year," finds £30 enough for her dress. Another who, with her husband, enjoys an income of £1500 (no children), spends only £50 on her dress, while her husband averages £26 10s pet annum. Again, a professional man, with "£2OOO a year to spend," gives his two daughters £40 a year for dress, and a " gentleman who shoots, plays tennis, mixes in the best society in town and country, and travels on , the Continent," spends only £22 a year on his raiment. Finally, an inquiry among 28 bachelors (in.' eluding M.P.'s, Civil servants', barristers, and . country squires) shows a maximum expenditure of £34 and a minimum of £14, or an average of £23 a year spent on dress-