LONDON CHAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11808, 10 August 1900, Page 6

LONDON CHAT.

(FliOif OUK OlV« COEKESPONDENT.)

LONDON, June 30.

Mrs Gladstone passed away peacefully, and, it is hoped, painlessly at the home of her late beloved husband, Hawarden Castle, aged £9 years.' All the Gladstone family were present at the death-bed excepting the younger grauu-children. Every British journal lias contained appreciative and laudatory reference to tlie noble and beautiful life of the great Englishwoman who has gone from tis. iSlie haa been buried in Westminster Abbey with her lute husband. '

On Wednesday, the 20th iusfc., our greatest Englishwoman oi all completed the sixty-third and entered upon the sixty-fourth year of her illustrious reign. We all hope that the U.ueen may bo spared to complete yet another decade of rulership. But this hope raises a very troublesome question. What on earth arc we to call the seventieth year of her Majesty's reign? The Prince of Wales has used up the cceentrio term " Diamond Jubilee" for her sixtieth year. What is the seventieth to be designated? Perhaps this problem is a little "previous," but even a further puzzle has been suggested. Her Majesty may live long enough to complete a seventy-five years reign, and oven then would not be older than the late Emperor William of Germany." Clearly, some word would be needed for that. I suggest to New Zealand readers that they all should set to work at once and cudgel their brains actively for one handy word that will fit the hoped-for seventieth year of the Queen's reign, and another that will come in for the seventy-fifth, should this happily bo required as well. The subject would be a good one'for a prize competition. Let New Zealand be the first to set it going.

After a week of chilly east winds with maximum day temperatures of 54deg and 53deg, there came a sudden and tremendous wave of heat, the thermometer going up at a jump, first to 82deg in the shade, then to 88deg, that being a "record" in this respect that never before has so high a shade temperature been recorded in London at such an early period of the summer. As usual, this sudden out-flaming of solar heat caused numerous cases of heat apoplexy and many deaths. Also, as usual, the hot period, which proved curiously brief, terminated abruptly with severe and destructive thunder storms. Subsequently we have had no settled weather. Rain has fallen almost daily, and sometimes in torrents; the day before yesterday was dark as in November, and gas had to be used in city offices; there has been much high wind and deficiency of sunshine considering the time of year; the temperature has been more chilly than warm. But July and August have yet to come!

Music is, of course, rampant in London just now. Last Tuesday afternoon Henry Wood gave a- Tschaikowsky. concert at the Queen's Hall, tlie programme consisting. wholly of instrumental music by the great Russian composer, performed by Mr Woods's splendid orchestra. On a previous day lie gave, under like conditions, a concert wholly of Wagner's music. I have so often referred to these performances and justly " enthused " them, that in this case I need merely state that they were superb, as usual. The Tuesday programme comprised, of course,, the " Pathetic" Symphony, the " Nutcracker " Suites, and the '■ 1812" Overture, of which I can. only say that Mr Wood and his glorious band played them, if possible, almost more finely than ever, and Busohi gave a very excellent interpretation of the great pianoforte concerto in B fiat minor. I noticed several New Zealand musicians, professional and amateur, among this large audience. Mr Robert Parker was one of the former, and I cannot help envying him his privilege of- listening for the first time to these masterpieces. At the Opera no novelty has been presented. One week Wagner held the stage for five nights out of six, Gounod claiming the sixth with his evergreen " Faust." The second " cycle " of Wagner's " Ring dcs Nibelungen " is now in progress at Covent Garden, and is followed with rapt interest by. crowded audiences at largely augmented prices. The rage for Wagner seems yearly to. grow more and more intense, as his complex works are better understood, and assuredly he has no rival in public appreciation in London or Paris, while in Germany his genius has, of course, long been supreme in its hold upon the public taste.

Even in London no other composer can get more than an occasional hearing in opera. Gounod's "Faust" and "Romeo" are accepted when Melba or Eames and the two de Eeszkes are in the cast. Meyerbeer's " Huguenots," Mascagni's " Cavalleria," and Leoncavello's " Pagliacci" are heard now and then, but little else save Wagner finds'favour at Covent Garden.

Before I quit the subject of music, I maysay that Clara Butt, the popular contralto, was married in Bristol Cathedral last Wednesday to Mr Keimerlcy Rumford, the popular baritone. The wedding of these two popular singers attracted so vast a crowd of Bristolians to their restored cathedral that an unseemly rush and crush took ploce, resulting in numbers of people having their clothing torn to shreds, while several were personally injured. Save that the two well-known vocalists were the contracting parties, there was nothing remarkable about the ceremony. But the British Philistine will strive to see a, notability, even if he (or she) sacrifices his (or her) clothing and risks life and limb in the attempt. As for the fair—or, rather, dark—Clara herself, she is a very "fine" yoxmg woman, standing 6ft 2in in her black silk hose, possessing a bright and handsome face and a glorious contralto voice. But, although she does .sing well sometimes, and grandly now and then, she more often falls far short of true artistic form, and if she were wise she wov.M take another year, at least, of hur-d, intelligent and well-directed study. Then t>robably she would have no contralto rival. As it is I greatly prefer Ada Crossley, who is always artistic and satisfying. All New Zealand playgoers know and enjoy Mr W. S. Gilbert's " Pygmalion and Galatea," and will remember the great scene in which Galatea pleads on behalf of Pygmalion with his wife Cynisca, who has called on her pa^ tronal goddess, Artemis, to strike him blind fot his flirtation with the statue he has

" eculpted and prayed into life." Well, this scene lias led to a.tremendous battle between the author and the latest representative of the marble heroine, Miss Janetto Steer. The pieoo is now being played at the Comedy Theatre, and Jftiss Steer persists in going in for such an amount of unauthorised stage "business" in that scene, that she 'lecomes the most prominent figure, whereas Mr Ixuberl: likes the wife, Cynisca, to be the principal in that situation. He intimated this to Miss Steer, who simply snapped her fingers at him—figuratively, of course,—and said in effect that she should play the part just as she' dashed well pleased. So then Mr Gilbert lost his temper, and after writing some stitt letters, rushed into litigation. He sought an injunction compelling Miss Steer to play the part in accordance with his directions. He might have succeeded, but, unluckily for himself Mi^, Steer has skilfully managed to taunt him with losing his temper, and m his wratu he declared angrily that he would have nothing more to do with the rehearsals. The court held that this was tantamount to 'waiving his right to interfere with Miss Steer, and so the injunction was refused, much to the obvious delin-1-t of Miss Steer, who was in court and who will probably try to shock the author a little, more before she has dorm with him That pestilent and obstinate Boer, DeWct, after having bewi—according to the official teleg-rams-utterly "routed.' and virtually annihilated by Lord Methuen on three distinct and separate occasions recently, still persists qnile iimvo-rrantably in denying his annihilation and disproving his "routing" by turriing up in strong force at all sorts of places and doing us a lot of mischief. It is lamentable that'those silly and contemptible

stories of " rout" should be so persistently foisted upon us in the hope of bolstering up the reputations of certain officers. They simply disgust English readers and make us a laughing stock abroad.

"Vivisection of a very painful kind is being performed just now upon our whole military system. The result has been to disclose scandal upon scandal, abuse upon abuse. One discreditable tiling after another is being disclosed to our astonished and disgusted eyes through the pitiless publicity forced by the war, until we are beginning to wonder who is to be trusted, or if anybody can be. One gross and glaring abuse consists in the favouritism practised in our army through' the influence of certain society women, who, in the most shameless manner, interfere right and left with appointments, and promotion, exercising absolute terrorism if thwarted,- and making the British army and its official personnel and playground for their personal likes and dislikes. It is notorious, as well as scandalous, that incompetent or negligent officers have boen retained at their posts simply because their superiors dared not offend certain great ladies of high influence by meting out justice to the proteges of these latter. And. as a result, both British and colonial soldiers have suffered in the field through the incapacity of these officers. The fate of the whole Empire hag been endangered through the incapacity of "Piccadilly Pups" —as rude people term those officers whose sole idea of duty is to swagger, about the West End, attend society functions, and let their military work and studies take their chance. Even the officers of this class are brave enough no doubt, but their gross incompetence, as well as their vulgar arrogance to their subordinates, and. even to the colonial soldiers, who are their equals in birth and their vast superiors in efficiency, has caused general disgust. I fancy a drastic reform is pending.