SOME MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 28

SOME MELBOURNE GOSSIP.

(Feom a Coeeespondehtj

June 23.

I Mr Speaker's new robe was the great I feature of the opening of Parliament. It is of black brocaded silk, with brilliant bands of gold braid round and about ifc. Nothing has ever been seen like it before, except the robe of the Lord High Chancellor in " lolanthe." The two are almost exactly similar in cut and shape, but the Speaker's is the more resplendent, and it is needless to say the more valuable. Its exact cost was £200. Its weight is marvellous. Of course it is only for State occasions. The Speaker wore it in the afternoon, but in the evening returned to his ordinary gown. The robe was a secret. Perhaps Mr Speaker's wife had seen it, but nobody else. The sensation that its first appearance created was therefore all the greater. It is an exact copy of the State robe of the Speaker of the House of Commons, which was lent to the London tailor for the occasion. This is guaranteed by a note from the English Speaker's clerk, who says with iitipresseme?it : — "Mr Speaker Davies will have the satisfaction of knowing that he has an exact fac-simile of the State robe of the Speaker of the British House of Commons." Mr Speaker Davies is gratified accordingly. Some of the ladies remark, " £200 for a man's robe ! Talk of the vanity of women ! The men are like peacocks 1 " Mr Davies is an Australian native, a solicitor, president of the Young Men's Christian Association, a j very successful land speculator, and the cutest financial man in the city. He distributed a £10,000 cheque in charity just before his election to the Speaker's chair, and did it through the Argus, thereby keeping his right hand well informed of what his left hand did. He is chairman of ever so many financial companies — Henry Arnold and Co., whose shares pay 15 per cent, and a big bonus, and whose last issue went off at £7 10s premium ; the Colonial Investment Company (15 per cent, and 10 per cent, bonus) ; Victorian Land Company (12£ per cent.); Freehold Investment Banking Company (23 per cent.), &c, &c. Mr Davies and his £200 robe are products of the land boom. He saw it coming and invested. Before it he was nobody ; now he is president of the V.M.C.A. and Speaker of the House ; and how many thousands he could write a cheque for I would not like even to guess.

In the history of Melbourne theatres there has never been witnessed such a scene as the one on the opening night of the Gaiety Burlesque • Company. People in the dress circle itood four deep in the passage for four long hours. There was a roar of enthusiasm when the curtain went up, and it grew louder by degrees till the curtain went down. The audience were frantic with delight. Miss Nellie Farren is an elderly married woman, but men and women before the curtain would have kissed her and strained her to their bosoms in ecstacy if they could only have got hold ol her, Screams oE laughter followed the poorest of Mr Fred Leslie's sallies ; the dancing of Miss Sylvia Grey and Miss Letty Lind was never watched before with such an eager straining of vision ; the performers grew infected with the audience's enthusiasm, and the notable performance did not come to an end till close on midnight. All the seats for the following Saturday night were booked ere Tuesday morning. Miss Farren is very charming, full of life and movement, and fijls the stage all the while she is on it. The " old identities " declare she is not as good as Julia Mathews, who had all her life and abandon with a voice fit for grand opera, and a step nearly as fairy-like as Sylvia Grey's, The romance in Miss Mathews' ljfe fell to her in Dunedin, when she made a runaway marriage before the registrar with Mr Mumford, a youthful commission agent. Mr Leslie is the original of Robert Brough, whose " business " is now seen to be an apparent copy. Messrs Williamson, Garner, and. Musgrove, jn *the engagement of this company, have given us another exhibition of enterprise. They have brought us the best thing in London, in its line before the Americans have had it — a feather in the cap of the Australian managers. The night before the opening the burlesque company were the guests, of their manageis at supper at the Oriental. The list of invitations in^ eluded all the principal Bohemians in Melbourne. The Mayor was the only outsider. Mr R. S. Smythe, Mr George Barrel I, Mr Phil Robinson, Mr Gorlitz (Amy Sherwin's husband), Mr St. Maur — this was the character of the supper party, which was a happy gathering, beginning at 11, and not ending till between one and two in the morr.ing, even for the ladies.

They are giving Mr Stockwell, who is another of the New Zealanders, who have recently came to Melbourne in such numbers, a fair trial as leading tenor in Miss Sherwin's Opera Company. He sings, very satisfactorily, and without making exactly a big hit, yet pleases the public so well as tp get his fair share of encores. These are due solely to his singing. If he ever learns to act, he will do extremely well in opera. They do not put him on on first nights, for he requires to see the part done by Mr Wilkie two or three times to learn how to walk through it. E(e cultivates an ingenuous smile while he is on the stage, and appears as if he trod the boards in accordance with chalk markings laid down for his guidance ; and the chorus girls keep an eye on him that he fulfils the stage directions. But he. improves nightly, and we forgive him much for his voice. Mr Stockwell is quite of the profession in appearance. His overcoat has the theatrical tippet ; his hair hangs long adown his neck ; his hat is a soft one, worn to a point at front and back; he wears a strong moustache; and has all the air of an Italian brigand, or a Corsican refugee. In name only does he remain an Englishman. His portrait is in Punch this week. Captain Ba,rry. has been experiencing

a further share of ups and downs. His recent country tour ended in misfortune. A buggy accident at Echuca laid him up in the hospital for six weeks. When he came back to Melbourne he got the Town Hall, secured the mayor in the chair, and the city organist (Mr David Lee) to entertain the audience with a little music. The night was dreadfully wet, and the audience was miserably small. A fresh attempt in the Collingwood Town Hall met with exactly the same fate — a wet night. It had a worse result for the captain, who caught cold and was confined to his room at Mr T. Dodson's Hotel for about a fortnight. Next, he secured the patronage of the Australian Natives Association, whose president (Mr Purves, Q.C.) took the chair for him at the Fitzroy Town Hall a few nights ago ; and there was a full house. The captain is now bound for Adelaide, where he breaks virgin ground. His sustaining power is his faith in himself.