LONDON ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1970, 22 August 1889, Page 22

LONDON ITEMS.

(Feom Ouk Own Co-respondent.) London, June 28. THE GOLD QUEEN AT HOME. Miss Alice Cornwell, the famous Australian financier, was at home last Thursday to her friends in Bolsnd Gardens. Naturally there was a large gathering, but not so many Australians were present as might have been expected. The visitors consisted for the most part of the salon set (N. 8., the salon is the literary sociely, including both 6exes, which meets once a month at a kind of reunion for mutual admiration). Mr Willie Wilde, Oscar's brother, was there, as were Mr Phil Robinson, the editor, and Mr Joseph Hatton, late editor of the Sunday Times, of which Miss Cornwell is proprietress. Mr Haddon Chambers, the hero of "Captain Swift," met an old Sydney acquaintance, whom he had not seen for a dozen years. Lady Maria Spearman and her son seemed very much at home, and were obviously " running the show," as our American friends say, as much as Miss Cornwell. Lady Maria is a daughter of Lord Orkney, and I see that she is issuing cards conjointly with Miss Cornwell for another "at home." la this to catch the bigger fish who escaped the previous large-meshed net ? There was excellent music. TAKE NOTICE ! The post office authorities are calling the

attention of the British public to the fact that newspapers posted here for Australia and New Zealand will only go for Id provided they are under 4oz. Over-weight is accordingly charged to the receiver at the other end, and it appears that you in. the antipodes have been complaining of this arrangement. Hence the warning to would-be benevolent senders on this side. THE QUEENSLAND DINNER. This is the third year Queenslanders in London have met together to toast their old colony, and the third occasion was quite as successful as the two previous had been. It is a little hard to understand why Queenslanders only of the Australasians should feel thus inspired to remember their common bond, but it is a fact that no other colony is similarly toasted at an annual banquet. Queensland is so vast an area that one would rather imagine its inhabitants had little opportunity for feeling the esprit de corps that might exist in, say, Tasmania or Victoria, Yet, the phenomenon may possibly be explained by the presence here of a larger proportion of Queenslanders than of any other colonists. At the dinner on the 19fch Mr Archer, the Agentgeneral, was in the chair, and Sir Robert Herbert, the permanent Under-secretary for the Colonies, was on his right. Mr Henniker Heafcon was present, as were Mr CampbellPraed, fresh from his litigious successes, Major de Winton, the Hon. Harold Finch Hatton, and many others.