LONDON CHAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2167, 5 September 1895, Page 51

LONDON CHAT.

(Fbom Oira Own Corresfokdent.) London, July 13. SOCIETY GOSSIP.

London has been very lively with all the foreign royalties and bigwigs, who have been Btaying in the West End hotels. Nothing could Kjako the Shahzada enter a lift. He made all his suite go up one in* hotel in Birmingham, mnd then c:olty turned on his heel and went up by the stairs himself. Ho was suspicious of a plot, peihaps. The Orun'al mind it a fafcaun coo deep for us. He dived at Marlborougu faouse at a bachelors' dinner— ia deference, it Ss said, to his marked dislike to the company of Jadiea. His own cooks came and cooked his food, as he is much too good a Mussulman to risk alcohol in any viand. He is very silent as a rule, but he seemed pleased with his genial ho»t.

The garden party given by the Saxe-Coburgs last Wednesday was without doubt the smartest thing of the season so far. German considerables bristled, and the Duchts3 made an admirable hostess. The dressing was splendid, and the weather being all that finery could desire, the function went off with iclat. The B*me evening the poor little Afghan prince had lo be received at the Imperial Institute by all the science and dignities of the te&lm, and sadly bored te looked.

THE BOYAL ACADEMY..

"Many waves" (writes one of my fern-nine correspondents) ".pass over. London to jiety— waves of variety. The craze of to-day » forgotten to-morrow, and the lion of one seacon is ndver the lioa of the seorid. There was* time in the histoiy of the Royal Academy wheu not to be one at its anuual toirie argued not to be one of the elect, and a five crush it was. The dressing, too, was of the very beet ; tha royalties always turned up. This week the usual function came off, bat oh, what a falling off was there I I stocd at the receiving entrance for nearly two houra, and a motley gatheriog it was that streamed through, welcomed by the Btately president, Sir tfiederick Ltiiguton. Everyone with a picture huog is entitled to a card for the soiree, and if one had to judge of art by its repreßeutatives the outlook would be poor indeed. Theie was quite a regiment of lads and young callow ghl», old modish females and priggish matrons. About 10 tho situation brightened a little, and some well dressed people begin to come in. But I did not see one toiKtte worth describing. Royalty was absent, and very few of tho upper tea put in an appearance. At no time was the place cvvwded, and many of the galleries wore quite emp»y. The Royal' Academy is a thing ot the past I noted Mrs Bancroft. She sailed in with all the airs of s»age royalty, and Mr Bancroft did the genial in a delightfully patron- sing manner. Bir Augustus Harris and his wife trotted about shaking hands with everyone. He is always genial and kind." Although the Queen gave her cogent to her niece the Countess Valda G'.eichen appearing on the lyric at age as a professional singer the German relatives have prot.sted, and it remains to beacon whowill win. The Germans haveno objection to 'their poor r«latkns living on a lich wife (their pride has its limit), bub to m&ke money honestly is "uofc proper." The young lady's eisUr is now a f&mous sculptress, and takes orders like any other attist for filthy lucre. Her Majesty b»s an open mind.

.THE NEW MINISTRY.

Lord Salisbury's third Miuisfcry, now complete, is admittedly among the roost powerful, both itittiHectually and it-fluentially, thet has ever yet ruled the destinits of Great Britain. The Prime Minister himself, although he has visibly aged of late, while his vast tulk h*s become yet vaster, retains to the full his great powers of oratory and fiction ; nor has his gift of biting sarcatm suffered any abatement, as Lord Kosebery found to his cost when he assailed bis successor ia the House of Lords a .few days ago. It it a ve'y sore point with the Opposition parly that they cannot now indulge in gibes again&t their opponents on tbe score of their being led by a peer Premier without laying themselves open to the retort, " You're ai.ofcher."

16 is a lifcfcle curious that Lord Rosebery'g last offuial act should have been to add several new members to the Lordly House, which he is pledged to destroy. Yet bo it wag. His new peers «c mostly men of no patticular celebrity, who are understood to have effordtd useful financial aid to the party, and to be willing to do tbo like once more— on conditions. But perhaps tbi* is mere scandal. Unluckily it has g\ined weight by the fact that a baroretcy has been conferred on Captain Naylor-Lfcyland, the ex number for Colcheßfcer, whess unexplained *' ratting " from the Conservative side excited to much surprise a few months back, and formed the sole counterbalance to the Conservative gains which just then were the result of each byeelection, Naturally there has been much talk about the pointed omisti.n of five members of the last S»H*burj Govwnmoutfrorafhe present Adminis--tratton. 8..t the advanced age of the Duke of Rutland, Lord Kuufcsford, and Lord Cranbrook was deemed adequate grounds for their non-inchuion in an Administration which is expressly designed to beaspecially vigorous tsam, vrith as large as possible an infusion of relative youthfulncss. And, then, places wera wanted for important Libcral-Uoionists. As to Mr Henry Matthews end Mr W. L. Jackson, who were Lord Salisbury's " experiments " as Home Secretary and Irish Secrttwy respectively in the lesb Ministry, the plain fact is that they were not successes. Mr Matthews was a very able head of the Home department, but he was most signally wanting in tact. In his office at the head of his department he was invaluable. In the House of Commons as the mouthpiece of bis department he was a deplorable failure. It was said of him that he usually did the tight thing in the wrong way. Id the fiUing up of four of thete five vac»noiea consists the main feature of the new Ministry. They are allotted to Liberal- Unionists. When it is remembered that the Duke of Devonshire, as Lord Httrtington was once Mr Gladstone's locum tentns in the Liberal leadership while the G.O.fil. indulged in a temporary fit of the sulks, that Lord Lansdowne was a brilliant Governorgeneral of Canada and Viceroy of India under Mr Gladstone ; that Sir Henry James was Mr Gladstone's Attorney-general up to the time when the G.O.M. became a follower of the late Mr Farnell ; that Mr Joseph Chamberlain was a member of Mr Gladstone's last anti-Home Rule Ministry, and was universally regarded as Mr Gladstone's assured successor in the Liberal Premiership, it will be recognised how important is the btanug of the present action of those four eminent Liberal statesmen in associating them•clves with the Conservative Premier. Just as they sacrificed all political advancemeat for the lake of what they Relieved to be the public good— the maintenance of Imperial unity— when Mr Gladstone sacrificed what had been hitherto his political creed for the sake of what he believed to be the public good, so now |hat they deem it advisable to consolidate the Bfcbmist party and to ignore all other political

differences for the BaVe of the one principle of unity, these four prominent Liberals, who had proved their freedom from self-seeking by declining place in the former Unionist Government, have ft-lb free to oastio their lot definitely with Lord Salisbury in defence of the integrity of the British Empire and of the British Constitution.

Sir Henty James takes a peerage and becomes Lord Aylestone. Sir Edward Ciarke was, as a matter of course, effared the Solicitor-general-ship, but at first declined on the ground that he could nob afford to relinquish his private practice, but bis brilliant powers could not be syared, and some satisfactory arrat gemenlMs reported to have proved feasible. Lord Salisbury* fcrmer Attorney general wou'd, it is said, have liked to be Lord Chancellor, but Lord Halsbury wished tj occupy the woolsack once more, co he takes it for the third time.

TBE SHAIIZADA

The impression the Shalzid* has matfe socially hai been strictly limited— perhaps because he ha 3 persistently ignored the fair sex, mftkiug it plain that he did pot recognise them beyond the closed doors of the harem. He ha« a wife and " bairnies twa" in his native Afghanistan. It was announced that the Prince was to give a reception at Dorchester House to all that London holds of rank and wealth. There were great expectations and palliDg of wir»B for invitations ; bab one morning aa announcement appeared in tho morning papers that tbe fete had been postponed, and now it seemi that it has beeu put off sine die. It appears that the Shahz«da did not see his- way to 6tand the expense — neither " did our Government, which has already upent an enormx'Uj sum* on the cosVy guest. Many say that we ought not to h»ve drawn any line— that the chease- paring policy will undo all th-i already gained kudos. Bat to entertain quit© 2000 persons with champagne to the 'masthead was a consideration. It is said thai; the Queen expressed surprise tbat the Afghan rulers ccu'.d afford to disburse gifts as they have done, and of such a costly nature, while receiving a yearly subsidy of £500,000. Whf n the Shabzida went to Windsor last weak to deliver up his gifts, the State ceremony was of the mott imposing charaoter, aud it impressed the litll; Eastern immensely. But the return gifts were quite as valuable, the etiquette in fcueae matters bein quid pro quo. That casket presented by the Ameer of Afghanistan, to her M*j\sty was, as she herself said, the raofct regal of its kind she had ever received. It was mad»3 by Elitii'gton aud Co. after a deign approved by the donor. The star, which has 16 points, is composed of 168 brilliant*, the centre one aloue being valued at £1500. Tho return gifts are iv proce«s of making. They will be worthy of the occasion.

MtSCHLLANEOUS,

" The summer sales are now in full swing " (writes ono of my feminine corre3porid<nts), " and all shops present » very g*y appearance. Those in Oxford street and Regent street are lookiug especially attractive. Materials of every description a'e remarkably che»p just lit present, and the majority of costume* and b'.ouses are ve r y pretty and comparatively icexpensive. Perhaps these few which lam about to describe were the moat taking :—

"A soft white figured »ilk was made wry simply, tri aimed with a great deal of Valenciennes l*ce about the full-galhored bcd : ce, and finished with pale pink ribbons on the shoulder, round the w*i»t, ueck-biud^ and cuffi. Another in almost the same style bad trimmings of pale blue satin ribbon, and it was difficult to say whkh o[ tha two looked the nicer.

" A pretty fawn Bilk orepou had a white satin bodice veiled with a lovely shade of pale greeu chiffon. In bttween the chiffon were rows of pearl trimming, which graduated to a point as they neared the waist. Thi* costume had large bisbop sleeves with white cuffs covered with the greeu and bands of peail trimming. 14 Delightfully pretty was a tiny checked silk of pule lavender and white. The bodice had large capei edged with cream lace, and a good deal trimmed with silk velvet of a darker shade than the material.

41 A handsome dress was of lavender and green brocade, both colours being very delicate. Tho bodico had a full front of green cbiffun ornamented with silver sequins, while the ekirb had bands of lavender eatin ribbon reaching from the waist to the edge of the skirt, there terminating in small bows. The bodice also had touches here and there of this pretty ribbjn. Bather remirkable locking was a dress of inch wide striped silk of various colours. The colours were all very dtlicitftaud most skilfully blended, and the tout ensemble was not bo conspicuous us it perhaps sounds. The bodice was draped with cream chiffon.

" Blomes for evening and d»y wear are most handsome, silk and figured muslin perhaps predooiinatifg. An exceedit gly pretty thade of greenish blue Bilk was trimmed with rows and rows of cream lace. Another of pink silk waa flounced from the yoke almost to the waißt with tiny flounces of very narrow Valenciennes lace. Other blouses fat too numerous to describe were of every conceivable shade and of various materials.

•• Hats now are mostly trimmed with royettes of soft tulle or chiffon. A cream-coloured straw had rosettes of piok chiffon intermixed with cream lace, and had two upstanding white wings. Black wings and ospreys are becoming very fashionable, and nearly »U the newest hats have these wings."