NEW ZEALAND THEATRE BOOKINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2571, 24 June 1903, Page 55

NEW ZEALAND THEATRE BOOKINGS.

Princess Theatre, Dt^fEDm. dfawtrey Comedy Co.— June 27 to July 6 Muagrove Co.— August 26 to Sept-ember 12. Musgrove Co.— October 31 to November 14. American Musical Comedy Co.— November 19 to December 5. J F. Sheridan— Christmas to January 10, 1904. Musgrove Co.— January 16, 1904, to January 30. Geo. Stephenson's Co.— November 26 to December 13, 1904. His Majesty's, Drsxnix. 3. C. Williamson— August 6 to 15. J. C. Williamson— November 4 to 14. J. C. Williamson— November 16 to 29. J. C. Williamson— Dec. 26 to Jan. 16, 1904. Theatre Royal, Timaru. Barrie Marschel Dramatic Co.— June 23, 30. Hawtrey Comedy Co.— July 9 and 10. jN.Z. Brass Band Contest— Oct. 6 to Oct. 10. •M*j«roni Dramatic Co.— Oct. 26 to Oct. 31. •SheTidan's Comedy Co.— Nov 17 and 18. IWilliameon's Co.— January 19 and 20, 1904. Theatre Royal, Christchttrch. Eawtrey Comedy Co.— July 13 to July 18. Williamson Co. — July 27 io August 4. Christchurch Amateurs.— August 5 to 15. Walter Rivers (pencilled).— August 17 to 24. American Comedy Co.— September 28 to Oct. 7. Canter sxtry Hall. Mark Hambourg— June 23 to 26. Opera House, "Wellington. Muagrove's Dramatic Co. — June 17 to July 3. iM»ik Hambourg— July 4 to 8. J. C. Williamson, July 11 to 25. ■American Musical Comedy Co.— Sept. 9 to 29. J. C. Williamson — October 30 to November 13. Geocb-Wil lough by Co. — November 16 to 21. J. C. Williamson— Nov. 28 to Dec. 12. Anderson's Dramatic Co.— Dec 26 to Jan. 23. Wanganut Opera House. ■Mark Hambourg— July 1. Opera House, Hawzba. J.. C. Williamson.— July 2 (pencilled). J. C. Williamson.— December 21 (pencilled). J. C. Williamson.— March 2, 1904 (pencilled). Theatre Royal, New Plymouth. J. C. Williamson — June 29 and 30. W. Hawtrey Comedy Co.— August 15 and 17. J. F. Sheridan Comedy Co.— Sept. 16 and 17. American Musical Comedy Co.— Oct. 22 and 23. G. Musgrove (pencilled)— October 27, 28, 29. iWilloughby-Geach— November 27 and 28. Taylor-Carrington— December (Show dates). J. C. Williamson (pencilled)— Dec. 23 and 24. J. C. Williamson (pencilled)— March i, 1904. Opera House, Auckland. Harry Bickards — June 27 to July 10. •Mark Hambourg Concert Co. — July 16 to 18. Majercni Dramatic Co.— July 20 to Sept. 12. His Majesty's Theatre, Auckland. ST. C. Williamson's "Are You a Mason?" Co. — June 15 to 27. Miss Fitzmaurice Gill's Dramatic Co. — July 4 and onwards. Hawtrey Comedy Co. — July 21 to August B (pencilled). Geo. Stephenson's American Attraction Co. — ' August 6 to 26. John F. • Sheridan's Musical Comedy Co. — • September 19 to October 9. 1 J. C. Williamson— October 12 to 26. J. C. Williamson— Nov. 23 to December 5. J. C. Williamson— December 26 to January 22. Town Hall, Masterton. Hickards's Variety Co.— July 22. John F. Sheridan Co.— August 29 nnd 31. American Co (Fred Du7al). — September 7 and 8. Hawtrey Comedy Co.— Sept. 4 and 5. Drill Hall and Theatre, Feildikg. Show.— July 8 to July 11. Hawtrey Co.— August 26. J. F. Shendan Co. — September 3 and 4. F. Duval.— October 13. Athletic Club Concert.— December 26. Dixs Gaiety Co.— Theatre Royal, Wellington. Fuller's Gaiety Co.'s. — Alhambra Theatre, Dunedin, and Choral HaJ!, Wellington. TO CORRESPONDENTS. G V. 8., Wellington. — (1) Papers posted regularly ; inquire at post office. (2) Photos waiting opportunity of insertion. If. H., Lawrence. — Letter forwarded. J). S., Ophir.— "The Wrong Mr Wright" was played in Dunedin Princess by the Y/i!-loughby-Geach Company in October last. THEATRICAL AND MUSICAL NOTES. By Pasqcix. TUESDAY. Jime 23. The Royal Australian Opera Company (Pollard's), at present m South Africa, numlnr 75 Mr Ken Ful'cr wa- p pa c -enger for the north by Monday'- exprci r. The Hawtroy Comedy Co. commence a hhort season in Dum-dm Prir?ce<* on Saturday, opening m\ "Lit'lc Lord Fauntl^roy " Frank Leon and Lizzie Knk \\rro at latest in Johannesburg. Tho reporud su:oidc of the former U not (■orrect. Owing to the Opts House. WeVington, being olhorwiso oiis»ag"d. Mr (ir<->rg<» Mu i grove has taken the Theatre Royal from ?6th Octobei to 28th Str tc r«ker, foi which dates he promises a big attraction. The

Royal is to be renovated in the meantime and made suitable in ether ways for the accommodation of a big company. ! Mr P. A. Herman has received a letter ' from Mr George Musgrove expressing regret at bis having been fined for overcrowding at the theatre during the "Sweet Nell season, and enclosing £2, tho amount of th© ; fine. | The Yartha Concert Co. start out "cm j tour" of North Island, opening at MasterI ten, and playing the Wairarapa district; J thecice Xapier and Gisborne; back to Wangamii and New Plymouth; thence to Waikato, Thames, Whangnred, Tauranga, finishing in Auckland on 9th September; thence on to Suva and Honolulu. Tho members of the Hawtroy Comedy Company had a trying experience during their recent We*t Co.ist tour. They were advertised to play at Greymouth on Friday night, 12th ini=t., and tho Mapourika duly arrived cu*skl» tho bar on that date, but the captain thought t/he weather too rough to cross. Instead of waiting for tho morning tide, however, he elected to return to Westport, where the comedians had to trani ship on to the Haupiri. The conduct of" the i captain in not lennaining for the next tide i excited much comment at Greymouth. The 1 Mayor tologiaphed to the Union Company , as follows: — "Citizens indignant Mapourika not remaining here for morning tide." Mr ' Bawtroy, however, merely remarked that it i would be quite impossible to give "counsel's ■ opinion" without passing the bar. Theatrical companies and prohibitionists are agreed ] upon on>e pomt — that there is far too much ' hanging about th© bars on the West Coast. It is pleasing to J*ear that the Hawtroy Company he 6, in spit© of all difficulties, done splendid business on the West Coaet. j Negotiations are pending for a tour of New Zealand of the Wood-Williamson ■ Dramatic Company. i Mr Gso. Matheson courteously forwards me a eouvenk of Carrie Moore' i Australian faTewell. During the recent assault and robbery trial in Dunedin Walter Rivers, who was called as a witness, gave the court an insight into the art of "make-up." Apropos of the present tour of New Zealand by John Lemmone, the eminent flaut tiat, I might be spared "trouble" for re- ! viving the chestnut about the billing of j J. L. in a- backblock town in New South i Wales. The headline ran thusly: "Lemon, ' the great fruitist '." f Williamson's '"Are You a Mason?" Com- • pany, at present doubling-up Aucklanders, 1 will appear in His Majesty's Theatre, Dunedin, on August 6. Musgrove's Comic Opera Company, which includes Josephine Stanton, May Beatty, Madame Blapoffski, and a host of other beautiful femininity, also Edward Lauri, Lempnere Pringle, Piddock, and others, visit New Zealand in August, opening in the Princess Theatre on the 26th of that month. Pieceß to be produced are "Th© Fortune Teller," "La Serenade," and "The Wizard of the Nile." ' Mr Reynolds Denniston, of this city, is now one of the* company playing at tho Opera House, Capetown. He has quite recovered from his severe illness. It is announced *hat the Pollard Opera Company will b& the firet company to appear at His Majesty's, the theatre now under construction in Johannesburg. It will be some months before- this new place of amusement is ready for occupation. Mark Hambousg. the famous pianist, celebrated his twenty-fourth birthday on .Sunday, Juno 14. John Lemmone, the celebrated flautist, who is. lesponsible for the pie-sent tour of Mark Hambourg. informs me that next year he intend? touring Australia with the wor'.tl-famous pianist, Padereweki. A New Zealand tour may al-o h<» undertaken. The s-tateniont that one of the Valdares the famous trick cyclists, is> laid up with an injury in Greymouth Hospital is nicoirco 1 A return tour of New Zealand will be played by the Mark Hambourg Concert Company Tho Mark Hambourg Cojifort Company took £140 at the thud concert in His Majesty's on Friday last. Thero was a fair prospect of Dunedin Alhambra beinjr converted into and used as a skating rink for three months of the present year, but negotiations, which were pending with a Chri-itrhurch syndicate, fo'l through owing to tho expense of making tho neces^arv alterations, the amount required for this work beintr £110. Australian actor Cecil Ward, of tho "Are • You a Mason'/" Company, at present m Auckland, narrowly missed his passage to Maoriland. Had it not been that tho steamer was delayed the company which asks the burning question might have been playing a new nephow of Amos Bladgood Williamson's Dramatic Company, which claims Cuylev Hastings, of tho powerful ! Amurka accent. May Chevalier, Mabel Lane, a<tor Jimmy Atholvrood, and others, 1 are now appearing in Sydney Theatre Ro^a! in a revnal of "Sherlock Holme*." ' "Billy, you're a good boy!" ' White man Gcorae Smith, one-time ' manager for Wilson Barrett, and now co- ! partner with Wheeler in South Africa of five theatres, advises that Pollard Opera Company'b season in one of Smith-Wheeler playliou=es--Cape of Good Hope— has surpassed all expectations, the attendances beingthe larßPst »en nt Capetown for a very loner time. Bravo! Tom Pollard and Co., also "Djm Djin " "The Other Man's Bueinoss," a farcical

comedy in three acts by Messrs G. W. Elton and E S. Petley, is in rehearsal by the Hawtrey Comedy Company. The first essential of a really good farco is that it shall amuse on lines arising at least from an initial possibility, and the authors have, so says a London journal, "wisely refused to exploit the impossible for the sake of drawing laughter. They have succeeded by means of a clever plot, ingenious situations, arid some bright writing in giving us a piece with plenty of merit and a great deal of movement in it, largely novel as well as screamingly humorous."

Three members of rhe Pollard Opera Company in South Africa — Misses Cliff Palmer, Moly O'Sullivan. and Addie Williams — met with misfortune on arrival at Capetown. The> wardrobe of these three young ladies was dropped overboard in Capetown harbour while being transhipped off the Persic.

Walter Rivers, the same who parted with a spotless white shirt to poor Nat Douglas when that old-time mummer lay dying in Dunedin Hospital in fear of being shrouded with a shirt initialled "D.H.,' was fupcenaed from Auckland a3 a witness in the recently decided assault and robbery ease. When oa'.led upon to state his profession Walter, throwing his head back, proudly said : "I am an actor!"

Donald Maclean, tho talented young Dunedin aotoi, who recently toured the East with the Brough Comedy Company, forwards me from Shanghai copies of the North China News and Shanghai Mercury, containing accounts of the "Brough Farewell," which took place on April 24. Of the young Dunedinite's performance, as the Imp in "When Wo Were Twenty-one." the Shanghai paper says: — "Mr Maclean had a very difficult and eomewhat ungrateful part as Audraine. He is not altogether a pleasant young pe-reou, the Imp, and he is full of moods, not all of them admirable, and Mr Maclean is to be heartily congratulated on his rendering of a part in which the author has loft out the lights altogether."

The screen to be provided for the Palmerston North Municipal Opera House is to be what is known as a proscenium fire screen. It will be constructed of lightwrought iron framing, two thicknesses of asbestos sheeting covered en the outside with galvanised iron, and the centre filled with cork chipo steeped in lime (which is practically uninflammable), the whole forming an absolute check to the spread of fire. The screen will be 2in thick, and will weigh over two tons, being manipulated by winches on the stage floor. The object of this means for working the screen is to compel its use for eaoh act in a play, thus ensuring its efficiency. This style of " drop curtain " is new to tho colony.

Herbert Bcoth (son of General Booth), whose resignation from the Salvation Army is a matter of comment and some mystery, has a new projeot for teaching religion. He will establish a theatre and present Bible dramas. Mr Booth wa.s one of Ims father's lieutenants, and he had charge- of tho Salvation Army in. Australia. " The movement I am going to start in New Yoi'k," said ho, "is meant to solve the* problem of the unreached masses. It was for that my father started the Salvation Army. There are as many people- xinreached now as before. The trouble io that the appeal hac; always been to th© ear alone. My appeal is to the eye. I am going to form in this city a great theatre, with a powerful oompain of Christian actors. My movement is to bo known as the Scientific Evangelisation Society, and it will be for the purpose of sending broadcast illustrated Bible dramas. I expeofc to get mic-h great wiitcrs as Canon Farrar was to write powerful dramas for me. Phi? I will have told in continuous pictures by the cinematograph. In connection with the movement will be a> Ohnptian photographicstudio for dramatic poking, and a largo experienced corps of Christian actors will do the posing."

The Lyceum Theatre, London, wa.s offered at auction on Ap-nl 24. The highest bidding was £24,400. The famous theatre was, however, bought in at £26,000. Apropos of " The Resurrection," in which Juliua Kndght has bc«n engaged to tour the colonies : A report from London states that Mr Tree has withdrawn " The- Resurrection" from His Majesty's by special desire of the Queen. It i 6 said, on pretty good authority, that the Queen, on the occasion of her witneeeing Tolstoi's play, left tho Royal box in the middle of an act, declaring that the pieoe was brutal and sacrilegious. Next morning Mr Tree received a letter from the Queen, Asking (commanding !) him to remove "The Resurrection." He replied that, owing to the large mount of money he had spent upon th© production, he could not at that stage withdraw it, but would do so when he bad recovered gome- of his outlay.

Addic Lorkint?, <he pretty child-aotrces who will appear at Duiiedim in the title role of "Lifctle Lord Fauntleroy." to be produced by tho Hawtrey Comedy Company on the 27th inst., at the Printess Theatre, is only 10 years of age. and has on a number of occasions been eeen on the Auckland stage in less ambitious parti. Only recently she> appeared with the. "fvheirlook Holmes" Company at Auckland in " The Christian," and waft very favourably noticed. Miss Lorking't performance as the little Lord at Wellington, where the play had a lonp; and Buceessful run, was highly spoken of by the looal pre-ss, the. Wellington Times, after pointing out that tho part wa6 an exceptionally heavj one for a child, Faying that it "was played with delightful naivete by Miss Addie Lorking. who showed a breadth of perception far beyond her years " The present manager of the Waoiganui Opera Houee, Mr J. O. Priestley, has brought to liis work a thorough knowledge of the practical and theoretical details of tho profession, gamed by a. varied experience in Great Britain and Australia. Ho immediately grasped the possibilities afforded by Wanganui a.s a theatrical centre, and by patient application and a decision never to allow a prominent cntrepeneur to leave Wanganui dissatisfied with his company's reception and treatment has made it a popular place of vifcit. Tho opinion Sardou hap of tho English drama ib not high. He cays : "You English may know how to construct empires, but you can't make plays. Ah, non ! ah., non ! ah, non ! Your playwrights, from Shalkespoare downwards, err, and ear horribly, in thoir constructive bases. Too long in parts, too skimpy otherwhere, and always the few words' which give the audience the neceeeary insight into what will come is wanting. One of these days, when translators have learned how to do their work, France will be the world's play factory. And Ido not say this beoause I am a. Frenchman, for we French admire foreigners and foreign work because it is exotic. But there is no foreign playwright who can write a play and observe all th© necessary rulee. Ibsen, D'Amnunzio, Pinero, Sudermann — oh, yes, and even.

Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller— l except mone of them — err in construction.* Their p.ays have splendid moments, but, as Gounod said of Wagner, they have terrible half-hours."

A realistic incident was created in the production of "'Brother Against Brother," at Ballai-at by the Hodge-Harpur Dramatic Company, one of the performers, Mr Eust-aoo Llewellyn, being shot in tho face. The prison scene was being played, in which the warder (Mr M. Deane), with a gun in his hand, threatens tho prisoner, Simon I^zarus (represented by Mr I/lewellja). When Mr Deane was within a few feet of Mr Llowellyn ihe trigger of the gun caught pn the button of hie clothing, and tho gun wont off. The weapon was charged with powder, which was shot into Mr Llewellyn' 6 eyes and forehead, whilst the wad struck him on the bridge of the"iioGe. Tho wound bled profusely, and Mr Llewellyn was immediately taken to the hospital. His injuries are, however, not regarded as of a serious character. The audier.co wero unaware of the accident until informed at en interval.

A curious letter has been received by Mr Daniel Frawley, who finds it nccejsary in the third act of "Secret Service-" to make I'se of tho telegraph instrument. The letter reads: — "Dear Sir. — Your act nz in "Srcrot Sea-vice' is Al, but your operating is damnable (pleaso excuse 6trcri{ lrtiguage). Below is the uni\er.?al code. — Yours faithfully, Operator." A written copy of the code was appended. The laugh. Lowcver, is not on the side of "Operator." Mr Frawley is an expert with the telegraph instrument, and mada> no fewer that five corrections in the code supplied. It should ako have b&e-n remembered by the> telegraphic eritio that "Secret Service" is an incident of the Civil War, and that in war times secret oodes are used.

Afte-r tte performance of the "Price of Peace " at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne. the other night, representative members of ali departments of Mr Bland Holt's Company as-embled and prrerrtcd to Mr Harold Carr and his cenfrcre, Mr Watson, a few little tokens of esteem, r*' ol *o their leaving the Bland Holt Company to tour India and America with C. A. Pollard's English Comedy Company. Mr Maurioe- Kemp, in making the presentations to Mr Carr, said that with the present* — smoker's companion, cigar ca«e and a crystal glass — went the bf«t wishes of every person in the company. Mr Kemp made some passing re-ferenees to Australian actors who had gained fame in other oountri°-=, and said he was sure ability and energy constituted Mr Carr's passport to success. The recipients suitably responded, and a pleasant time was spemt by the company. Signorina Sassoli. the little Italian harpist whom Madame Melba has adopted, was to make her first bow to the London public at St. James's Hall on June 9. She is at present (saye a London paper of a rcoenfc date) on her way Home from Australia, where she has been touring with the diva, rei-d has made a su«:efs second' on]y to Melba herself. Although but 15 years of age. Signcrina Saesoli, who is a sparkling, dark-eyed child of Bologna, displaya such rr-markable technique and temperament that Madamo Melba. confidently prcdiots she will take London by storm. As an earnest of her confidence she is defraying the entdre cost of the St. James's Hall ccmeert.

One of the scourges of American theatres is the ticket speculator, who buys up all the seats in sight, and tells them again outside the door nt aSO p°r cent, increase. All .sorte of lawe have be-on pn=sed to s?et rid of him, and all sorts of dode-es tried to drive him out of bueines-. At last an expedient has been hit upon which promisee to be effective. Barnum and Bailey's were the first to introduce it, but its success is leading other managers to give it a _ tiial. Ticket's wh^n sold are now placsd in envelopes, and ceiled and riveted together in the presence of the purchaser, and unless presented at the door in tho orifrin-al enclosure they will not be accepted. That mich a trouble&ome proceeding should have been found neoesfcary gives the measure of the nuisance whioh the ticket speculator hns bee^n allowed to make of himself.

The complimentary farewell concert given in Wellington on Friday. June 12, to Miss Beatrice Vartha, the. well-known pianist, by her mufcieal friends, prior to her departure for America, was capitally attended. The principal item on the programme was a piano eolo, Mozart's Concerto in D minor, played with an orchestral accompaniment of 30 p©rformer3- Mke Vartha has decided upon making a short tour of New Zealand prior to le-aving for America. Mr G. V. Bock, well known in theatrical circles in this colony, will have charge of the tour. Th© Mark Hambourg Concert Company, which includes Mark Hambourg, Boris Hambourg, Mjss Mabel BaloheJor, John Lemmone, and Geo. F. Boyle, after a euceefeful four-nights' 6eaeon in His Majesty's, Dunedin, departed for the north on Monday. The 00. commenced a short feason in tho Canterbury Hall, Christchuroh, on Tue«day. A week or two back several papers in New Zealand reported that a, well-known vaudeville artist who had toured New Zealand under P. R. Dixs management was concerned in a crime of attempted murder ana 6uicide in London, knowing full well that the only grouiuk for supposing the ex-Dix artist to be the principal in the tragedy was the similarity of name. Further, they ■dragged in the name of the oomedian'e wife, Miss Lizzie Kirk, who al<=o toured New Zealnd under P. Pv. Dixs management, despite the fact that the name of th-e lady concerned in the tragedy at a house next to the Kensington Theatre, London, on April 24, was Miss Sable Fern. No similarity id name here. Yet they point out that Mise Sable Fern is Miew Lizzie Kirk. How they arrive at this conclusion I know not, unless this: The man's name being Framk Leon, the lady a (his wife's) must bo Lizzie Kirk, Wbat reasoning! And this, notwithstanding that the English papers eaid her name was Sable Fern. When the mail containing the information came to hand. I stated that there was nothing save the similarity in one name to connect the two popular cx-Dix artiste with the crime, and I am more inclined to that belief now than ever. It is eignificant that in Australia, where Leon and Kirk were known co well, no mention is mad© of their figuring in a tragedy in London on April 24; also (and this would go a long way to prove that the Frank Leon and Sable Fern who were principals in a tragedy in London are not the two popular vaudeville artists, Frank Leon and Lizzie Kirk, who are to well and popularly known throughout Australasia), Tom Wootwell, the looselegged oomediam, writing from London, in a, note to Sydney Referee dfemisees the incident in quito a casual fashion thusly: "A oomedian of the company (at the Argyle Theatre) shot his wife, a comedienne, who was also with the show, and then, himself, ja.

few days previously." Is it not reasonable to suppose that if the parties concerned in the tragedy had been the two mentioned; by several New Zealand papers who were •9O well known throughout Australasia, Tom Wootwell would have mentioned the fact? But no ; and it is significant that he doesn't even bother to menti-sn their names, no doubt concluding that the artists, never having been in Australia or New Zealand, bhey would not be known in the colonis. And! who is to say he is not right? A correspondent of a London paper writes to point out that- the receipts at one of the. Melba concerto in Sydney, £2600, make a record for the world, that no such sum, has ever been taken in any part of the world, even by Patti, for a concert, and that consequently Madame Melba must have made more money in Australia than she could make elsewhere. An Australian tour, howover, involves a waste of three months at least in travel, and in the Commonwealth there are few, if any, hostesses who could pay Melba for "at home" appearances— 500 guineas a time, a fee cheerfully given as often as she wishe-sl to receive it in London during the intervals of her operatic appearances at Covent Garden. Mrs "W". K. D'Arcy, Mr Alfred do "Rothschild, Mrs J. B. Robinson, Mr Astor, Mrs "Walter Palmer, Mrs Alfred Harmsworth, Mrs Murray Guthrie, and the Duchess of Abereorn are a few of those who regularly pay this sum, so that their guests may hear the greatest of living opera 6ingers. Both Mr Julius Knight and Miss Maud Jeffries, the popular players, who have been encaged by Mr Williamson to visit Au» traiia in a few months, and appear in "Resurrection," "The Eternal City," "Monsieur Beaucaire," and "The Darling of the Gods," are now separately touring in the English provinces. Mr Knight k playing the principal character in "Ressurrcction," and Miss Jeffries in appearing in "The Eternal City," both companies belonging to Mr Beerbohni Tree. At the clo3e of these tours about eight players will be selected from the two companies, and they will accompany Mr Knight and Miss Jeffries to Australia. They will kave England on the 18th July, and open in Melbourne on the 12th September, in the dramatisation of Toletoi's novel. It is certain that the season will be _ made notable by many revivals. "The Sign of the Cross," "The Prisoner of Zonda," "Under tho Red Robe," and "The Royal Divorce," for instance. In these days of the society actor, not to know a theatre manager argues oneself (almost) unknown (remarks the London Sun). The phenomenon consieta in the evident enjoyment with which a theatre manager during the run of a sucessful piece will witness the same show — a show having no mysteries or surprises for him, as a rule — for & couple of hundred nights on end, save for the brief Sunday vacation, with matmeee thrown in at the rate of two a week. The spectacle, is- one calculated to provoke tho wonder and amaze of the lay person. Does the manager, in course of time, become an actor off the stage? Does he only simulate tho ecstasy he eeems to feel on hearing for tho hundred and fiftieth time the low' comedian's long o'er-ripened chestnut? Does he get frightfully tired of it all an« long for declining business, so that at all costs ths dreadful monotony may be relieved? Or does his nightly dose of "the same thing over again" produce at length a craving for more and more, until it is with genuine regret that he sees the curtain fall for th© last time on "the most successful drama of modern timea," as one might sigh on smoking the final weed in a particularly food box of cigars, or drinking the ultimate bottle- of a cherished wine? Managers as a rule, are not introspective persons, and we have never yet talked with one who could satisfactorily diagnose the extraordinary managerial affection. Mr H. C. Campbell, of His Majesty's Theatre, Dunedin, ha.s received the following letters, wh'ch /?p e &k f° r theirselvea : — April 16, 1903. Mr H. C. Campbell, His Majesty's Theatre, Dunedin. . . Dear Sir,— l have much pleasure in giving you my opinion about the acoustic propirties of the above theatre. I now consider it to ba one of the finest places I have ever eung in. In every way the theatre js extremely well arranged, and I am delighted at the satisfactory change. With best compliments, I remain, truly yours, Antonia Dolores. Dunedin, June 20, 1903. To H C. Campbell. Esq., Secretary His Majesty's} Theatre, Dunetlm. Dear Sir,— Before leaving this city I should Hke to congratulate you on your theatre ea a, hall for concert purposes. Acoustically tho hall is perfect. Mr Mark Hambourg is quite enthusiastic in his praises, the piano solos being heard to the greatest advantage, and the other members of my company are equally pleased.— Yours sincerely, (Signed) John Leumohe.