"ALIEN’S” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3613, 12 June 1923, Page 62

" ALIEN’S” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Wjiftially Written for the Ladies’ Page.) THE COMING SEASON. April 17. Shutters are being opened in the great houses in London, balconies and window frames painted, balcony gardens and window sills restocked with palms and flowering plants, for the ‘'season” will be ushered in on the 26th with the Royal marriage. London's annual spring-clean-ing has been proceeding for some weeks past, and soon the ladders of painters and decorators will disappear, and awnings take the place of hoardings, fountains will play and flowers bloom, and for three months pageantry, Royal and social, draw the wealthy and the notable and distinguished from the four corners of the earth. Already the floating palaces from America are bringing hundreds of visitors to the mighty metropolis; the great hotels are booked up til! August, and that nameless stir, magnetic as nowhere else in the world, begins to throb at the heart of the Empire and to thrill and fascinate anew the millions who indirectly participate in the pleasures of the thousands. The King and Queen are to hold Courts at Buckingham Palace at Q.cu on the nights of Wednesday and Thursday, May 30 and 31, and again on Wednesday and Thursday, June 13 and 14 —four Courts in all, as against three (all in June) last year. The earlier Courts are greatly anticipated bv a number of beautiful young debutantes, who will be presented in time to be “out” early enough to enjoy the London season at its best. Quite a number of the debutantes of a few seasons ago are the brides of this year. Lady Doris G-ordon-Lennox’s wedding in Chichester Cathedral to Mr Vyner took crowds to Chichester. The Duke of Richmond’s Goodwood House was never moi-e gay even at race time. Accompanied by the Duke of York, Lady Elizabeth Bowes- Lyon was present, for Lady Doris Gordon-Lennox is her bast friend, and but that the wedding of Ladv Doris preceded the date of the Royal wedding Lady Doris would have been one of the

bridesmaids. The bride wore an embossed silver gown, veiled i:i old Spanish lace, and a girdle of orange blossom and silver, the tram embroidered with silver roses worked by disabled men of the War Service Legion, and her Alencon tulle veil was held by orange blossoms. The six little bridesmaids all had bobbed hair, and made quaint pictures with long silver tissue dresses with aprons of old lace, and wreaths of periwinkle flowers on their hair, the same coloured ribbon tying their aprons. Two little pages matched the blue in their satin trousers, worn with cream chiffon shirts and frills. The Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth motored down from London, and after the marriage in the Cathedral were present at the reception at Goodwood House, where the bride and bridegroom received many congratulations. The reception was held m the golden drawing room, and in the next room (the picture gallery) the presents were shown. Scme very lovely toilets were* worn, and Lady Elizabeth, departing from her grey-blue shades, was dressed all in brown.

The Queen’s nephew, the Earl of Kltham, was married to Miss Dorothy Hastings on the 10th at Woodhouse, near Loughborough, where there was a guard of honour of the Shropshire Yeomanry. The bride wore a gown of satin beau to and train of cloth of gold, her veil of old Brussels lace being an heirloom in the bridegroom’s family. The bridesmaids were Lady Mary Cambridge and Miss Helen Hastings, who wore powder-blue gowns veiled in silver lace. The reception was at Beauma.nor, lent by Mr and Lady Kathleen Curzon-Herrick; and the Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry have lent Springfield, Vaxham. for the honeymoon. In addition to the other presents by the Jiving and Queen to the bride, their (Majesties sent a cheque to the bridegroom- as also did the Prince of Wales and his brothers and Princess Mary to their cousin.

In this favourite month for weddings touches of the spring colours are pictures queerly introduced, as, for instance, the original wreaths of blue hyacinths and convolvulus worn fciy Lady Mary Cambridge and Miss Helen Hastings, and the gold brocade of the train of the new Lady Eltham, which was of Court length. Lilies are seldom now carried by the bride, but roses or white heather, and even orchids. The bridesmaids of the Duchess of Grafton’s daughter (Miss Isolde Borthwick, who married Captain George Cooper) wore wreaths of mimosa. The marriage of the Marquis of Worcester, only son of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, and Lady Mary Cambridge, elder daughter of the Marquis and Marchioness of Cambridge, is fixed for June 14.

Much interest—and in social circles, regi’et— attaches to the announcement that most probably the Duke of York is to be appointed Governor-General of one of the overseas dominions in the near future. No definite appointment has yet been made, but the matter is under general consideration. It has been suggested that he may succeed Prince Arthur of Connaught as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa. England (especially London) will regret that the Duke and his bride will not spend the early years of their •married life here. There is no doubt that the King's second son has greatly grown in popularity since the announcement of his intended marriage. The British National Opera Company is to open at Covent Garden Opera House for a season beginning May 14. Dame Nellie Melba is again to sing with the company as Mimi in “La Boheme,” as Marguerite in “Faust,” and as Juliet in Gounod’s ‘‘Romeo and Juliet.” A further musical event is promised in the production of Mr Gustav Holst’s opera, “The Perfect Fool,” which is one long act, and takes about an hour and a-half. Later in the season another opera, the work of Mr Gustave Holst, will be produced.

With the opening of the London season great ladies are arranging charities. The Marchioness of Carisbrook is opening a big “White Sale” for the country branch of the National Orthopoedic Hospital, and Lady Louis Mount-batten is lending her beautiful house. (Brook House, Park lane) for a concert on behalf of welfare work for mothers and babies. The Duchess of Portland, the Marchioness of Aberdeen, the Countess of Pembroke, Viscountess Helmsley. and Lady Baden-Powell are all workers for infant welfare.

Already ladies are beginning to organise for Queen Alexandra's Rose Day on the 13th of June, which brings thousands of pounds (much needed) to the hospitals every year.

The shameful abuse of that public charity, the “dole,” has been having a much-needed airing in the press, and hard-ridden taxpayers have the mortification of learning that millions of pounds a year are being spent in great measure on keeping in idleness thousands of ablebodied men and women, who do not want to work. When in 1920 the Government was faced with the sudden evil of unemployment, the “dole” was the speediest way of meeting the crisis, and (it is admitted) had much to do with keeping the country free from revolutionary activities. The authors of “The Third Winter of Unemployment” draw attention to the fact that during these lea.n years the amount of actual suffering has been wonderfully small, and the public health surprisingly good. As a matter of fact, the worst suffering lias been among what we call the “genteel poor” (horrid term !), by which we designate the refined and proud poor (to whom the reduction in the tax on beer means nothing and the high price of tea and sugar much), whose income is far too smafl to do anything save provide a veil of decency which is drawn between the public and privation. To such—one man killed himself last week of such—it would be more tolerable to starve than personally line up in a public queue to receive the public dole. Many do it for wife or child’s sake; but such men gladly take the fii-st work that offers. But what can he said of such cases as these which are reported ? A joiner who had been nearly two years out of work was offered a job

of a kind different from his ordinary employ meat at 39s a week, lie refused it because it was only 9s a week more than he was drawing in relief, and when told that he would be reported, lie merely •fiughtd, and said that that did not matter, as it was optional to him to accept any job that was not in h u own trade. Prolonged unemployment has a demoralising effect; self-respect diminishes. Many decent men and women who lost their employment in the first year of tiie peace worried themselves to death, but were “doled ' into inactivity, and now treat the “dole” as a permanent means of livelihood. One of the greatest scandals of the "dole” system is that it is practically paying girls and women not to work. Servants are unobtainable. Good homes, good wages, do not count against freedom, idleness, and the dole. To get something for nothing from the Government and their time free is more alluring to a certain class of girl than £SO to £lu) a year with duties and discipline. It is widely held that when there is so much genuine unemployment it is a scandal that the one labour market which is understaffed should he robbed of its workers by Government charity. It should be made illegal for women capable of domestic service to draw the “dole,” tor every capable and healthy servant can find work if they want it. Another of the crying scandals that call loudly for redress is the dear food prices. Although there have been considerable reductions in the cost of production and distribution of meaL milk, fruit, bacon, butter, etc., little of the benefit reachcs the public, the middlemen absorbing the gain. Evidence given before the departmental committee inquiring into the wholesale and retail prices of food shows that excessively large profits are being made by those who deal in the necessities of life. The secretary of the National Citizens’ Union affirms that he has been able to lay before the committee proof that there is far too much disparity between the price that the producer received and the nrice the consumer has to pay. He cites milk for one instance, the farmers get Is per gallon for their mihc m summer and the housewife is charged 2s a gallon. In winter the farmer gets Is 4d and the housewife has to pay 2s Bd. Of every £1 spent on meat in this country not less than 12 goes to the distributing and retail sections of the trade, tne farmer receiving Bs. The lower the wholesale prices, the more profit for the middlemen. Whenever there is a glut of fruit the advantage is never reaped by tne public. Last year, when Worcestershire plum-growers were recei\ing only 3d a lb for Victorias, they were being sold in London at 4d and 6d. That is only a sample of the profiteering general, and until the Government steps in to the protection of the public it will be fleeced. The proposed new tax on betting, which is now to he considered, affords an easy wav o-f raising more revenue.