OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16376, 25 June 1927, Page 9

OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP

GRAND OPERA. LONDON, May 5. The Grand Opera Syndicate, which lias opened its season at t'ovent; Garden, lias received enormous advance support. The usual inspired prognostications of "no more opera unless the public responds" have achieved the usual result. The subscription list is practically full. So much tor the British support of grand opera. Bui what about the opera's support of British singers?

One well known British artist lias been engaged for this year's session. This is neither creditable from an artistic nor a national point of view. Joseph Hislop, Tom Burke,, ami the Canadian tenor. Edward Johnson, would make a liner trio of tenors tl»an we shall hear this year. Florence Austral'.should be given a chance in senior opera. Nile lias one of the great voices of the world.

.So with the conductors. Bruno Walter h a great conductor, and London has taken him to its heart, but he should iltermitc with Sir Thomas Beecham or Albert Coates, who are outstanding in their generation. If the answer is that a better ensemble is effected for Wagner with German artists and a German conductor, then there is ample opportunity in the Italian operas for interpolation, styUO the syndicate invariably does its Italian productions as if the artists have never seen -.aeb other before. Why not ler outstanding British artists raise the general level of the syndicate*!* productions?

COMMUNITY SINGING

LONDON, May 5.

.Community singing will reach a remarkable stage in its amazing career to-morrow, when over 90,000 people will join in a great burst of song at the Wembley Stadium before plunging into the excitements and the thrills of the Cup Final. It is only a few months ago that the Daily Express launched its great movement at tho Albert Hall. To the mass of people the idea was new, surprising, even a little startling. But in a flash it captured London, and it has since seized tho imagination and the enthusiasm of the whole country.

This has become in very truth a country of song. The social effect is not open to doubt,, although it is impossible to compute it. Men and women cannot join in community singing and still find room in their hearts for gloom, despair or bitterness. The new influence is making itself felt in every grade of society, in fashionable drawing-rooms as in factories and workshops. Who shall put a limit to the effect of those few inspiring, soulstirring moments to-morrow afternoon, when !»0,000 footbnll enthusiasts, gathered from every point of the Compass, will sing that magnificent old hymn, "Abide with me?"

ADMISSION TO FAMOUS ENGLISH GARDENS.

LONDON. May 6.

Tt is proposed to open to the public in June many of the famous gardens of England on behalf of the Queen Alexandra Memorial Fund. Arrangements have been made for a total of 355 gardens to be opened on certain dates at a fee of one shilling.. A lead in the movement has been set by the King and Queen,, who are allowing the public an opportunity of enjoying the beauties of the private gardens of Sandringham. Every English county has its wonderful stately homes—abbeys, castles, halls—and, by the courtesy of the owners, their glorious gardens, some of them centuries old, will bo opened in aid of the Memorial Fund. VIRIONS OF JOY. Many of them will be seen by the publje for the first time, although their beauties have long been common knowledge. To mention the names of a few of these gardens brings visions of ageold yew hedges, wistaria-covered pergolas, and long green alleys and wide lawns, with sunken plots and waterlily ponds. Throughout every county, gardens, parks, and woods that have been the pride of their owners for hundreds of years will,, on certain days in June, when ihe sun should be hot, the sky at its bluest, and the flowers at their best, be open to receive visitors. Never before have so many owners combined to offer this privilege, and tourists from abroad ,and holidaymakers in this country will have a unique opportunity of seeing gardens '•which, in some instances, have not hitherto been open to-visitors.■*-Admission to the gardens will be Is, and in certain cases where the mansion is thrown open as well, there will be a small additional charge. All proceeds are for the memorial. A great deal of organisation has been necessary on the part of those responsible for the movement and hundreds of owners have been communicated with. Very few refusals have been met with and it is clear

that in flaming June garden-lovers will have an opportunity which may never come i heir way again. THE SHINGLE.

Hairdressers are once more predicting tin 1 disappearance of the shingle. Their prophecies have been falsified in the past, and, we hope, will be again. We are content to let the health experts defend ii on the grounds of hygiene, contenting ourselves with tho undeniable case in favor of its attractiveness. The "crowning glory'' legend lasted far too long. Women were never, more delightfully glorious than they are to-day with, snort hair and abbreviated skirts. They themselves know that, and it will be a long time before they lengthen either. A NEW SPORT. There was a time, not so many years ago, when it was considered a sign of jiamby-p'uiiby squoamishiiess to object to coursing on the ground of its Cruelty to the hares. The electric "hare" was invented, and on Saturday 5000 people watched the greyhounds pursuing it at Airfield with enthusiastic, untarnished delight. Now many trainers of the greyhounds are declaring that tho new form of coursing will mean the end of the old as an organised sport, and some of them are even admitting that such contests as that for the Waterloo Cup did invoice cruelty to the hares. Once more, then, invention has proved a humanising influence, and perhaps in time even the authorities of Monte Carlo will realise that shooting at clay pigeons is better, cleaner fun than massacring dazed, terrified birds.

'TEA PARTIES IN THE CLOUDS

LONDON, May 5

Imperial Airways, Ltd., have arranged a series of flights over London throughout the summer in order to give those people who do not wish to fly to the Continent an opportunity of enjoying the exhilaration of flying.

This novel service starts next week, and while the air liner is in flight over London teas will be served in the large saloon.

The fare will be £2 2s, and it also includes a motor car journey from London to the Croydon aerodrome and back.

INLAND All? TRAFFIC

LONDON, Mav .',

Efforts on a widespread scale are to be made this season to develop aviation in this country.

It is hoped to form 0 new aeroplane clubs in various districts. Already, in Government-assisted and private clubs, we have 14 such organisations. Our six State-aided clubs have trained just on 100 pilots, while their membership is now approximately 1000. Nearly a dozen schemes are being developed for commercial air ports at. provincial cities. In this respect, a* was illustrated the other day by the lecture in London of Major Martin Wronsky, we are far behind Germany,. which now boasts ">7 inland airstations.

What is proposed, to stimulate traffic between our inland air-ports, is for groups of industries, acting cooperatively, to make a regular use of aircraft for the transport of urgent loads. The practical details of such a scheme, as between Norwich, where an air-club has just been formed, and certain areas in the Midlands, are now being worked out. The inducement to use aeroplanes is, in this case, all the stronger owing to the. time occupied in cross-country rail communications,