OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16722, 14 August 1928, Page 3

OLD COUNTRY GOSSIP.

ASCOT A GARDEN PARTI'. LONDON, July 2. At Ascot the horses seem to bo little more than an excuse for a Royal garden party-cuin.muuijtaquin parade. It' the woathei' is kind, as it was this week, then tho general effect of this .social gathering amid perfectly delightful surroundings is very pleasant indeed, and there is about the proceedings just a welcome .suggestion of informality in what is essentially a formal function. As an indication of the extent to which it is a. [.{oval event, no one who has been divorced' or has obtained a divorce, even under the most, acute forms of aggravation, 3s permitted within the Royal enclosure. Even gallant/ husbands who have allowed themselves to be divorced instead of divorcing their wives are excluded, so the number of men not eligible becomes sadly larger every year. Yet men are. in demand if for no other reason than that women naturally prefer to lunch in a club tent rather than with the. crowd in the 7s 6d luncheon room attached to the paddock, and no women's club has yet supplied such a tent at. Ascot. It is absolutely essential [to beat 'the- bookmaker if one is not. to find attendance at Ascot a rather outrageously expensive* form of enjoyment.. Six thousand people were granted tickets for the Royal enclosure. Theso cost. £4 for women and £6 for men. There were 36 grand tier boxes costing 7)0 guineas each for the week, and 210 others at 15 to 20 guineas. A private luncheon room costs an additional 10 guineas. Weekly tickets admitting to the grandstand, paddock, and Tattersall's cost £7. The rent of a house, near the course for Ascot week is anything from 35 to 40 guineas. To park one's car on the course costs anything up to £1 10s, and all the numerous incidentals to a visit aro on the same spacious scale. Many hundreds of applications for the Royal enclosure were refused. And yet England still regards herself as a poor country.

, NEWSPAPER WAR. The classical newspaper controversy associated with the name of Eatanswill has been rivalled in Fleet street, where the Daily Mail and the Morning Post have been at loggerheads. Recently Lord Rotbermere and the Daily Mail have warmly Espoused the cause of Hungary, and the Hungarians, who do nothing by halves, havo been rather excessively grateful to Mr. Esmond Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere's son, who has jKiid a triumphal and rose-decked pilgrimage to Budapest. The Morning Post bas been amusingly caustic at the expense of " Rodor-mir Lord," as the Hungarians call him, and the Rotbermere fraternity can stand almost any form of oppression better than ridicule. They havo therefore employed the Daily Mail as a weapon of revenge, and that powerful organ, with its almost dropsical circulation, has given much prominence to a rather brutal contrast of its own net sales with those of the Morning Post. The conclusion reached by the Daily Mail was that ljj people seo an advertisement in the Daily Mail for every ono who sees it in the Morning Post," and that, pro rata, the Morning Post charge for a full inside page advertisement should be £SO and not £250. while on the same reckoning a similar advertisement in the Daily 'Mail is worth £4500 instead of £9OO. The Morning Post promptly replied to what is called the " Jiulily of Fleet street," pointing out that, unlike the latter, it does not swell its net sales by coupon competitions and free insurance, and that it appeals to a class of readers who are intelligent, thoughtful and well-to-do, and who, " constituting the upper and middle classes of our social life," are able to buy the goods advertised in its columns. The Daily Mail, in reply, pointed out that the Morning Post for 50 years " has been i pre-eminently -the organ of belowi stairs," finding a very largo proportion i of its readers in the kitchens of this country. How much its appeal is to this class of reader is shown by its own advertisement columns, one of the longest of which is headed, " House, kitchen and scullery maids." In response to this veritable Eatanswill touch, the Morning Post remarks that, because the Mail has a poultry column, one might as well argue that its readers are chiefly cocks and hens, and, in a last word, likens itself to David and its opponent to Goliath, and quotes effectively tho Bible: "And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was anned with a coat of mail, and the weight of tho coal was five thousand shekels of brass (net sale)." With this parting " stone from the brook " overt hostilities have been suspended. But the inkstained hatchets aro liable to be busyagain at any time.

GOLDEN WEDDING OF LORD LONSDALE.

King Gtcrgo and Queen Mary and 40 other guests dined with Lord and Lady Lonsdale at their home at Carlton House Terrace in celebration of their golden wedding. Tho Queen wore a wonderful gown of silver tissue with an over-dress of pink and silver. She wore a diamond tiara and a collar and ropes of diamonds and the blue garter ribbon.

Dinner was served in the banqueting room hung with crimson. Tho King and Queen and fourteen other guests sat at the centre table while the others occupied four smaller tables. The golden casket presented to Lord Lonsdale by the Frineo of Wales rested in the middle of the big table. Hanked by two magnificent gold racing, caps, trophies of iiord Lonsdale's victories on tho turf, which, with red roses and the white table linen, formed! (Lord Lonsdale's yellow, red and white racing colors. The guests included Princess Louise. Duchess of Argyie, Lord Balfour, and Lord and Lady Hare wood. After dinner the King and Queen saw their first cabaret, performance, which 'was organised by George Grossmith, who is a friend of Lord Lonsdale, in a, marquee in tho garden. Princess Mary and Lord Lascelles were among the guests who arrived after dinner.