LADIES’ COLUMN.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LX, Issue 143788, 11 May 1912, Page 5

LADIES’ COLUMN.

(By Sister Ann.) OF LOCAL INTEREST. Miss Faulkner is the guest of Mrs. G. Home. Miss Monica Govett has returned from Wellington. Miss Mabel Humphries returned home from Auckland on Wednesday. Mrs. and Miss Dodgshnn, of Wanganui, are staying in New Plymouth. Mrs. W. N. Leatham, of Auckland, is visiting friends in New Plymouth. Miss Dorothy Bradbury has gone to Auckland on a visit to Mrs." J. Kemp. Mrs. J. Rollo left for Wellington this week on a visit to her father, Mr. W. Stuart. Miss Winnie Webster left on Wednesday with her father for a trip to Sydney. The Misses Humphries, who have been paying a round of visits, have returned home. Mrs. Morton (Miss Flossie Gilmour) is visiting her relatives in New Plymouth. Mrs. M. Standish, of Te Roti, who has been visiting Auckland, returned on Friday. Mrs. W. L. Newman has returned from Sydney, whither she accompanied Mrs. Honeyfield. Many of my readers will be interested to learn of the engagement of Miss Rosa Hawken, of V anganui, formerly of New Plymouth, to Dr. Wilkins, of Hamilton. Mr. and Mrs. W. Eyre-Kenny, of the Straits Settlements, are expected shortly on a visit to Mr. Kenny’s parents. WOMAN’S DRESS ALLOWANCE. What arc the “necessaries” in the case of a woman whoso husband is in receipt of £IIOOO a year K Hie New York Supreme Court of Appeal finds itself equally divided on the question—three judges against three. .Solomon Rosenfeld, a tailor, sued Mr. Peck for £llO, the price of clothes ordered by Mrs. peck uelore her. divorce. in the Lower Court the case went against him, and now on appeal three judges are in favour of a new trial and the President ana two others in favour of dismissing the appeal. Mrs. Pock considered the following things absolutely necessary :. £. Brown leather automobile coat ... ‘2O Blue and White suit 27 Blue taffeta coat 18 Pique suit 30 White serge suit 18 Total 113 At the time Mrs. Peck made the purchases she was about to start for Europe, and she said that the articles were the usual things she purchased when she went abroad. Mr. Peck admitted that his income was £9OOO a year, and said he had allowed his wife £3OO for pin money and £7 a week for cabs and lunches, and considered this sufficient for her to pay for her own clothes. Mrs. Julia Solomon, sister of Mrs. Peck, said she packed the five trunks Mrs. Peck had with her when she started for abroad, and that they contained among other things, the following apparel; Ninety pairs of silk stockings, ten pairs of silk tights, thirty-six pairs of shoes, twelve hats, and thirty gowns of the latest styles. Mr. Rosenfeld, the tailor, testified that the fashion in dresses changes twice a year, and that no well dressed woman neglects to change her gowns with the styles. The majority of the judges agreed to the principle that certain, tuings are necessary to wealthy ladies which are not necessary to poorer women. The dissenting judges argued that Mrs. Peek was amply financed by her husband, and that she should have paid for her own clothing. Mrs. Wiley, wife of Dr. Wiley, head of the Department of Public Health at Washington, states the Daily Telegraph correspondent, addressed the women's clubs, and declared that onethird of the husband’s salary, sometimes more, should be the wife's allowance. No resolution was passed, .but some heated remarks were made when one wife with a big family declared that women without children should not be so well paid as mothers of a big family. BUCKINGHAM PALACE. QUEEN ALEXANDRA’S HOME. It is only within the last few months that the refurnishing and redecorating of Marlborough House as a London homo for ■ Queen Alexandra has been entirely completed, but now that the work is finished, Her Majesty will probably reside a good deal more in Loudon than she has done since the death of the late King (says a London pape). Marlborough House, as it is now arranged, is ol peculiar interest, because everything it contains is Her Majesty’s personal property. Her private apartments consist of a suite of rooms on the second floor, containing a reception room, boudoir, bedroom and bathroom. The reception-room, where personal friends of Queen Alexandra are usually received, is a beautiful apartment looking over St. James’s Park. The room contains, amongst other things, a collection of King George’s school books, and a priceless collection o'f miniatures. There is a screen there which is decorated with small water-colour paintings and unframed photographs,, one of which is an autographed photo of the Intc l.nd--Curzon. Next to this room is Queen Alexandra's private oouuoir. t.. 1..0 centre of this is Her Majesty’s writing table, with a black blotter bound in silver that has the words ‘‘Marlborough House” stamped on the outside. At one side of the desk is a heavy inlaid brass box in which letters requiring immediate attention are always put, and beside it is a big pad of Royal telegraph forms. Queen Alexandra personally opens all fetters addressed to herself, and all letters relating to Her Majesty’s bnsinss which come directed to a member of the household are read to her, and her instructions taken as to how they shall be dealt with. Replies to business letters are dictated to the shorthand clerk, Mr. Ernest Byrant, either by Miss Knollys or by Sir Digbton Probyn. A suite of private apartments for Royal visitors is on the same floor as Queen Alexandra’s. This suite consists of six apartments. Queen Alexandra’s rooms communicate by a short staircase with the rooms overhead occupied by her personal servants. Her Majesty . has four dressers, one of whom is always in attendance. But when Queen Ales-

andra travels only one maid accompanies her, except when she is going on a Royal visit of considerable importance, in which case two maids would be taken. No mistress was ever more beloved by her servants than is Queen Alexandra by hers. Some of those now in. Her Majesty’s employ have boon in the Royal Service ever since she came, as Princess of Wales, to Marlborough House, and though they might if they liked have rotiivd on a comfortable pension long since, they prefer to remain in the service of their Royal mistress.—Sydney bun.