LEADERS OF SOCIETY.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 37, 28 May 1881, Page 401

LEADERS OF SOCIETY.

No. 4.— Mrs. James Williamson. The Avife of, perhaps the very richest man in the Provincial District of Auckland, and a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand, must certainly take her place amongst the acknoAvledged leaders of our society ; and would do so more undoubtedly than she does if she had not been absent from Auckland for so many years. She has now, however, returned ; and to her, in conjunction AvithMrs. McCosh Clark and sonic others, the future ordering and avcll -being of our society must belong. Mrs. "Williamson is a niece of Mr. Browning. It Avas from his house that she was married, and in former days she resided first at Epsom, then at Kemuera, where she formed one of that coterie of choice and pleasant spirits, who made that picturesque locality so delightful a residence in times gone by. They are

scattered now to the fair winds of heaven, and a new race look over the green pastures and land-locked bays on to the .summits of Rangitoto. Mrs. "Williamson was then a charming young woman. She had the dark blue eyes, the delicate pink and white complexion, the dark brown, almost ebon, hair which so seldom meet together, and are altogether loA-cly when they do. She had a graceful, elegant figure. Her daughters Florence (now Mrs. Jim Philson) and Maud are nice looking, well grown girls, but they will not bear the faintest comparison with their mother at their age. She took them home to the old country for their education many years ago, and there remained until about three years since, when she came back to take up her abode with us and to be the mistress of the magnificent mansion and grounds of the Pah. Mrs. Williamson is by birth, by education, and by refinement, well fitted to take her place as a leader of society, and I trust she will make strenuous efforts not only to take it, but to maintain it. We need all the refinements of manner, all the accomplishments of education, that we can gather together to redeem the tone of most of our colonial re-unions. Spirit we have, heartiness we have, cspicglerie we have ; but quiet ease, lady-like calmness and stillness, the ineffable something which sheds over incongruous materials, the light of order, of friendliness, and of amalgamation, we have not much. Mrs. Williamson's garden parties are already spoken of as agreeable and pleasant gatherings. Her house and grounds are, in their _ way, almost perfect. Her husband has unlimited means at his command. He could, if he chose, almost recall the fable of Aladdin. Mrs. Williamson has still young people left (although one of her daughters has deserted her) to make her parties lively and cheerful, and she herself is, comparatively speaking, still a young woman. The ball is at her feet she has only to keep it rolling. Esmond.