SOCIETY

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 62, 19 November 1881, Page 154

SOCIETY

—Miss A. George has quite recovered from the accident she met with on Sunday week. — The North Shore ladies are disgusted with tlie meanness of their own rowing men. — Mrs Simpson held a birthday party at Gisborne on November Ist. — The picnickers had a -wonderfully pleasant time of it in Denby's gardens last Wednesday evening. — The social gathering on Friday evening was decidedly the best ever held by St James' Mutual Improvement Association. — Lawn tennis was " on" in Government House grounds last Saturday. We wonder how the favoured ones squared it with the keeper. — The Naval Brigade went to the North Shore in then* pinnace on the Prince of Wales' Birthday, and enjoyed a very pleasant picnic there. — The North Shore regatta people and their friends spent a very pleasant evening in the hall on Saturday, the occasion being the presentation of prizes. — Mr Wilkie, the telegraphist in charge at Waipn, asked a number of friends to a picnic at the Cove on Nov. 9th, which passed off very pleasantly. — The young ladies of St. Matthew's wish to know why Bones does not attend church on Wednesday evening, as of yore. Has he been crushed. — The breaking up of the Waitara quadrille party took place last week. It was a grand success, there being upwards of 60 couples present. — The Parnell Lawn Tennis Club is in full swing. The ladies wear a uniform of cream and cardinal, and most of the men are clad in white suits. Miss Mowbray is said to be the best player among the ladies. _ — Mr Christmas's fortnightly quadrille assemblies at Panmure were wound up on the Bth inst. by a ball in the Panmure Hall, at which forty odd couples assisted. There was any amount of fun and the party didn't break up till a late or rather early hour. — A Devonport lady asks us to publish the following query :—" What was it that a certain member of the committee whispered to the Judge at the conclusion of the Ladies' Race on Saturday last ? The sentence must have contaiued some peculiarly pregnant argument, for it induced him to declare a dead heat, when one boat was fully half a length in front of the other." — The second young ladies Bible class in connection with St James' Sunday school held a very pleasant picnic at Northcote on the Prince of Wales' Birthday, to which a number of teachers and fellow scholars were invited. Various games were indulged in, and repeated raids were made on the local strawberry gardens. Even the foundering of the boat.'and the wetting of some of the j>assengers, did not throw a damper on the spirits of the youthhful pleasure seekers. — There was a very poor attendance at the North Shore Lawn Tennis on Saturday last, owing to so many other attractions in the shape of boat races, etc. There were a few pretty dresses. Miss Russell had on a brown dress, with tennis apron of ei'eam, worked in scarlet ; Miss Hanier, maroon dress, trimmed with cream, and hat to correspond; Miss A. O'Neill, cream dress, with black silk sash, and scarlet tennis apron, trimmed with cream fringe, cherry-ripe hat with wreath of scarlet berries ; Miss M. O'Neill, black cashmere, trimmed with black and white checked silk, scarlet scraper, white tennis hat ; Miss M. Binney, grey biege, black .jersey jacket, white straw hat. The costumes of the visitors were by no means striking. The sterner sex showed up in goodly numbers, and a very pleasant afternoon was spent. — The Coversazione of the Auckland Society of Aits on Thursday evening, Nov. 10th, was ci-owded with the creme delacreme. The Bishop of Auckland and Mrs Cowie, the Attorneygeneral and Miss F. Whitakcr, Mrs and Miss Chamberlain, Eev. Mr and Mrs Nelson, Eev. Mr and Mrs Tebbs, Dr and Mrs and the Misses Home, Sir George and Lady O'Rorke, Mrs and Miss Kenny, Dr and Mrs Purchas, etc., etc., were some amongst the many present. The arrangements were well carried out, no hitch occurring in the programme from beginning to end, save and except the non-appearance of Miss ienton, and the absence from illness of Hcrr Carl Schmitt. Every one agreed that Mr Josiah Martin made a capital secretary. The concert on the whole was very good. Mrs Upton has a lovely voice, but we have heard her to more advantage than in the song she sang, which was not happily chosen; yet in spite of this her singing was by far the best, and excelled the other efforts of tlie evening, just as Mr Gordon Gooeh shone pre-eminent on his own side. Some amusement was caused by a well-known gentleman, who, having been asked by his wife to procure her a small bouquet, came up with an enormous bunch of red geraniums as large as a large cabbage, and presented them with considerable unction. The lady declining with thanks the burdensome and blushing honours, the nosegay was laid at the feet of one of the largo statues, where it remained, a brilliant knot of colour on the wliite of the plastei", for the remainder of the evening. We may be pardoned for suggesting that a better arrangement for the chairs would have been in front rather than behind the statues, leaving the back for the promenade. It was rather like asking the visitors to " take a back seat."