ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6401, 21 November 1888, Page 2

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

♦ • [From otic London CobbsbpobtdsntJ F. and O. Captains. Samoa. Mrs Gordon-Baillie. Literary and Dramatic. "The Armada," "Carina," and rt Tne Yeomen of the Guard." MISCELLANEOUS. It is somewhat unfortunate for the P. and O. Company that in the. two serious accidents -which. Have ococcnvrecl to their passenger steamers recently (the Tasmania and the Nepaul) both captains should have been bo dazed by the catastrophe as to be useless. The captain of the Nepaul, it was first hinted, committed suicide, but that is quite untrue. He was simply struck down with apoplexy, brought on by the accident. The officers seemed, fortunately, to have had their wits about them, and there- was no scare. The new school of P. and O. captains will not compare with the old—l mean the men of thirty years ago. They are younger, perhaps, and work harder for much smaller salaries than their predecessors, but they have not the same status either in India or Australia. Thirty years ago the captain of a crack Peninsular and Oriental liner ranked socially with a general officer or an Indian Judge or Comptroller. Now—well—now off his own ship, he's, comparatively-speak-ing, nobody. On Ait, that the gallantries-of Jus brother have finally decided Lord Carrington to resign the Yice-Boyalty of New South. Wales. The Hon Rupert would, it was once thought, have filled the vacancy-in the Dowager Duchess of Montrose's ample bosom, since occupied by Mr Milner. He \ras always a gay dog, and left msny sad hearts behind when he sailedao abruptly for Australia. I have not heard the nature of the gallantries to which thfr Colonial . papers so mysteriously refer. By the-way, what happens toorbecomesof the elaborate reportson whioh SirJP. D. Bell seems continuously engaged ? They most contain a heap of valuable information of one kind and another, yet I cannot ber having seen them referred to in-the New Zealand papers. The pound shares of +b© New Zealand Antimony Company now sfeandat^Bl 7s 6d, and they are likely to see a much, higher price, if the' quartz just received by the lonic,.analyse& as richly as the. Directors anticipate. ... The Mansion Hous©iSub6criptittctowards the Imperial Institute, .which, amounts to nearly .822,000, has just been hamted-ovei; '- to Sir-E. Abel and Co.

and gick with other people's caßh when her own gave oat.

1 PERSONAL.

Mr J. Herbert Farmer, scut of Mr. James .Farmer, ex-M.L.C, is to be marrkdon Oct.. 4 to Hisa Harris, daughter of Sir Gfoasge Harris, the Governor of the Bahamas* After visiting her brother, the .mission-' sty in South Africa, Lady Frederick. Csvendish will proceed to Canterbury, where the family own valuable property. It is not stated how lons a W means to zemaan there. Sir Walter and Lady Buljerar&expeoted: . back in London next week. The " Coin-collecting " tour of Michael.' Davitt and J"ostin M r Carthy to the Antipodes wSI now be postponed till the ParneH /Commission concludes ifei labours. By tt»e way 3 your recent visitor (Mr Redmond) has been consigned to durance vile for eight months for injudiciously?: inciting evicted peasants to throw boSingi water and .red-hot iron at the police. " ÜBS GORDON B&r&IilK. I hear that, upon her incarceration in < Holloway^ Mrs Gordon Baillie, announced herself very unwell, so unwell, indeed that she was at once removed to the infirmary, where she now lives comfortably on dainty fare. Being an untried prisoner, the lady is allowed pens, ink, &c.,and(to her well up to the times) has started vodiang hex autobiography. " The Memoirs of Mis. Gordon Baillie" should be a most exciting narrative, especially it her real adventures, are truthfully narrated. There; are forty-live counts in the indictment against her. Her sole plea is that she acted on her husband's, Perceval Frost's, . compulsion, to which the prosecution will retort that Frost is not her husband. Proof of her divorce from Knight Aston is. at present being; hunted up in Melbourne. j Mrs Baillie has still plenty of friends, as I when well , off • she was always .lavishly ' geaepus.ajafl hospitable, helping the poor' 1

THE GERMANS IN SAMOA.

The 'J'imes aa;s the Germans are beginning to be sorry they meddled with Samoa, international pledgeß prevent their annexing it; out and oat, and they probably realise that nothing short of thepermaxient maintenance of an armed force there Trill enable them to keep the peace. The Germans ace delighted with the prospectß of their Australasian steamed. The xeport of the Berlin merchant Elder tosV waned, declares their .boat* are ahead of those of all other nations in the rapidity °!4 !? **"»*•■«* that theeO;OOOBona of Fatherland settled in the Australia* are assisting to promote the oucceaa of the' line in a most satisfactory manner.

LITEEABY. ■

The Bticcess of "Captain Swift » «fc tti* Chambers being commissioned to mite another play for that popular theatea " ▲dvance Australia." Mr Fatchetfc-Martin - will contribute an article to ttie Noi«ember Centum on " Anßtralian Literature." Mr Alfred Simon (of Messrs Moetaod Chandon) starts on an- important business tour of the Australasian Colonies early next month. , . ' MraHumplwej Ward, the now famous author of the much canvassed "Bobert Eianere," is an Australian by birth, aad has a brother named Theodore Ward, who is a schoolmaster in New Zealand. >■>.-.•■ ." OUB KIN ACROSS THE SEA." ' This book is, I regret to say, -a great disappointment. Instead of being, as moat of us over here hoped, a thonerhfcful work on New Zealand by. an old identity of ripe experience and liberal views, it is only a New Zealand tourist's casual impression* of America and the Americans. Mr FirtU's views, impressions, and criticisms of New Zealand and the. New Zealanders would have been of the xxtmost value both to Colonists and people at Home; but his American experiences are worth little more than those of the hundred add one scribbling globe-trotters . who have kept diaries. Mr Froude, in a somewhat Bald preface (confined mainly to telling readers who J. C. Firth.is), lays stress on tha book being by a Colonist, or^rather, mentions it as an extenuating cirenmstance. ■ ■ - NBW ZEALAND ATJTHOBS. ' . "Kaipara^or Experiences of a Settler in North New Zealand/i s the title of a work by Mr P. J. Barlow which Sampson Low will publish in the course of a few weeks. Curiously enough, life in this part of New Zealand was very folly dealt with a few years back by Mr Delisle Hay in an amusing work called "Brighter Britain." The same firm have also in hand Mrs Charles HeUey'a "Native P/owersof New Zealand," and a work dealing. with the recent depression ia tlie. Colony, by Mr John Bradehaw, late Chainaai of' the Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative Aasbcia%lJ&'£us.°* m Zealand of Wny. the London correspondent of the Argus ahonld imagine that bis impression* : of London are of special value tothe public «^ n fc A kno . w - 1 . he does so, for "The Australian in London, by J. F. Hpgan,"is announced for immediate nublication by Ward and Downey. The same firm Aave-in hand old friend Facjeon'a new shocker, " Devlin, the Barber." , If inexperienced authors but knew now much success may depend on the jodicioos selection of a publisher, they would not' snap so readily at : the first mtebdnctioh and the ftrsfc proposal made to them. Mr ;Bolf Bolderwood'B capital story, ♦•.Eobbery Under Arms," is sufEeringfromtheauapieea under which it appeared. , Bemingtons are a respectable firm enough (so far as respectabiKty goes), but they havetft the teade status of Bentley's or Blaokwood's. Had "Bobbery Under Arms" been published by Bentley, it would hav© ; beea reviewed all over the kingdom by thiß time and been the book of adventure asked for at the libraries for the next six months. The author should promptly set to work on ft book ,ot f^aUa? ij^mS^Jmmiuw^ I and about- the length of " King Solomon* I Mines." .

I DEAMATIC. : ■.. ;: ?

Augustus Hams seema to hare Bcatei ©ren a bigger success than usual ■with •" The Armada.", I have not seen ityeti but I hear that the great aea fight between the Armada and the English fleet off Calais is one-, of the most astonishing scenic illusions ever witnessed on this side o£ the Channel. It appears the energetic Druriolanus rooted out ■ a wonderful Austrian Bcene-painter, who has discovered certain, surprising- methods of completely deceiving the eye. Thus many of the massively-built ships of war which can be seen maiUßUvxing in the background during the' terrific engagement in the foreground between a Spanish galleon and an English man-of-war, are in reality mere flat canvas. The Procession of Thanksgiving to St Paul's, which winds up the play, ia also .spoken of as a great four deforce, and the Inquisition scenes in Spain are realistic enough for anyone. . . AN AMIBICAN nEBUTAHTB. ' A Mrs Churchill Joddrell, a . phenomenally vain and foolish, overblown American beauty, who made a melancholy fiasco at the Alexander Theatre, Liver* pool, not long ago, has taken the unlucky Novelty Theatre for a season, rechristenina it "The Joddrell." Mrs Joddrell is in tha hands of Colonel H. J. Sargent, said to be "& well-known acting manager." ■ The pair pledge themselves to "surprise the London public." Probably they will, .and themselves too. I must try. and be present on the opening night of "the Joddrell." H Mrs J. repeats her Liverpool ♦• impersonation-" there will be "wiga on the green." before the evening's opt. "JEixst uightexsr" nowadays are everything haH tolerant. . A. SUCCBSBFUi IiADT COHPOBKB. - "Carina," the new comic opera at£ha Opera Camiqae, has made an unexpected Jrit. The libretto does not ■ appear to be much, above the ordinary run of opera bouffe books, but all the critics speak -sell of Madame Julia Woolf s score. Madame Woolf iB quite an old latiy. She took a King's scholarship at the Boyal Academy of Music about thirty years ago, and: was a prominent performer at poor Alfred Mellon's promenade concerts. Success has come to her . somewhat late in life, Ant ""better late than never." THS TSOHBN OF THE QUABD. : - The most elaborate arrangements have been made for exploiting the new Gilbert - . andSuilivan opera. Two American Companies are already on the. road, and two JBnglxsh Provincial troupes, and one Australian are rehearsing. From all of these, as well as from the Savoy Theatre, author and composer take heavy royalties, ail risk being borne by the respective managers. Should the work prove, a success equal to "Pinafore" or "The Mikado," it will be far the most profi<able of the partnership. . Mr ButJand Barrington played Boon Bah. in "The Mikado" for the lasttune-on Saturday. After the fall of the curtain, he-was, together with the other seceding member of the Company, Mr J. G. Boberteon, twice recalled. Mr Barxmgton opens the St James' Theatre on Ocfc, 13 with a dramatia version of PhSßxps' cjnscal" Dean and Hia Daughter." ' The first production at the Gamck 'Heatre, which is tiie name given to the handsome new house Gilbert is building for Hare, will be an English version, of "La Tosca,"witli Mis Bernard Beere in tiie title r6le. The fair " Beray " (as her friends call her) is at present in Paris ordering the dregsea for the piece. ?