"THE COTTON KING."

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6121, 7 March 1898, Page 2

"THE COTTON KING."

The Bland Holt Company will open its Christchurch season at the Theatre Eoyal this evening, with The Cotton King. The plot of this drama briefly, is, as follows : — Disappointed in his hope of marrying a young lady who inherits half her father's fortune should the match eventuate, the chief villain of the play, vows vengeance on his successful rival, " The Cotton King," who, though born in Lancashire, has spent most of his life in America. Having so altered a cable code as to turn it into an instruction to buy instead of to sell cotton, the villain effects his rival's ruin. From an attempt to fasten upon him the ruin of a village beauty the hero escapes by fixing the guilt upon the villain himself. Many ingenious traps are net for the Cotton King by the villain. But the retribution of justice, though slow, is none the less sure, and at the moment of expected triumph the villain is placed under arrest. Like most of the melodramas presented by Mr Bland Holt, The Cotton King teems with incident, and the scenery comprises a series of beautiful pictures. 'The electric light will be made use of, and the mechanical effects will be worked by steam power 'Ihe workroom in the cotton mills, with the cotton-printing machinery and elevators at work, is spoken of as a triumph of stage mechanism.