People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 940, 9 December 1933, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

Thousands of Roses Grow in the Streets of Canberra : How Carusos Voice Can be Revitalised : A Divorcee Who was Again Received at Court.

TWENTY THOUSAND ROSES are blooming in the main streets of Canberra at present. The experiment of planting several of the main streets with roses instead of with more conventional trees or shrubs was undertaken with some trepidation, because of the relatively small rainfall of the territory. Actually it has been triumphantly successful. The roses appear to need very little water, and some, indeed, are never watered. The mild, sunny days of late spring and early summer furnish splendid blossoms unspoiled by scorching or wilting, while the severe frosts of late winter are an even more powerful ally in producing perfect blooms, because of their effectiveness in destroying the eggs of aphis, thrips, and other garden pests so unpleasantly familiar to gardeners in more temperate climates. These displays are not part of the extensive national rose gardpn, which is now being laid out in front of Parliamnet House. When the street displays are supplemented with many thousands of plants going into the new garden, Canberra’s roses should become famous.

qg? ig? gIR JAMES BARRIE bowled a slow left. Will Meredi-th, the son of the novelist, kept wicket, Harry Graham batted as if he had been taught how to, and C. T. Smith, who under the nom de plume of Charles Turley writes some of the finest school stories, fielded professionally in the cricket team which Barrie used to captain, named the “ Allahakbaris ” (meaning “ God help us!”). C. T. Smith still numbers among his recreations that of “ watching cricket when the leg side is not packed with fielders.” Perhaps it is because he has kept such enthusiasm for boys’ joys in his heart that he is able to tell the fascinating story he jioes in “ Nansen of Norway,” which is the October selection of the Junior Book Club.

$$ $$ TMIE FIRST Japanese school for future Lirides, opened about eighteen months ago, has proved a real success. Prospective

husbands no longer sniff at “ theoretical brides ” as they did at first. So many prospective brides applied for admission this session that it was found impossible to take them all and the authorities have decided to open other schools in the provinces.

Graduates are proficient in domestic economy, cooking, needlework and household science generally. The Tokio school now has a marriage bureau running alongside so that graduates may be “ placed ” even before leaving school! The movement strongly supported by the All-Japan Women’s Federation.

3P W W JpOR FIVE YEARS the research engineers have experimented to revive the records of such artists as Caruso and Tetrazzini. Lawrence Collingwood, who <®>nducts at Sadler’s Wells, has lately been re-creating a Caruso record. And this is what he had to do. First he played through one of the original Caruso records thirty or forty times, to know every inflection of the dead singer’s voice. He then devised a new orchestration which, when played by a symphony orchestra of seventy players, would fit the old record exactly. The symphony orchestra was assembled in a studio before a microphone and Mr Collingwood provided with a pair of earphones. In another room a copy of the original Caruso record was played with an electric pick-up.

'J'HE REVITALISED VOICE of Caruso was then passed on through a recording box to an electrical recording machine, at the same time it was passed to the headphones worn by the conductor, and he directed the orchestra and accompanied the hidden voice. The microphones in the studio picked up the sounds of the new accompaniment, transformed them into electrical currents, which, after amplification, were fed into the electrical recorder machine with the sounds of the voice.

A new wax master was therefore made of the revitalised voice, also a new orchestral accompaniment.

JjADY MARION WELLER, in affection for whom Queen Victoria broke the law of her Court against the receiving of a divorced woman, has died at the age of 87. A daughter of the third Marquis of Ely, Lady Marion was born into a family which was on terms of intimate friendship with royalty. When 20, she married Captain George Osborn Springfield, but a few years later eloped with Major (afterwards Colonel) Sir James Dyson Bourne, one of her husband’s brother officers.

A scandal and divorce followed. Lady Marion, ideally married to her second husband, lived it down however. She recaptured her place as one of the leaders of society, and finally Queen Victoria relented and received her at Court. In 1883 Sir James Bourne died, and a year later she married Lieut.-Col. J, J. N. Buchanan, who died in 1893.

In the following year Lady Marion married her fourth husband, the Rev James Weller. For 50 years she wore on her wrists two bangles made from gold that decorated the uniform of Sir James Bourne.

gIXTY YEARS AGO. (From the " Star of December 9, 1873) :

Alexandra, December B.—Tapihana is still at Kuiti endeavouring to arrange a meeting between the Kingites, the Governor and Mr M’Lean. Manuhiri opposes the meeting strongly.

Auckland, December B.—The charge against Dr Coughtry, of the ship Chile, for assaulting Ann Vesey, by putting her in irons, etc., has been remanded for a week. Tauranga, December B.—The Native Minister has been well received by every section of the Natives. He is now addressing a monster meeting of Maoris. Port Chalmers, December 9.—The Omeo sailed at 4.30 p.m. She got on a bank in the channel, but the tide was running and she soon got off without injury and proceeded for Wellington.