ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1800, 3 June 1891, Page 6

ANGLO-COLONIAL NOTES.

London, April 18. I am glad to be able to assure the numerous New Zealand relatives, friends, and acquaintance* of Mr H. Marriott Watson that * Richard Savage' was produced at the Criterion Theatre on Thursday afternoon with every symptom of complete success. Public curiosity anent the piece proved far greater than anticipated. Though the performance had only been advertised in a most perfunctory manner, the cheaper parts of the theatre filled directly the doors opened, and by three o'clock there wasn't an inch of standing room anywhere. The audience, in fact, was one of the most remarkable seen at a matinee for many a long day. The stalls and circle were crowded with actors, managers, the critics, and all sorts and conditions of literary men. The Savile Club sent Laog, Henley, Wemyss Reid, Barry Payne, Maclaren, Cobban, Rudyard Kipling (in a brown velvet coat, pink tie, and pot hat), and others. Whistler and Marcus Stone represented art; Wyndham, Hare, Hawtry, Bancroft, and Beerbohm Tree were some of the managers present ; and amongst a veritable horde of leading Thespians may be mentioned Ferriss, Forbes, Robertson, and Fred Terry (each of whom wonld have liked to pUy ' Savage '), Julia Neilaon, Lady Monoktoo, Miss Norreys, Arthur Cecil, Lady Martin (Helen Faucet), George Alexander, Genevieve Ward, and John Mason. The house was friendly, yet critical. It received the first act (which is the weakest) languidly, but warmed to the story in the second, and when the curtain fell gave the actors a hearty recall. From this point the success of the play became praotically assured. The authors have wisely reserved their strongest situation to the last, and though Mr Bernard Gould was scarcely equal to its exigencies the possibilities of the scene were obvious. The entire company were thrice recalled at the close, and then arose an imperative ory of 11 authors." For a long time this was ignored, but the audience declined to disperse without seeing Messrs Watson and Barrie, and at length the tall New Zealander and short Scotchman bowed embarrassed acknowledgements. The Dick Savage whom Messrs Watson and Barrie introduce to us is a wild, erratic, irrepressible Bohemian, soured by debt and the knowledge that he's "nobody's son," and hungering to be loved. He nourishes a grande passion for his friend, Sir Richard Steele's, daughter Betty, and ont of pity the girl has half engaged herself to him. Her heart is really given to a young fellow named Aynstow. In the first act we learn how a certain Colonel Jocelyn, who desires to marry the wealthy Countess of Macclesfield, discovers that the bastard son Bhe thought died in infancy is alive, and that the reckl^s Savage is he. The proof* He in the hauo.- • >r Jacob Tonson, a publisher (to whom they * nro confided years back, sealed up), and Jocc.j j promptly resolves to possess and destroy them. Unfortunately, he finds in Tonson an honest man, who declines to part with the letters. Not only does the Colonel fail to obtain the precious packet, bat he rouses Tonson's suspicions by offering large sums for it, and partly convinces him that it contains information of serious import to Savage. Realising that he has bungled matters the Colonel determines to get Savage out of the way before Tonson can Bee him. Both men at once seek Savage at Wills'a Coffee House ; but old Tonson has the wisdom to enlist pretty Prue (the landlord's daughter) on his sid*. Everybody likes poor Dick bavage, and when Tonson explains that the poet will suffer if " the man in the grey cloak (Jocelyn) gets at him first," he secures an effective ally. An accident does throw Dick in Jocelyn's way first, but the latter has scarcely secured the young man's confidence by promising to pay off an imaginary bumbailiff supposed to be watching for him outside, before Prue cleverly checkmates the colonel by ushering Savage into Tonson's presence. The discovery that he has a mother living fills Savage with ovei flowing delight, and the first curtain falls on Dick excitedly proclaiming the great newß to his friends, promising them all sorts of good things, and inviting them grandiloquently to Lady M&cclesfield 's reception next week. ' ' I shall be there to greet you," he confidently avowa, but Jocelyn murmurs significantly " I throk not." In tbe second act we are at Lady Macclesfield's reception. The guests are fall of the soandaloas story of Savage's relation to their hostess, but she herself has heard nothing. Their nods and smiles and significant references to one Savage, however, puzzle her ; and when Jocelyn arrives she questions him. The Colonel suppressethe fact of the discovery of the papers, and simply states that a scurvy scribbler, one Dick Savage, has been claiming to be her son. To stop the talk he had tbe rascal kidnapped a week ago and shipped off to the Virginian plantations. The party were masked, and Savage can have no possible clue to their identity save a handkerchief of the Countess's, which was accidently left behind. Presently, Savage himself weak and wayworn, bursts through the window. He escaped from the vessel in the channel, and after parlous sufferings has tracked Jocelyn, whom he suspects of being tbe kidnapper, to this house. Savage has three does to his enemy — bhe handkerchief left behind, the fact that he must be wounded in the left shoulder, and a peculiar Spanish oath, " Maldita," which the fellow used a* Dick's sword pierced his flesh. Lady Macclesfield chancing at this ! moment upon Savage, leads him by a careless exclamation to suppose that Bhe wab privy to the scheme to kidnap him, if not it.abaolute inventor. Jocelyn she swears iinnocent. " Prove it 1" declares Savage, mercilessly, "or I'll stab your paramo before yonr eyes," Savage slips behind the enrtains, and Jocelyn is summoned Lady Maccleßfield dare not give him th« smalleot spoken hint, but she places the incriminatory handkerchief which Savage has fortanately dropped in a conspicuousposition. A glance at this and the draw) curtains gives the wicked Colonel his cue, and when tbe Countess announces tremb lingly "Savage is in London," be eayi- " Savage in London ! Thank God ! I feared some evil had befallen him." Savage there npon emerges, and apologises for his unworthy suspicions. Evidently the Colonel is not the Countess's accomplice. Full of bitterness against the lady, Dick summonse>the gay company and shames the unhappy woman before them all. For Jocelyn's sake | the Countess makes no attempt to justify herself. The third act is mainly taken up with the hnmors of the Kitkat Club. Jocelyn, we learn, is utilising his position as Savage's trotted friend to keep Lady Maccle^field and her son apart. He continually brings poor Dick intuiting letters from his mother. Betty Steele, however, distrusts tbe genuineness of the documents, and seeks ont the Countess personally. Mother and son are then bronght together by a stratagem and reconciled. Jocelyn discovers them embracing, and swears " Maldita !" Dick hears tbe word, but can't tell .who is the speaker. One of the members of the club must be the man he wounded in the shoulder. Savage draws bis sword and guards the Aoar, only letting the half amused, halfperplered guests pass ont one by one. Occasionally be twists ose of them significantly

by the shoulder, but without result. Jocelyn, who is left last (having guarded the other door), hopes to escape unchallenged, but Dick's suspicious have returned. He seizes him roughly by -the shoulder, and when the Colonel writhes with pain realises the truth. He has been duped throughout. The pair arrange a duel to the death, and the ourtain falls. In the laet act Savage, who has killed Jocelyn, is brought in wounded, and after a painful j scene with his mother, appears to die. A screen is drawn round the corpse, and Dick's bereaved mother and friends discuss the catastrophe in subdued tones. Recovering presently from his fainting fit the unfortunate man learns that he is supposed to be dead, and that on the whole everybody seemn relieved it is so. Had he lived, Savage would, Steele points out, have been 'imprisoned tor killing Jocelyn, and Betty Steele would have sacrificed herself and given up the man of her heart. When poor Dick understands his Batty never loved him, he tears tbe bandages from his wounds and dies in grim earnest. I regret to say that this is a wretched account of the piece, but I havn't time to write a proper oue ; so it must suffice. More about the acting, etc , anon. Thirty-four languid and gloomy shareholders attended the ordinary meeting of the New Zealand Antimony Company on the afternoon of the 3rd inst. Mr James Gibberd (in lieu of Henry Naidley, deceased) occupied the chair. He had a gloomy tale to tell, and it amounted to this : The new Board had done their best-, but 1 they had failed to materially mend matters, and the company must either raise money by issuing debentures, reconstruct, or liquidate. The story of the past year was tbe Btory of an unending struggle with untoward circumstances. Amongst other misfortunes the local inspector (Mr Fitzherbert) had made an error in localising lode No. 1, which had cost the embarrassed company LBOO uselessly. — (Groans,) The services of this expert had been dispensed with, or rather he was permitted to resign. The Board regretted he had ever been appointed.— (Hear, hear.) With regard to the future, the chairman feared debentures were out of the question, and the New Zealand shareholders would not assist any reconstruction unless the funds were placed at the disposal of a local Board. The New Zealanders considered the present Board incapable. He held in bis hand the report of a meeting at Wellington, in the course of which very hard things were said of himself and his codirectors, and it was freely asserted they had been throwing away the ore sent Home. Under these circumstances, he thought he and his remaining brother director had better confer with a committee of shareholders to see what should be done. They were quite ready to retire, if that would simplify matters. Having referred to the famous syndicate agreement, the chairman said their legal advisers urged them to proceed at once against Sir Walter Buller for restitution of promotion money. Had this bees done long ago they would now be in funds, After Mr Simpson had read a lengthy statement favoring the prospects of the mine, from the manager in New Zealand, Mr Jackson expressed hia faith in the present Board, and voted for reconstruction. A shareholder asked whether the New Zealand holders paid for their shares, or whether they were vendor's shares. On its being explained tbat the latter was in most instances the case, the meeting did not seem to consider New Zealand opinion mattered much. Ultimately a committee, consisting of General Brett and Messrs Comfort, Arbuthnot, and Jackson, were appointed to confer with the Board (Messrs Gibberd and Simpson), and the meeting adjourned for a fortnight. It was stated that the last act of poor Naidtey on his death bed was to try and draw out a memo, setting forth what he thought should be done in the present emergency. The proposal to forthwith proceed against Sir Walter Buller was well received by many present— in fact, but-few of tbe late chairman's friends appeared to have put in an appearance. I hear, however, there was some mistake concerning the hour of the meeting, which accounted for the scanty attendance. Certain rumors which have reached here to the effect that Mr Ballance is seriously considering ' the possibility of replacing Sir Francis Dillon Bell with Mr W. R. Reesare, I trust, inaccurate. I should not mention them but for the circumstantiality of my informant at Wellington, who says that Mrßees haß undertaken, should he De appointed, to alter things in London considerably " Divil doubt it!" say I. If Mr Ballance desires to bring the already tottering credit of the colony down with a crash he cannot do better than entrust the responsibilities of the London office to a harum • scarum financier and politician like Mr Reea. Tbe " firebrand " characteristics of Mr J, H. Wilson (the secretary of the Seamen and Firemen's Union) have got him into serious trouble at last. When the dockers and other London unionists declined to be forced into a strike by his ill-advised exertions, and the disputes between the Australian companies and the stevedores, etc , fizzed out, Mr Wilson betook himself to Cardiff. There he appears to have bestirred the populace to some purpose. Unfortunately r.he Bench at Cardiff Quarter Sessions took a pessimist view of the worthy demagogue's proceedings. They called them *' unlawful assembly and riot," and sent Mr Wilson to prison for six weeks. It is consoling to reflect that during this period peace and quietness will continue to reign at ibe Royal Albert docks, and that imprisonment is not likely to enhance the energetic secretary's prestige. This had already been a good deal damaged by tbe failure of the strike. The Federation scored ■ill along the line, and when peace was nude the unionists discovered to their dismay that the best billets were filled up. It was understood that Federation men were not to be turned off to make room for them, •o they had to take just what they could get. And this proved to be the net result of Mr Wilson's tall talk and bold assurance, that if they would hold on they would wins Wby, the Federation (which has so far behaved well) would have gladly paid twice the money to teach the unionists the lesson they have now learnt. Whilst that venerable Auckland citizen, Mr J. C. Firth, was in England holidaymaking, his one great hobby was to impress upon everyone who chanced to get into conversation with him the immense advantage derived from using pumice as a nonconductor of heat. He usually illustrated his arguments by displaying a very ancient wooden pipe, of diminutive dimensions, into which he had inserted a thin layer of pumice, and which he avowed always smoked cool and sweet. Being an ardent votary of the '• weed," I naturally tried Mr Firth's dodge, and found it to answer admirably— far better, in fact, than any of the complicated devices for ob taking coolness in smoking which characterise the patent " health pipes " of the present day. Now, I find, the advantage of pumice as a factor to the enjoyment of tobacco in its cheapest form have been recognised by pipe manufacturers. The proprietor of 'Pearson's Weekly ' has contracted with a firm of manufacturers to produce a pipe which can be retailed at a shilling, the feature of which i 3 the presence of pumice- in the bowl. 11 Pearson's pipe," as it is called, is Belling largely. I can vouch for the fact that pumice prevents all unpleasant heat in pipe smoking from personal experience, and -no doubt it would act similarly if used in connection with cigar or cigarette holders. It

is quite poasible that tbe inventor of " Pearson's pipe" picked up the idea for his novelty during a brief chat with the author of * Nation Making ' on the top of a penny bus. Mr Firth, I know, patronised this form of conveyance largely, and, moreover, was always pleased to converse with any intelligent person on any subject, from " a probable Aryan descent of the Maoris to the beauties of London in summer. Sir George Grey's stirring speech at the banquet given to him on hia arrival in Sydney, to take part in the Federation Convention, has attracted unusal attention from the Home Press. The 'Pall Mall Gazette ' devotes no less than a column to reproducing its moat striking features. A smart Anglo-Colonial wedding took place last week at St. Mary Abott's, Kensington, when Miss Lizzie Clogstoun, youngeßt daughter of the late Captain E L. Clogstoun, of Mount Four Peaks, New Zealand, was united to Robert, eldest aon of Major general Sir William Crossman, K.C.M.G., M.P. The Rev. Dr Linklater and Rev. Mr Peebles, respectively brother-in-law and uncle to the bridegroom, officiated at the ceremony. Sir William Crofsman visited New Zealand in 1881 whilst inspecting and reporting upon the defences of the principal colonies. Mr Holdship arrived in London on Thursday morning. Mr John Hay and the Rev. David Bruce and party also reached the metropolis the same day, and will be the guests of Dr Honey man, at Kensington, during their stay in England, 1 Mr and Mrs R. R. Hunt, of Auckland, who arrived Home some weeks ago, have been making good use of their leisure hours. Apparently they have been to almost everything worth seeing in the theatrical way, end seem to be enjoying London life generally. On Thursday wheu I called on Mr Hunt at hia office in the Haymarket he was on the point of starting to keep au appointment at the House of Commons, aad could not spare much time for conversation. If the New Zealand athletic team can put in an appearance whilst the Yankees are with us they will at once be able to gauge their athletic capabilities by botb the American and English standards. Needless to remark almost, it will be the veriest tomfoolery to Bend us any but really good men. Whoever has the task of selecting the team will do well to remember the fate of Shaw, the Christchurch "hurdler." He was introduced to us with a tremendous amount of trumpeting, and we fully expected him to "knock spots" out of our timber- toppers. But he signally failed to make his mark even in second-rate company. The following letter, which appeared in the 'Sbar' one day this week, contains a hint which New Zealanders might make a note of. The writer, a Mr D J. Sproats, Bays : — " It is well known that during the months of April and May English poultry is not only of inferior quality but exorbitant in price, It is quite a difficulty to get a goodaized tender fowl, and if by good fortune one falls) in with such a luxury the purchase money varies from 4s to Qs. What is tbe result? Only those who care not what they pay and those who pay not at all can ( go in ' for such a delicacy ; whilst the middle class must be content with ' old hens,' and the poor folk with 'tough Russian cocks.' . . . What an advantage it would be to have poultry from New Zealand. I understand full- grown chickens are retailed there at the modest sum of Is to 1b 3d, and moreover they are in t^eir prime about January — the very time they could be despatched for delivery in April and May." Verb sap. What Mr Sproats puts forward is perfectly true ; there is certainly an open market for poultry in London in the spring and early Bummer. The report in tbe papers to the effect that the Marquis of Lome's reasons for retiring from his candidature for the Handsworth division are not wholly unconnected with tbe appointment of first Governor- General of the Australian Commonwealth are, needless to say, fudge. Lord Lome might have been Lord Carrington's successor had he chosen, and would personally have liked it extremely. Unfortunately, Princess Louise could not be persuaded to expatriate herself. She suffered both in health and from want of congenial society in Canada, and fancied Australia would entail similar drawbacks. Whether the enthusiastic descriptions Lady Carrington gives of Antipodean society have changed H. K.H.s views I don't know, but I should think not. On all Bides I hear it opined that great efforts will be made to provide a royalty for the firet GovernorGeneral of Australia, The Duke of Connaught would not, it is understood, object to the appointment, and in the end it may be found H.R H. is the man. Miss E. J. Lacy, the heroine of the Quetta disaster, who has become quite a notoriety since her return to England, celebrated her sixteenth birthday at Carlisle last week. The Cunard Company are building three steamers of 12,000 tons apiece for their Atlantic service. These boats will be 600 ft long and 65ft broad, and will cross " the herring pond" well within five days. The cost of each is estimated at L 400.000. The sixth examination for certificate of proficiency, bearing with it the title of A R CM. (Associate of the Royal College of Music), was concluded last week at the college. Forty-seven candidates were examined, including some half-dozen from the Antipodes. Miss Julia H^ck, of Adelaide, was amongst the successful ladies, and obtains a certificate of proficiency for singing (0010 performance), as does Miss Isabella Webster, of Ballarat, Victoria. Miss Rachel L Ross, of Christchurch, obtains a certificate of proficiency in teaching the piano, together with special marks for competent knowledge of harmony and counterpoint. Misa Jessie Mitchell, of Ballarat, who is the next Australian student at the college, must have friends on the Press, as she has already been freely paragraphed in both dailies and weeklies. For a girl of seventeen the young lady certainly seems to have achieved an extraordinary number of distinctions. She now holds Sir William Clarke's Bcholarahip for three years,