WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VIII, Issue 48, 28 November 1891, Page 633

WELLINGTON.

Dear Bee, November 13. Bland Holt’s Dramatic Company have been helping us greatly to ‘ wile away the dreary hours ' at the < fpera House. They have been here about a week now, and still continue to draw crowded houses. With the masses, if I may use such a word in the colonies, they are extremely popular, hence the population of the audiences downstairs greatly exceeds that of the dress circle. It is not exactly vulgar, but it often grates on one, and they do not seem to have mastered the difficult task of knowing exactly where to ‘draw the line,’ to use a vulgar expression myself. They opened with ‘Master and Man,’ which is, like most of their plays, very sensational indeed, so much so that one gets so used to it towards the end that it fails to impress one as it should. They all speak at the top of their voices, which gets very monotonous, besides being dreadfully tiring to the actors and actresses, who after awhile become quite hoarse after their exertion. Miss Edith Bland takes the principal part, and acts remarkably well, and dresses the part well. At first she appears in a pale blue veiling gown softened with white lace ; but her most becoming costume, I thought, was the pale grey cashmere made in a pretty soft, falling, clinging way, the V-shaped bodice trimmed with folds of white chiffon. With this, later on, she wears a very long cloak with a hood of the same mateiial, which looks very graceful. She has a good presence on the stage, and very pretty hands, which she shows to advantage. Mr Bland Holt is the life and soul of the company, and is certainly very funny. Mrs Bland Holt takes also a prominent part, and pleases me greatly, her acting with the London dandy, Crespin St. Jones, being very clever. She wore the same dress all the time, some soft creamy material figured with dull red Howers. All the men were good except, perhaps, two gipsies, who were not favourites of mine ; but they had an ungrateful part, and so also did the villain, who thoroughly entered into his part with great success. The scenery is excellent, the best I have ever seen in New Zealand. Every detail was observed, adding greatly to the general effect. The first scene was a farm admirably carried out, even to the ‘ stooks ’ (is that the way to spell it? it is pronounced so) of corn and a real live cow, and a bird in a cage outside the porch. The iron works, too, in one scene excited the admiration of all. In the centre of the stage stood a huge funnel, the door of which was <>|>encd at intervals, disclosing the hungry Hames waiting for their victim. Then we could see through the bars the glare of the furnace and the smoke issuing from it. The distant scene was realistic with the chimneys really smoking and the clang of the iron in the distance. The drawing-room

scene, too, was exceedingly pretty : indeed, the scenery alone is worth seeing, and deserves the highest praise. The Flower Show has just taken place at the rink building, but unfortunately the day the flowers had to be picked was very bad, ami we had had a very wet day just before, which considerably maned the beauty of some of the most lovely blossoms, and also prevented a great many who had entered from exhibiting at all. A special prize was presented by Mrs Jellicoe for the best loosely-arranged bouquet. Miss Beatrice Knight carried off the prize, Mrs England being second. Both prizes were almost entirely white, and were very pretty, but not at all my idea of a loosely arranged bouquet. They were so flat and round, instead of being raised in the centre and loose like the artistic fashionable bouquets of the present day. A dinner table decorated excited a good deal of admiration, being the work of Mrs Jellicoe and Mrs Charles Izard. Arum lilies and ferns occupied the centre, prettily draped round about with yellow figured art muslin, which was scattered about the edge with loose cut flowers. The table was completely laid for dessert, the finger glasses having a tiny flower in each, and the fruit being prettily decorated. One of the great features of the show is a table completely covered with exhibits sent by Mr Thomas Mason, of the Hutt, consisting of vegetables, fruit, and flowers, amongst them being a very beautiful specimen of that very rare plant—the Waratah, of Australia. Mrs Joseph Bourne is, as usual, a large exhibitor, one very fine collection of calceolarias being in my opinion the best exhibit in the show. The ferns were lovely, especially the beautiful English maiden hair fern. There were prizes for all the schools for bouquets. Miss Kate West won the prize among all the girl's schools. The show is not quite as good as usual, I think, but the committee have worked hard, and have had to labour under serious difliculties. The show of pansies was wonderful, but strange to say, there was a very poor show of roses. I cannot think why, for they have been so lovely lately. A large number of ladies attended at the opening in the afternoon, and the building w as again crowded in the evening. The Thorndon Lawn Tennis Club is to open with a large afternoon tea given by the members. The following Saturday we are to have the Athletic Sports on the Basin Reserve.

We also have the Show to look forward to next week, and a Harmonic concert the night before the Show. Such numbers of people have gone to Christchurch for the Carnival week there, but we expect them all to return in time for our festivities.

Judge Richmond and his daughter, Miss Emmie Richmond, have gone to Napier to be present at Mr Alfred Richmond’s marriage to Miss Rochfort. I have just heard the news of Miss A. Richmond's engagement to Mr Blake, which took place in England, where the Misses Richmond have lately been visiting. Here is clipping which I am quite sure will be read with interest by all New Zealanders, as those mentioned are so well known to us: ‘The many Wellington friends and admirers of Miss Katharine Hardy will be interested to learn that she is to appear shortly in grand opera in Melbourne, taking one of the principal soprano parts. Mozart’s famous opera ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ is to be produced on the 7th December, in celebration of the composer’s centenary. In this work, as in the same master’s ‘ Don • liovanni,’ there are no fewer than three ‘ first soprano ’ roles, each requiring an artiste of the highest class. In the present instance the part of Cherubino (so eminently associated with the renowned names of Christine Nilsson and Pauline Lucca) has been allotted to Miss K. Hardy, while another Wellington favourite, Madame Bahnson and Madame Elise Weiderman (wife of the Austrian Consul) will represent the other soprano characters, Susanna and the Countess. Judging from the rehearsals the Melbourne musical authorities predict a great success for this interesting performance.’

Ruby.