WELLINGTON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXII, Issue VIII, 20 February 1904, Page 52

WELLINGTON.

Dear Bee, February 12. At present our dramatic tastes are being excellently catered for. We have the Williamson Company at the Opera House, with Mr. Cuvier Hastings in the leading parts, and our clever dramatic students are giving a series of performances next week in aid of a charity. All the town has been to enjoy the “Admiral Crichton.” and has had its feeling artistically harrowed by the “Light That Failed.” The inimitable scenes in the former have to be seen to be thoroughly enjoyed. When I remind you that Mr. Cuvier Hastings has with him the charming Miss May Chevalier, together wiht Miss Odga Beatty Kingston and Miss Julia Merton—who were so popular when they came round with “Are You a Mason?”—you can imagine how the plays draw. The Opera House looks so spruce and clean now. It has been done up in peacock green and white, which affords an excellent background to the pretty dresses worn.

Among the large audiences were Mrs. Collins, wearing black satin, with touches o£ rose pink; Miss Holmes, in black satin, with sequin net sleeves (with her was Miss Newton, who has only just got back from a trip to England) ; Mrs. Seddon, in black brocade; Miss Mary Seddon, looking so well in a black chiffon dress, the decolletage smothered in line lace; her younger sister wore a pretty simple white frock; Misses Handyside, one in white crepe de chine, and the other in black net, with silver sequins; Miss Fitzhcrbert. black, with a collar of Irish lace; Miss Fitzhcrbert, white, and her sister a pretty pink frock; Miss Skerrett, rose-coloured gown partly hidden by an opera wrap of peacock blue, with a tuillage of dull gold chenille forming an Umpire yoke; the Misses Richardson wore pretty white silk dresses; Miss Izard, black dress, and a pretty white wrap with swansdown; Miss D. Johnston was in pale pink; Mrs. Arthur Dunean’s black dress had a deep lace Berthe and a cluster of crimson roses; Mrs. W. Turnbull was wearing white brocade with a deep belt of black panne; Mrs. Guy Bowles wore a becoming black satin gown; Mrs. J. Abbot's white crepe de chine had innumerable frills hemmed with pale blue; Mrs. Beere’s white silk was ~ inserted with black lace.

Such a number of people have had to abandon their intended trip to Japan and the Fast on account of the war. His Excellency the Governor and Lord Northland head the list. A party from Wellington, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. John Dunean, Mr. and Mrs. lan Duncan, and Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Duncan, who have been looking forward to the journey for some months, have now altered

their plans and are going to England instead. Mr. and Mrs. Jellieoe are doing

likewise, and Mrs. Rees-George is also returning to England by a different route from that she had chosen. The lucky people who have already visited Japan and returned home with trophies of Japanese art. are congratulating themselves on their foresight, and being envied by others who meant to go—and didn't! A particularly inconvenient feature is that all the steamers going by the Red Sea route are crowded as it is, and great difficulty is being experienced in getting accommodation so late in the day.

For weeks and weeks Wellington has been getting browner and browner every day. Our gardens are all dried up, and water for a daily bath has long been an unattainable luxury to the dwellers on the heights. The “oldest inhabitant ” can barely remember such a drought., and a summer which begins in October and continues without interruption till February is a season few of us can remember. As I write, the longedfor rain is falling, accompanied by a severe thunderstoim, a very rare occurrence in Wellington.

Lately we have had exciting rumours of zoological gardens to be established here, and the small boys are. in the seventh heaven of delight. Just what and where it is to be is at present a mystery, but the Botanical Gardens have been proposed as a site, and somebody has suggested that a circus with a large menagerie it was anxious to part with has been making overtures towards the powers that be

OPHELIA.