“TERLINGA” IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VIII, Issue 405, 28 April 1898, Page 12

“TERLINGA” IN NEW ZEALAND.

It is always interesting to hear what others have to say of us, and we therefore take the following from The Australasian concerning “ Terlinga’s” visit to New Zealand Mr W. H. E. Wanklyn, the secretary of the Canterbury Jockey Club, met me when I arrived in Christchurch, .and although I had only a few hours to say before going on to Wellington he managed to show me a good deal. First of all we went to Strowan, Mr Stead’s private house, and saw some of the yearlings this season. And here let me say that Mr Stead buys nearly all his horses. He keeps no stallion of his own, and the only brood mares he has are Corolla, Marion, Bellicent, and Ich Dien. *ln buying yearlings he goes for the best, as it is weight-for age races rather than handicaps which he aims at, although, of course, he often owns a handicap horse, to wit, Uniform, who won five good races of this kind before Mrs Langtry bought him. Four of the yearlings at Strowan were bred by Mr Thomas Morrin. Screw Gun, by Hotchkiss from Bose of Wellington, is a chestnut colt of beautiful quality, a good-barrelled fellow, with big, square quarters, standing very true on a splendid set of legs, and a mnch stouter colt than his brother, True Blue, This colt cost Mr Stead 700 guineas at Wellington Park sale, so he must have taken the fancy of buyers. St. Ilario, by St. Leger from Cissy, is a big-bodiedj plain fellow, with lots of improvement in him, but it struck me that the pick of the lot is St. Lucia, by St. Leger from Hilda. Hiro is a lovely bay filly, well grown, with any amount of power behind, and a beautiful clean forehead. Nantes is a big, plain, black filly, by Stepniak from Huguenot. Mr Stead used' to own Stepniak, and he must be a believer in his future at the stud, as he has two more yearlings by him. These I did not see. Leaving Strowan, we drove to Yaldhurst, Mr Stead’s private training establishment. Here Richard Mason, one of the most capable trainers in Australasia, reigns, but on this occasion he was away, and we were shown round the boxes by his brother iu law, young Franks, who takes charge' in Mason’s absence. The horse I had eome to see was Multiform, who was just going into strong work again after the spell caused by his bruising his heel at Auckland in the Summer. Multiform is a, clean, wiry-looking bay, with black points, standing, I should say, about 15.3. He does not take your breath away with his superlative good looks, but will stand a lot of looking into. His lean, sensible head is well set on to a muscular neck, and his shonlders are perfect. He is deep through the heart, and has good back ribs, but perhaps his strongest peint is his length from hip to hock, and his splendid muscular development here. He looks to be muscled right down to the hock. Multiform looks-very sound, and is, no doubt, a kind-tem-pered, game horse. That he is a clinker has been proved, and I wish he had been at Flemington to meet Aurum and Amberite in the last Derby. It is a great pity Mr Stead has given up sending horses to compete in Australia, but now that the totalisator has given New Zealand so many nice weight-for-age stakes it is not worth while leaving home. As Mr Stead puts it: “ You cannot take a team to Australia ‘ much under £5OO, and then you have to risk the annoyance of being beaten through your horses not being in their home form.” The two-year-old Obligado I saw at Yaldhurst is an American-bred chestnut by Orville from Flirt, whose breeding I have not by me. He is a great; lengthy chestnut without any pretensions to beauty, but that will not prevent his turning out a racehorse. Benzoin is a pretty little brown colt, by Friar’s Balsam from a mare by Bendigo.from Engagement. This colt is out of a mare by Mr P. Campbell, a son of the late Mr W. Robinson. I was to have called at Mr Campbell’s place to see Magazine and his Bendigo colt, but had no time. So far the Bendigo colt has shown no form, and he is to be put by for a while,

“ May’s Cousin ” was produced on Saturday night last at the Public Hall, Papakura, before a 1 most appreciative and enthusiastic audience. It j is a long time since the public of Papakura were favored with witnessing a piece of such sterling merit. This comedy is full of genuine laughterprovoking and comic situations, which were duly appreciated by the audience, call after call being the order of the evening. A number of songs were introduced into the piece, but it is questionable if some of them would not have been better left out, as the piece is bright enough without them. The colonial rights of this piece are in the possession of Miss Theodora Drew, an actress who comes to us with excellent notices from the Sydney and Melbourne press. The cast was as follows :—Mr Lambert, as Bob Lightfoot (“ May’s Cousin ”), kept the audience in roars of laughter, in his comic scenes with Warleigh. Mr Godfrey (as Captain Warleigh, was distinctly good, and his singing was well appreciated. Mr Fort was very humorous as Sir Barnard. Miss Theodora Drew assumed the role of Nellie Vivash, and it was a brilliant performance ; the love scene between Nellie and Bob was irresistibly funny. Miss Earle, who took the part of May, is, we believe, a new aspirant, and is very promising, playing the part nicely. Bhopal and . Mrs Magaway were filled by T. H. Harcourt and Miss Hastings fairly well. The part of the deaf old housekeeper was the weakest in the cast, the make-up and drtss being entirely out of keeping It is the intention of the management to strengthen the cast before proceeding on tour. The piece is good, and must have a prosperous?" career before it.