SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 806, 2 May 1910, Page 3

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

A Promising Singer. When somo weeks ago Mr. Hugo Gorlitz, who had been told wonderful things about Miss Nixon's, voice, hoard her sing at a friend's homo in Christchurch, ho listened as she' sang one song after another, and exclaimed at last in dolight, "I'll tako you to England." Well, that is - what Miss Nixon, or rather Nurse Nixon, to givo her her 'professional title, had been wanting to hear for years. As a little child she used to sing, and think how pretty her voico was, and recalling the stories of famous singers whose fortunes had been mado when some influential man passing by had heard them singing, she used to wish that she, too, could sing her way to fortune, and she would wonder whether her voice was really as beautiful as some of her friends assured her it was. 'That is what she is still wondering. People ■ have spoken to her of her magnificent voice, for years she has won little local triumphs, first in of many great singers, who has heard .there, till sho had six firsts to her credit. She has sung at orchestral concerts in Invercargill, many times, and in Christchurch on several occasions. Sho has delighted her patients in tho hospital and in private practice, and her voico has for long given great pleasure to her friends. But is it tho golden voico th3t, brings fortune? She used to want to go to England and try ! her voice there, but her friends dissuaded her. It was not that they had no faith .in her voice,, but that they know so,much of the obstacles in the path to success, and acting on ■ their advice Miss Nixon kept to her nursing, hoping always that through it she might some day, as has happened to many girls, have a chance to travel, and seek her opportunity. And now comes Mr. 'Gorlitz, who has 'conducted the tours of many great singers, who has heard most of them, and who .has great faith in Miss Nixon's* ultimate success! "She has voice, sho has temperament, and she sings as naturally as a bird," he says. "Her voice is liko Calve's in quality, and she has a wonderful range. Mezzo-soprano, you would call her, but her voice goes' from contralto to soprano, with no break between tho registers." This has been a source of much amusement, to Miss Nixon,.who, in reports of different concerts, would read'of "Miss Nixon's contralto voico," or "Miss Nixon/s soprano voice," according to the songs sho happened to have sung. Apparently it is a_ mezzo-soprano,"extending far ill both directions. Mr. Gorlitz places! great emphasis upon the fact' that'the voice is untiained, and perfectly produced. It seems .that it is because of this that her work has not injured her voice. It was on the evoning after sho had finished ten weeks' caro of a veiy trying case, that Miss Nixon sang so brilliantly na to charm one musician who has been a friend toiler. The question now is, will Miss Nixon's voice prove her fortune? and, to begin with, Wellington audiences will have a say m that matter." Miss Nixon, who is singing with the clever EHwood trio, makes her first appearance in Wellington on Wednesday evening. One thing is certain, they will frgm. the first be prepossessed in the young singer's favour, for she is a girl of very attractive personality.

A Lettar to M-. Asqulth. A long letter ,to .remonstrance on tho treatment of • imprisoned English Suffragettes has been sent to Mr. Asquith by the; New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Canterbury, Women's Institute, ; who are aware that such letters from, different parts, of the Empire ■ are of servico to the Suffragettes, and ; to' the . non-militant; Suffragists in Englaud. The point piade at tho end of the extract quoted is a one. It is with deep horror and indiguation that the women of New Zealand at last apprehend the extent and significance of the barbarities inflicted on English women in prison for the suffrage cause. We learn with shame that women convicted and imconvicted,/ women whose offences were wholly rooted in political principles, and in many cases merely technical, have been treated • with a coarseness and cruelty surpassed only in the dungeons of Russia. We learn that resistance, to penal conditions deemed to be unjust has been met with blows, insult and barbarous violence. We learn that women, driven by these conditions to the extreme protest of selfstarvation, have been subjected by Ministerial orders to a dangerous, nauseating, and hideously painful process, ostensibly inflicted to preserve life. In our opinion such treatment is in reality an act of despicable' prosecution. We learn that women were, in the first place, reluctantly driven to breaches of the law by their utter failure to obtain satisfaction by constitutional forms of apj>eal. We learn, in fact, that the consideration theoretically promised to all his Majesty's subjects is not extended to women, who are thus shown to be on the footing of serfs in tho eyes of his Majesty's Government. These judicial outrages were 'infiicted on earnest women; of spotless character, not by autocratic tyranny in a semi-savage country, but in tho heart of the most enlightened .Empire in the world, under the most progressive Government that perhaps ever held office in England. Can anyone fail to draw the obvious inference? Nowhere on earth can the interests of women be safeguarded where Parliament is not as fully responsible to women as to men.

At St. Joseph's Church, Buckle Street, on Saturday' Miss Elsie Wallace, daughter of the late Mr. J. Howard Wallace, of Otaki, was married to Mr. Arthur Choriton, of the literary staff of i tho "Evening Post," and son of Mr. Thos. Choriton, solicitor, of Manchester, England. t At Dannevirko on Thursday, Mr. Koy Inder, of Piri Piri, son of Mr. S. Inder, of Mastorfcon, was married to Miss Annie • Souk, eldest -daughter of Mr. A. Sonk, of Umutaoroa. The ceremony was performed by the Eev. A. Grant, and the bride was given away by Mr. M'Clashem, Mr. W. Webb acting as best man. Mis. Firriay Bethune, of Johnsonville, left by tho Moana on Thnrsday to visit her sister, Mrs. White, of Dunedin,. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Edwards, who have been visiting Mrs. Hoggard, returned to Nelson last week.