TWO GRAND OPERAS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 304, 15 March 1928, Page 13

TWO GRAND OPERAS

THE SUN’S SYDNEY LETTER

CUSTOMS COMPLICATIONS 3 : BLOW-HOLE IN BLUE MOUNTAINS i SYDNEY, March 8. L- Grand Opera Comes Again This morning members of a grand 3 opera company arrived in Sydney * from Italy, an£ in a short while this city will be in the happy position of having two grand opera companies in full swing. Not since the Quinlan ' Grand Opera Company was here, be- • fore the war, has anything approaching the strength of these companies (been in Australia, and everyone is looking forward to a feast of good music. Full recognition of the value of music in any kind of entertainment, including movies, is being made by the heads of Union Theatres, Ltd., whose fine new theatre, the Capitol, will be opened on Easter Saturday. Though several new picture theatres ■ in Sydney have claimed to be the last ■ word, of their kind, they will pale be- ■ fore the Capitol, which will eclipse t even some of the best American i theatres. It will seat 3,400 people, and be furnished with every luxury. A l musical director, Mr. Kenkel, lias i been imported at a salary of £B2 a week, a record salary for the work. ’ His claim is that he can provide the appropriate music for every emotion : and scene, as well as powerful ori chestral items independently. While grand opera can never be displaced? these new ventures into music will appeal to the public very much. New Customs Regulations On Tuesday, when the Marama and Maunganui came into port within an hour of one another and landed over 700 passengers, the Customs officers who administer the new regulation regarding passengers’ luggage, had a strenuous time. The New Zealand boats are really the worst of all, for they are usually full, and the pasI sengers mostly have only hand luggage, so that every man, woman and child expects quick dispatch. It has been seriously suggested that there is no necessity for the application of the system*, with its statutory declaration. to passengers from New Zealand, because there is very little which one would wish to smuggle from New Zealand, where prices, as a rule, are much higher than in Sydney. If such an exception could be made it would save much delay and irritation., Of course, the trans-Pacific steamer calling at New Zealand ports would not be entitled to such exemption. After all, these trans-Tasman steamers are only ferry boats, argue the pleaders for exemption, arid New Zealand is a friendly neighbour. Medical inspection is dispensed with, so why not some consideration by the Customs? Italian Countess on Australia's Appetite By the Ormonde this week, a channing Italian, Countess di San Marzina, wife of the Italian Consul at Brisbane, returned from Home with her eight-weeks-old baby, who was born in Italy. The Countess was educated in England and has lived in Australia for several years. In many ways she is very Australian, and her frankness is one of these ways. In Melbourne, in an interview, she was misunderstood and made to appear to criticise the quality of Australian meat. Yesterday she told me that she was merely remarking on the large quantities of meat which Australians eat. compared with the consumption in Italy. “All the meat we get there," she said, “is congealed, what you call frozen, and we eat: very little of it. Vegetables are the main food of Italians. And we eat very much less than Australians eat. Breakfast never consists of more than coffee and rolls. It cannot be hard work which makes the Australian so hungry, for the Italians work just as hard. I think it must be the bracing air here. Still. I think Australians eat too much meat. The vegetables are bet- • ter for them. What would the little ladv think if she saw a King Country : bushfaller at his midday meal? Enterprising New Zealander Through the enterprise of a New Zealander, Mr. E. Murray Fuller, an exhibition of British pictures is now open in Sydney, and will shortly be transferred to New Zealand. The cooperation of Sir William Orpen and ; other prominent masters has given a i guarantee, if any were needed, that . the show is a first-class one. Among < the works are several by New Zealand j artists new resident in England. The show is being held in the new art hall 1 of David Jones’s new emporium, and ’ Mr C. Llovd Jones, who is keenly in- i

terested in New Zealand art, is assisting Mr. Murray Fuller in every way. While on the subject, it is interesting to note that a well-known Australian landscape artist, Mr. A. Henry Fullwood, is at present visiting Mount Cook and other South Island scenic parts, with the object of getting material for an exhibition in Sydney when he returns. Sydney will inevitably .be a centre wherein the best pictures paintfcd in the Empire will eventually be exhibited. In art, the city is undoubtedly active. Thermal Spring in Blue Mountains

Excitement has been caused in the Blue Mountains by the discovery at Blackheath of a steam jet blowing to the height of 30 feet. It is even suggested that a new Rotorua may be developing, and as the Blue Mountains people are very much alive to tourist business, they may get extra lading for their chars-a-banc, by the misuse of the fair name of Rotorua. The rocks where the steam emerges are said to be so hot that one cannot sit on them. The Government Geologist is to visit the place and say what lie thinks of the matter. This find reminds me of how many really good thermal places iri New Zealand are contemptuously overlooked- For instance, Maruia Springs, in Cannibal Gorge, are finer than the mud springs at Moree, yet thousands of people travel the 500 miles to Moree, which is away in the interior. Even Hanmer Springs do not get the visitors .which they should. All because Rotorua and Wairakei overshadow the lesser places. Yet here in Australia one sees a whole community getting excited over some blow-holes and likening it to Rotorua. WILL LAWSON.