A New Zealander In Sydney Town

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 474, 2 October 1928, Page 13

A New Zealander In Sydney Town

(THE SUN'S Correspondent) SYDNEY, September 28. Sydney is smiling over the remarkably clever illusion ot barbette, billed at the Tivoli as the marvellous trapeze artist with “the eyes of a cat.” Barbette’s excellent publicity intimated that when Barbette appeared in Berlin the police had to clear tho first front rows of the stalls. Barbette’s scanty attire, it was suggested.- was even responsible for a mild sensation in Berlin, notoriously hard to shock in such matters. All Sydney, of course, wanted to bo shocked. In a packed theatre the other night I watched Barbette daintily remove one garment after another until Barbette had little or nothing to reveal. Sydney gasped and was decidedly interested. Then Barbette whirled from a-top, right over the heads of tho audience, gracefully clinging to a swing, and Sydney was even a little thrilled. Xothing quite so daring, certainly nothing quite so femininely brazen, had been seen for some considerable time, as Barbette, tho artist with “the eyes of a cat,” an utter disregard for clothes, the carmine lips, and the blonde wig. Granted that the curls never grew on tho head of Barbette, but theatrical Sydney sat up and gasped when Barbette removed the wig, revealing he clear-cut lines of a young man! Barbette is the most successful female impersonator Sydney has seen for many years. Xot even the most sophisticated, not even the usual person “in the know,” even suspected Barbette s real sex. M ill ions Out \

Even a judge is liable to make a slip. Mr. Justice Piddington, president of the Xew South Wales Industrial Commission, admitted as much the other day. It was Mr. Justice Piddington, it will be remembered, who was so dramatically recalled last year from Auckland, when about to enjoy a little holiday in Honolulu, by Mr. Rang. Inadvertently, the Judge declared he had made an error in his judgment on an application for an inquiry into the costs of living for workers other than rural ones—at the moment a matter of great concern both to employers and industrialists in this State. The Judge had underestimated thb effect of a reduction of wages involved in a decrease of 11s in the basic wage. Instead of £5,500,000, as he had stated in his judgment, it would be £11,000,000 a year. Each shilling in the weekly wage, he added, meant approximately £1,000,000 in the State’s annual wage bill. Despito strenuous opposition from Mr. Justice Piddington, his colleagues, Mr. Justice Street and Mr. Justice Cantor, decided to allow an inquiry into the general wage, other than for rural workers, at the conclusion of the present inquiry- Mr. Justice Piddington was shorn of his autocratic powers, given him by Mr. Rang # , when the Bavin Government came into existence. His associate, by the way, is a Xew Zealander. Eric Bennett originally came from the Wairarapa. Premier’s Daughter Returns

Despite the fact that Parliament is in session, and all through the morning he conferred with the Ferry Company’s executive regarding the bitterly opposed fares for Xorth Shore residents, the Premier was at Circular Quay to meet his daughter, Miss Shirley Bavin, who arrived this week by the Sierra. Miss Bavin accompanied Rady de Chair and Miss de Chair on their recent visits to Xew Zealand and Fiji. At the moment the de Chairs are enjoying the sunshine at Honolulu. Chinese Murder Case .

Sydney takes her murder cases very seriously. There have been so many of them lately. It was curious to watch the extraordinary blend of East and West at the coronial inquest into the death of Percy Chung Gow, the Chinese tailor. Rined up to suffocating point at the back of the court were the usual wharf loafers who make a point’ of never missing anything of importance. Interspersed were Chinese of every colour from chrome to plain mud. The widow of the dead man, who, with her youthful husband, a naval rating, is accused of Gow’s murder, is a very unattractive young woman. Day after day she has sat in that stifling atmosphere, a wardress separating her from her boy husband. At first she held the last of Gow’s children, a baby in arms, but of late it has been removed from the Court. The babe suffers imprisonment with its Chinese mother. Trapman, whose marriage to the wife of the Chinese soon after his death, which, it is now definitely proved was from arsenic and lead poisoning, was the cause for inquiry, is a typical young Anglo-Saxon of fresh appearance. The attraction for the almond eyed young woman of mixed Chinese and British blood is one of the mysteries of the case. Lucky Leon Leon Gordon, the actor, won four figures on a pony this week, and now lias invested the better part of his winnings on Sea Pilot-Statesman for the two cups. Mr. Gordon’s horse, Stage Door, will be a runner at Kandwicii next week. Hopes as to its chances are not too high as the three-year-old has not long recovered from pneumonia. Australians in London There is a possibility that Dorothy Brunton will return to this part of the world. The popular Australian actress, so a note iruin London irwcorms me, is appearing witn Harry Welshman in Allied 't urner’s jno. 1 company or “t'ne Wnite Camellia.” If the production is a success pi me iLngusu provinces, there is a cnance that ivtr. Turner win send Dorothy Brunton back to her native Australia. Madge Elliott is residing Wun her parents, Dr. and Mrs. Elliott, of {Sydney, at Brook street, Grosvenor Square, the mmionaire area. With Cyril Birchard she nas scored a big success in "Rady Ruck.” With them at tne Winter Uaruen is lit tie Keita Nugent, well known in Xew Zealand as a dancer. Annie Hughes has returned to the very front rank at the Ryceum in “The Flying Squad,” from the prolific typewriter of Edgar Wallace. The critics all praise her intelligent performance. When she divorced Mayne Lynton in Australia some time ago, Annie Hughes provided the firstclass theatrical sensation of that year. Anona Winn, better known to New Zealanders as Anona Wilkins, is still to the fore at the Hippodrome, and incidentally has made her first gramophone records. A Judge’s Honour The reply of Mr. Justice Harvey to the suggestion that he may have been influenced in., his decision in the recent city council graft cases by his personal friendship for Mr. Arnot, the Sydneyrepresentative for the big British firm that obtained the contract, at a price—was a model of dignity. It frequently fell to his lot, the judge pointed out, to sit judicially in cases in which parties were people whom he had met, socially or otherwise. But it was the first time, as far as he was aware, that anyone had dared to suggest that such a fact would interfere with his judicial impartiality. It was hardly fail* to speak of Mr. Arnot as a personal friend. Mr. Justice Harvey said he had only met him on two occasions in his life—despite the fishing excursion with the Premier that Mr. Rang made so much of in the Assembly. ERIC RAMSDEX.