CLIPTOMANIA. [Specially Selected by Our London Correspondent.]

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 67, 13 September 1884, Page 5

CLIPTOMANIA. [Specially Selected by Our London Correspondent. ]

Mr George R. Sims has been on a visit .to Tunbridge Wells, where, it is said, he has sketched and partly written a new five-act play. This time Mr Sims will have no collaborateur. In the matter of conflagrations, as in everything else, America i 3 a "go-ahead" country. The losses by fires in the United States during the past half-year are officially stated at 54,000,000 dols., or 20 per cent, over the total for the first half of 1883, and 9,000,000 dols. more than the highest return for any previous corresponding half-year. Another sprig of the nobility is presently to make a " first appearance "on the stage in a professional capacity. And this time it is a young lady who has "married beneath her," as the saying is. The family are making- every effort, however, to shake her resolution, especially as she intends to appear under her maiden name. The "Illustrated London News" says that the will of His Royal Highness P'ince Leopold, Duke of Albany, K.G., has been proved. The personal estate amounts to over £46,000. The operative part simply states: — "I give all my property of every description unto my beloved wife, Helen Frederica Augusta, Duchess of Albany, for her own absolute use and benefit." Some of the foreign papers are multiplying a silly paragraph to the effect that Richard Wagner's heirs have refused a million francs, or dollars, I forget which, for the sole right to perform "Parsifal "in the United States. Nobody would be sufficiently unwise to offer a penny for this apocryphal right. There is no copyright in ' ' Parsifal " in America, and anybody who cares to produce it there can do so without fee.— "Figaro." The first number of " Orange Blossoms," a sixpenny weekly, which is to be a "^staunch defender of marriage as a social institution," made its appearance the other day. It is a remarkably neat publication, with a cover of pink and gold. The articles are brightly written, and with the first number commences a story which seems designed to prove the advisability of marriage. Journalists in the States breathe in an atmosphere perpetually sultry. While the editor of an Ohio paper was at work in his office recently upon a leader, a half-pound of dynamite, with a three-feet fuse attached, was discovered under the flooring, in close proximity to his chair. In another State, resolutions have been passed through both Houses of the Legislature recommending a withdrawal of patronage from three separate newspapers. London is inundated with journalettes dealing, or px-ofessing to deal, with theatrical and sporting topics. Their strong points are vulgarity and "cheek." Most of these prints seem to think that paragraphs on eating and drinking, and the pecuniary troubles of their respective " staffs," are a certain draw, so that every week we are gravely informed that the best whisky is MacdufFs, the best champagne Fizz's, and the best cigars or cigarettes Puffer's. Free-and-easy references to burlesque actresses, and "pomes" dedicated to the eyebrows of those ladies, with a few sporting "gags" and personalities, complete the contents of these burlesques on journalism, which grow in number and feebleness every week. Once more the report that the FortescueGarmoyle action is settled has been contradicted. Miss Fortescue herself at Mr DOyly Carte's party last week emphatically denied it. But at that time it was thought that the case would be reached this sitting. Now it has gone over till afterthe Long Vacation, and efforts are being made to settle it. An offer has, it is said, been made made to pay £14,000 and costs, and it will probably be accepted. Miss Fortescue wants no more notoriety, while his lordship would assuredly be sorry if his amatory epistles were read in public. What becomes of all the floral offerings which the queens of the footlights receive from their admirers in front ? They are disposed of differently, according to the recipient. I know of one case in which they are sold right away, and I understand that a great yrima donna disposes by contract of all the bouquets she receives. This lady, like many another fine singer, has excellent business qualifications, and certainly knows how to look after her own interests. Madame Pauline Lucca, I believe, in whatever city of the world sho finds herself, sends all her floral gifts to the hospitals. Mr Clement Scott has, it seems, withdrawn his resignation of the post of dramatic critic of the " Daily Telegraph." He had intended to write a new four-act play in collaboration with Mr Henry Herman ; but that, too, is now off. He was also to direct French's International Dramatic Burean which not only arranges for the interchange of plays between this country and abroad, but is open to adapt or translate them, work in which Mr Clement Scott is understood to be very facile. Mr Scott will now, however, retain the criticisms of the " Daily Telegraph." Lord Coleridge is delighting his English friends with stories of his American visit, and among them with this. He was at Mount Vernon with Mr Evarts, and talking about Washington, said, "I have heard that he was a strong man physically, and that standing on the lawn here he could throw a dollar right across the river on to the other bank." Mr Evarts paused a moment to measure the bieadth of the river with his eye. It seemed rather a " tall" story, but it was not for him to belittle the father of his country in the eyes of a foreigner. " Don't you believe it ?" asked Lord Coleridge. " Yes," Mr Evarts replied, " I think it's very likely to be true. You know a dollar would go further in those days than it does now." The ordinary polo pony races becoming rather monotonous at up-country stations in India, the inventive genius of those interested in the said sport has been brought to bear on the subject, resulting in two new contests known as an " Umbrella race " and a " Cheroot and saddle-up race." In the former each competitor opened an umbrella sharply in the face of hia pony, then mounted without assistance, And vode round the course with his umbrella open. For the latter, the conditions were — " competitors with saddle, bridle, cheroot, and box of matches to be formed up ten yards in front of their ponies, which will be pick eted j to light cheroot, saddle up, and rid© out to flag and home. First past the post with lighted cheroot to win." An u Ama] zon race " followed, ridden by ladies. A curious device of journalistic enter prise has been hit upon by the Paris paper " Petit CaporaV* which informs its readers that, in order to prove the interest it takes in their welfare, it will place at their disposal, on and after June 1, two eminent physicians of the faculty of Paris. These doctors will be attached to the staff of the newspaper, and will give gratuitous consultations to the subscribers and theis: wives,