Portia Pays

Sibyl, Lady Stanley, 53, august daughter-in-law of the Earl of Derby, and for three years "extra maid of honor" to Queen Mary, found herself in a police court last fortnight. Her crime: financial freewheeling.

The thousands of Britons who have swarmed to the Continent for their first holidays in seven years have been allowed by British law to take no more than -L-75 with them. But Britain's vigilant Treasury, worrying over the possibility of a serious flight of British capital, has known that many were systematically evading restrictions. A favorite dodge was for British clients well known in continental hotels to run up huge accounts, for everything from hired cars to silk lingerie, then leave bills for future payment when currency restrictions are lifted. The more daring arranged for bills to be paid in Britain through agents or affiliated hotels.

Treasury agents, who had anxiously awaited their first opportunity to pounce on some venal vacationist, pounced on Lady Stanley for secretly spending hundreds of pounds beyond the legal limit. In London's Bow Street police court, Lady Stanley (who likes her friends to call her "Portia") pleaded guilty. Beside her, booked on the same charge, stood fiftyish Anton Bon, who likes his friends to call him "Major." Manager of London's swank Dorchester Hotel Ltd., he has made his establishment the Royal Family's favorite spot for social appearances. "Major" Bon also pleaded guilty. For Portia and her co-defendants British justice was unseasoned with mercy. The fines: Lady Stanley, -L-2,500; Bon, -L-2,650; Dorchester Hotel Ltd., -L-1,650.

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