NEW CLUB LUNCHEON.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 227, 25 September 1929, Page 12

NEW CLUB LUNCHEON.

The newly-formed Women's Luncheon Club held their first meeting at the Y.W.C.A. hostel yesterday. Mrs. Ji A. Bradstreet presided, and there was a splendid attendance. There were a number of official visitors, among them being: Mrs. W. H. Parkes and Mrs. J. C. Dickinson, representing the Lyceum Club; the Eev. C. Chandler and Mr. Kenner, of the Optimists' Club; Mr. Stanley Reed and Mr. Gentles, of the Rotary Club; Mr. Drew, of the Y.M.C.A., and Mrs. Hitchcock, a visitor from London. Fraternal greetings and congratulations on the starting of the new. club were expressed by the visitors. The speaker for the luncheon was Miss Vera Ziman, who took for her subject "Palestine To-day." She gave her impressions of the country as seen through the eyes of a New Zealander and a Zionist. "It is always a thrill," she said, "to come from a new country and go to an old one that is teeming with historical associations.'"' The speaker explained that Palestine was not only a home for refugees; there were many idealists who had given up positions of ease and culture and had gone there for the sake of idealism. There was a great co-operative spirit in the. country, and "We are doing this for us" was the slogan. That the Jews wished to live amicably with the Arabs was evidenced, said the speaker, by the fact that the Hebrew University and the Infant Welfare Centres were open to all who chose to come. Miss Ziman referred to the Wailing Wall, which was the only part saved of the western wall of the Temple of Solomon when it was destroyed by the Romans. This wall, said the speaker, was held sacred by the Jews, and was the cause of the disturbance last year, when prayers at this particular place were disturbed. A description of the .road from Jerusalem to Jericho was |lven by Miss Zinian, who spoke of the wonderful memorial to the Anzacs that had been erected on the route. The work done by the colonists in Palestine was also referred to by the speaker, and she concluded with a graphic picture of the beauties of that country; the cobblestone streets, the quaint old houses witli overlapping top storeys, and the wealth of. glorious wild flowers that grew everywhere. A vote of thanks for the very interesting address was proposed by '.Mrs... JSowie.- • . ■