SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2308, 16 November 1914, Page 2

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL.

A Christmas Clft for the Belgians,

Tlio ladies of Wellington, and indged of the Dominion, are shorjjy to bo given another opportunity to help tho gallant and solf-sacrificing Belgians, to whom the British and the Allies owe a debt which can never be adequately repaid. A scheme is being organised for the collection of a shilling subscription from, as far as possible, every man, woman, and child residing in t'ho Dominion. The fund is to close on Saturday, December 19, and tho total will be cabled Home as a Christmas gift from New Zealand to the Belgian poor. Tho amount aimed at is £25,000, which represents 500,000 shilling donations. Naturally the working of a scheme of this magnitude mil entail perfect organisation. The "committee which is organising the Wellington collection las already had many meetings, and-has gone most thoroughly into the matter. The whole city has been, subdivided into blocks and districts, and next week a meeting of ladies willing to assist will be called in all the various districts and suburbs. It is felt that no one in receipt of wages, or salary will object to deny himself or herself this small sum, despite tho fact that they may have already contributed to a similar fund. It is felt that the only factor needed, to make an unqualified success of the movement is a large army of willing women workers. It is an opportunity of doing true Christmas work. Entertainment at St. Joseph's Homo. On Saturday afternoon a party of friends visited St. Josoph'6 Home, Bucklo Street, and delighted the inmates by giving a programme of vocal, elocutionary, and instrumental items. Those who contributed were Mrs. Coleman Penrice, Miss Fleming,' Mißs Ida Thomson, and Miss Phyllis Adamß, Messrs. Charles Wellum, Walter Wood, and Norman K. Thomson. The everpopular "Tipperary" was sung, and an enjoyable little entertainment was brought to a conclusion with the singing of the National Anthem. Miss Carrie Moore at Work. A feature, of the street collection which was made in Auckland in aid of tho Belgkin Fund was the sale of flowers carried on in conjunction with it. Many citizens generously donated blooms, .which were sold ejther in bunches or as buttonholes, a rich harvest- of coins being reaped by this means alone. A boy' 3 dog, with a collection box on its back, . collected 395. 'in :• Karangahape Road. ■ Miss Carrie Moore, with other vocalists, traversed the city in a gaily decorated motor lorry. A' piano and a megaphone made themselves heard abovo the noise of. tho traffic, and whercvor tho_ lorry went a big crowd followed. Not content with singing alone, Miss Carrie Moore was very energetio

m; selling flowers and kisses, the latter being priced at a gumen bj the donor, and sometimes at a greater sum by tho [i recipient.- As a result of her efforts sho augmented the collection by £90 Cerman Fabrications. pi'obably very hard for anybody in England to understand what the ordinary stay-at-home people in Germany'thrnk'..about'tKe lvar (says the "Christian World"). For'many weeks we have been unable to receive letters from Germany or to' meet travellers. ,But now, thanks to the good offices of the. American Embassies ui London and Berlin, a good many people who have ,teen prisoners in Germany are returning home. One such who arrived recently; was surprised whon she got. home to find that there were lights in the house and that there was a dinner on the table. She'had been told that London was starving, and that it was impossible to get light of any kind in the houses. Moreover she 'had been told that the British Empire was broken to bits. According to the beliefs of "good class" families in Germany this country had. trouble with Egypt on tho outbreak of war. We had taken the British garrison awEiy, and to meet the revolt nad sent Indian troops. Then India had revolted, and we liad arrived at a bargain with Japan to subjugate India, tho price being a heavy money payment and the rir;ht of the Japanese to emigrate to Canada and Australia- as they liked. This had so upset Canada and Australia that they had broken off their counec- ■ tion with the Empire,' aud this country itself was on the verge of revolution. This paiiioular lady had promised her , friends that she would persuade her' family to leave London for fear of a ' Zeppelin raid, and her friends were so concerned! for her welfare that they had offered her a home because she j would not have one of her own after the - war. nere is no question that many people in Germany believe all this. :

The engagement is announced of Miss Gladys Cunningham, youngest daughter of Mr. William Cunningham, of Solwyn Terrace, Wellington, to Mr. Anthony Carroll Nathan, of Wellington, son of Mr. Anthony Nathan, of Taiha.pe.

Mrs. Aubrey Barclay left on Saturday with her children for Ballance, where she will be the guest of her sister, Miis. Thompson.

Mr. and Mrs. Blundell and l Mrs. Lavington left Wellington on Friday by the Main Trunk for tho north.

Miss May Dowling, of the Dunedin Medical University, is visiting her home in New Plymouth.

Mrs. V. Riddiford 1 and Miss .George have returned to Wellington from Christchurch. Mrs. J. S. Young, of Hawera, has just received word from her son, Dr. A. M. Young, who recently left Hawora for London, that he has received a commission in the Field Ambulance' Corps of the Lowland Mounted Brigade, and has gone into camp at Cupar, Fife. After sorao weeks' training he will go to the front with his regiment. Nurse Holgate, who has fulfilled tho duties of district' nurso at Seddon for about two years, has applied to the Wairau Hospital Board for 12 months' leave of absence, as she intended to leave for England shortly with a view to enlisting for medical service at tho front. Mrs. Skinner, who has been visiting her son in Napier, returned last week to New Plymouth. Mrs. Samuel Brown and her daughter, Mrs. O'Shcti, are spending some months iii the north.