SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2505, 5 July 1915, Page 2

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

For the Anaesthetic Fund. - A moat, successful sale of work, arranged by' Form Illf. was j held in tho Central Hall of tho Girls'' College on Saturday afternoon, in : aid of the 1 atnotic Anaesthetic Fund. Miss t i> ea T ' i y prmci P al > introduced Mrs. J. J. Luke, who opened tho bajzaar with a very happy speech, and explained the reason and purpose , or the Anaesthetic I'und, after which splendid business was done at the stalls, the amounts taken exceeding all expectations. Tho hall was prettily decorated with flag's of all nations, and the stalls comprised fancy goods, produce, sweets, and cake, with two bran tubs, all tho-stalls being', presided, over by members of Form Illf. Many of the calces on the cake stall wero made at the college cooking class, under the supervision of Miss Rennie. The tea-room was in charge~of Form VI and the Social Committee of the college who very heartily arranged this to help the younger members of Form Illf. During the afternoon a programme ofmusic and recitations was gone through by the members of the form. British and Belgian Fund. > Parcels have been received by Miss Bell and Mrs. Rolleston at 47 Molesworth Street for the British and Belgian Relief Fund from the following:—Mrs. K Lawford (Dnnevirke), Mrs. Dunn (Otaki), Mrs. Fell (Mahina 'Bay), Mrs. Jonness (Wellington), Miss Kirk (Petone)", Mrs. Adams (Lower Huit), C. M. Gov (Hawkestone .Street), Mrs. S. H. Powles, Mrs. T. R. Allen (Masterton), Miss Hoslcing (Wellington), and Wairoa Lady Liverpool Fund, per secretary, Mrs.' Cliristopher.. Veils for Botha's, flrniy. The patriotio activity of the women of South Africa (states a correspondent in the "Manchester Guardian") takes tho form of making veils for the soldiers of Botha's army. ■ All over tho Union the women are as busy veil-making as the Englishwomen are at knitting socks or making respirators. The chief enemies of the army now' steadily pushing into South-West Africa are the swarms of deadly disease-carrying insects—mosquitoes, sandflies, and so on. The women are making veils which cover the soldier's head and neck, and are tucked into the tunic.- There is great difficulty in getting sufficient supplies of .veiling from England, and appeals are being made for motor veils, chiffons, thin silks, and any kind of gauze material which can be used. Veil-making is now the only occupation at: afternoon tea parties in South Africa —much more useful if less exciting than tile diamondhunting which used to be the entertainment at Kimharley women's gatherings. The thing to- do was to hire a Kaffir to fotcli a half-crown bucket of mud from the mine,, and then after tea, to grub patiently in the mud in'the hope of finding a little diamond or two. Miss Joachim, of Duuedin, left Napier on Saturday for Taupo. Mrs. M. A. Shields and Miss Wallis left Hastings on. Saturday for 'Auckland. ■ .

German Women and the War. An' article of peculiar interest -to women appears in the May number of the "Contemporary Review." 1 Its au- ' thor is Miss Marion Phillips, D.Sc., formerly of Melbourne, a lady who is. taking a deep and active interest in so- \ cial questions,in London. In March of this year an international conference of Socialist women was held in Berne, and to the conference came representatives, from Italy, France, Germany, and Russia, as well as from Holland and Switzerland, and amongst them Miss Phi lips, as one of four British delegates. The resolutions of the conference, together with somo facts and impressions gathered during the meeting, are dealt' with in Miss Phillips's article. The conference represented, of course, only, lone set of people,, and. its proceedings , need not] be dwelt upon, _ What is most interesting in the ar« ticle is the information given with regard to tho' conditions of life in Germany, ■ at the present time, information gathered, presumably, in conversations with, •tihe-German delegates. _ "It is Miss Phillips says, "to give instances of V the burdens upon' the German people. In the first place, practically every fam- - iI.Y has lost a breadwinner (military service being compulsory), but the allowances to the wives and children are given not of right,_ but of grace, and ' only where destitution is proved.. Des- • titution is not considered proved unless the wife can show; that she is absolute- " ly unable to earn anything. / If-, she earns as little oven as a shilling a day. / she receives no allowance. The usual; amount of the allowance is twelve shillings a month, and six shillings- a month for each child; but to this the municipal authorities generally add an \" equal sum. Dependants other than '- wives and children are not assisted, unless perhaps charity does something for them. ' The charitable lady of the upper .. classes,. with her ignorant suggestions of cheap-food for the masses, is as familiar in Germany as she is here; but the interference' by proclamation of General Commanding Officers, with ad. ' monitions to the working women that . they shall prepare proper and suitable -A dinners for their children, are probably : peculiar to that''country. The bread allowance is a serious grievance, for.-its'- ' amount is based on middle-class rather . than working-class household economics. ; "It is sufficient for families with whom bread is but one item in a varied dietary; it is insufficient where economic necessity makes it the. staple fobd. ; Added to these troubles, there is tho growing difficulty which the -women 1 workers and the men left behind are experiencing in keeping up the level ,of wages and conditions of employment. Cut -piece rates; unpaid overtime, long; hours, and lower time rates become • more and moro unbearable as tho price of food increases."- . : ■

;X reception was tendered Madame Lina Nyberg and M. Paul Saldaigne, tlio Belgian operatic artists, by the members of the. Ladies' Committee of the Belgian Fund in Christclmrch, in tie Art Gallery on Friday afternoon. There was an attendance of close upon, three hundred, ■ (Continued on nest page,}

Suffragist Congress In San Francisco. New- Zealand and Australian representatives played a leading part in an important international women's Suffrage conference held at tho Panama Pacific Exposition at Sail Francisco on June 2, when speakers attended from the eleven American States enjoying tlio priyilege of female franchise, together with prominent suffrage workers representing Finland, Norway, Iccland, China, Sweden, Denmark, the Isle of Man, and Alaska (states the San Francisco correspondent of an Auckland exchange). Speakers from these widelyseparated countries appeared in nativo costum'o, and included an Esquimaux girl in sealskins and a South Alaskan Indian in characteristic Countess Giaumin (Dr. Martha Tborwiok) spoke eloquently on ; behalf of iNoiway, where she declared women's suffrage had advanced to the stage of women now filling the sectarian pulpit .in that country. In the course of his address, Mr. Edmund Clifton, Commissioner-General for New Zealand, who was accorded a big , ovation, traced the growth of women's suffrago in New Zealand from its inception in September, 1893. He said: "New Zealand is well satisfied that the suffrage is for adult men and adult . women. It had been of inestimable .value to us, and I am sure it has led us (all along iu that land to a better humanitarian feeling and a general',advancement in the care of factories, in schools, and in hospitals; and may it be that immediately your great Amerioan country hero will see itself in. tho wisdom of extending_ that suffrage, for 'I know from experience that women frill ornament and improve with every aspect that we can think of, not only i in home-life, but in the general betterment of tho life socially and politically." .(Applause.) i A parcel of books for the .Trentham Camp Library has been received at (The Dominion office from E: Elder. Mrs. Stewart M'Clelland returned to Wellington on Saturday from a few Sveeks' visit to Palmerston North. - At the Patriotic Concert given by the pupils of the Croydon Boys' School [(Day's Bay) on Saturday evening there were present: Lady Bell, Mrs. A. Duncan, Mr. and Mrs. W. Turnbull, 'Mrs. Leverten, Mr. and Mrs. W.: Blitndell, Mrs. iWilloughby, Mrs. Bailey, .Miss Coatcs, Mr. and Mrs. .Dudley Hoggardj Mrs. W. Harvey, the Misses Von Dadelszen, Mr. and Mrs. Slomari, Mrs. Ballinger, the Misses Craigio, Miss Zohrab, Miss Hall, Miss Edmondon, Miss: Warburton, •Miss B. Earle, Miss Ida Duncan, the Misses Turnbull (2), Miss K. Russell, Messrs. Lan Duncan, Baldwin, Johnston, • iWilloughby, Staples, Clutty, Didsbury, Pearoe, ana Zohrab.' • ' The marriage took place at' the residence of the bride's parents, George Temare, Asbhurst, on .Tune 30, of .Miss 'Annie Jslain, fifth daughter of Mr. and .Mrs. J. Blain, to Mr. Cyril Wakeling Lowe, second son of' Mrs. Taylor, of Lower. Hutt. Tho Rev. 'A. Doull performed the ceremony. The bride, who was given away ; by her father, wore a gown of cream silk voile, trimmed with white fur and orange blossoms, and a .veil with orange blossoms. . The bridesmaids were the Misses Bertha Blain and Mabel Lowe, and her two nieces, the Misses Mona and Jean Gillies. Mr. G. W. Lowe was best man, and Mr. iW. F.'E. Taylor groomsman. { Miss I. M. Statliam, daughter, of Mr. IW. H. Statliam, of Avondale, who has been' attending lectures at Columbia (University, New York, since. October, has gained the degree of Bachelor of Science at that University? Before leaving for New York, Mi -Statliam was kindergarten mistress at the' Normal School. Before returning to New Zealand she intends to proceed to South Kensington, London, and to Rome, to take a course in the Montessori system. Mr. and Mrs. William Tapp,' of Church Street, Onenunga, celebrated their golden wedding on Saturday. They ■were married on July 3, 1865, in the 'Anglican Church at Oneliunga by the late Rev. Dr. l'urclias. Mr. Tapp has Tesided in Onehunga since his arrival in «New Zealand in 1849 by the ship Oriental Queen, and Mrs. Tapp has ■ been a resident of tho town all her life/ Miss Nona Hildyard, of Lyttelton, and late of tho nursing staff' of the Christchurch Hospital, and more recently with: Dr. Sandston, has had her services accepted by the New Zealand Government, and on Monday evening she. will lea.ve en : . route for service nbroad. On Thursday evening a number of citizens of , the borough met Nurse Hildyard and presented, her with a purs© of sovereigns. In making the presentation, Sir. W. C. Cleiry remarked that the Lyttelton district had to-date'con-tributed about 200 men for the fighting line, but Nurse Hildyard was the first lady to represent the port. Miss Lillias Haggitt (Duncdin)' is Visiting Wellington. Mrs. _R. Acton-Adams, of Dunedin, Is /visiting Napier.

I Sandbag Teas and War Albums, Tho two main industries in the Wost End of London just now are the making of sandbags and tho upkeep of personal "war books," states a writer in an English newspaper. Sandbag parties have superseded knitting parties. Young women gather together for luncheon, <md afterwards give themselves to tho cutting or shearing of coarse sacking and stitching it into bags for the wall of sandbags that is said to stretch from Switzerland to the sea. It is a task people are eager to undertake in spite of its irksomeness, for every sandbag, the worker knows, helps to savo lives. Young girls' teas are given with this object only, and cards are sent out with "sand-bags" in. the corner that once held tho word "tango"—a warning to come provided with thimble and enormous scissors—and many girls who 'have scarcely ever put cotton through an oyolet now spend hours on work that compares rather unfavourably with picking oakum. "War books," on the other hand, are the hound and often beautiful volumes of collected letters and niomentoes of every sort sent from the front. A girl will have, for instance, a large album with her monogram and that of her brother or sweetheart, which contains their letters, post-cards,, and any snapshot or special newspaper cutting of personal, interest. These ''war books" help to relieve the anxiety of days of waiting, and doubtless will interest posterity, as somewhat similar books kept in the Peninsula, and Waterloo times 'have interested our people ever since.