SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2609, 3 November 1915, Page 2

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Weritiing in the Wpbb St. Church. 1 A military wedding took place in tho Webb Street Methodist Church yesterday afternoon., when Corporal Ronald Simpson, of tho N.Z.M.C., who will bo leaving with the second hospital ship, was married to Miss Barbara Bellini. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Knowles Smith. The bride was given away by her brother-in-law, Mr. Read, and was attended by her sister, Miss A. Bellini, and by a little niece. Private 0. Russell was the . best mail and both ho aud tho bridegroom wero in uniform. As tho bride and bridegroom loft the church a guard of honour was formed by about a dozeu members of the Medical Corps, who formed an archway with their canes, through which the bridal pair had to pass. Showers of confetti and a waiting photographer faced them as they emerged from the church, and a parting gift as they drove away in a motor was a silver horse-shoe, with a- cluster of orange blossoms from a waiting friend. Women's National Reserve. . Now that so many branches of tho Women's National Reserve have been organised, the executive committee in is directing its energies upon the_ important point of bringing them all into touch, so that there may be a co-ordination of the methods of carrying out the aims and objects for whicli tho reserve was formed. Miss Newcouibo, the secretary of the Wanganui branch of the reserve, has been visiting Wellington with the object of gaining information upon various points from the executive, and yesterday Dr. Platts-Mills invited the Wellington executive, which included Mrs. W. F. Masecy (vice-president) and the Mayoress (Mrs. Luke, honorary president), to meet her at an afternoon tea, which was given in the Pioneer Club. Such meetings are likely to be very helpful in producing a common wonting agreement. Oil Friday evening a'meeting for members of the women's branch of the ■reserve only is to bo hold in the Y.M.O.A. rooms at 8 o'clock.

New Zealand Children's Mission. A now mission for children has recently been originated in New Zealand, of which the superiiitendant missiouer is the llev. E. Palgrave Davy. It is entirely ' a non-sectarian Evangelical Mission, and it had been started becauso it was. felt that a .great children's need in-this country was to have a minister who would be able to give bright_ services which would be thoroughly within their understanding, and who would reach the children who live in out-of-the-way places where there was no SunJay School to go to. During the summer holidays it is intended to hold seaside services on tlio beaches where practicable with the v. id of voluntary helpers. Its aims are to distribute as widely as funds will permit suitable literature for children; to conduct services for the young all over tlio. anratry, with special united missions in' the larger centres; to form Bible-reading bands where possible in places whore no such bands exist, for the daily reading of the Scriptures with short explanatory notes. Its whole conduct *ill be upon the' lines of _ "Tho Children's Special' Service Mission" of London, which has been working in London for the past 47 years, and in which Mr. Davy has in other years taken an active part. Mr. Davy last summer conducted successful services for children on the Takapuna beach, and in several other places in tlie North Island, and he has just concluded, a- few services at Petone, and at the Vivian Street Baptist Church. The Advisory Board of the mission consists of Messrs. W. R. Wilson, F. N. Andrews, H. B. Burnett. I). Goldie, T. W. White (lion, treasurer, Auckland), and much sympathy Ims been exnressed with the movement by tlio Mayor of Auckland, Mr. Gunson, and several .well-known, gentlemen in Auckland. Dardanelles! / A mother, when asked by the Magis-' trate at the Napier Court yesterday what lianie she was going to give hor unchristcned child, said "Dardanelles" (writes our Napier correspondent).

Welcoming Wounded Soldiers. Wellington yesterday, with flags flying from the public buildings and bright sunshine .streaming down upon harbour, hills, and City, could hardly havo offered a better welcome to tho sick and wounded soldiers who returned to their relatives, and friends from the trenches in Gallipoli. The tsfcreets through which they passed were lined with people, and a great many congregated in the Town Hall, where the official welcome organised by the Mayor and his Patriotic Committee awaited them. Tho Town Hall itself, inside and outside, was particularly gay with Hags .and very lovely (lowers decorated the small tea tables which were dotted upon the hall and banked'the front of the stage. Flowers, too, in many instances the helmets of the soldiers as tlicy arrived. On tho whole, those of the soldiers who attended the welcome looked far Letter in health than their comrades \vlio returned by the Tofun, and there wero not so many who bore outward evidonce of their disablements, ilio voyage, it is said, having greatly assisted in their recovery. Of course there were soldiers who were not able to take part in the ceremony, which, no matter how often it may bo repeated, will always liavo sadness mixed, with pleasure at the return even for a while of the men who now are building up traditions in a country that has hitherto been at a disadvantage because it has had practically none. Morning tea, which was provided by the Mayoress and her com' mitteo, was a pleasant preliminary to tho brief speeches which afterwards followed. Special cheers were called for by the Mayor for the nurses who returned in charge of the wounded men 011 tho Willochra, and they were given with & jvill. Of the six nurses—Sisters Scott, Nutsey, Sutherland, Wilkie, Grant, and Butler —Sister Scott was in charge, and all came rip to Wellington from the south save Sister Wilkie, who remained in Dnnedin. All tho nurses, with the' exception of one, belonged to the band of fifty who left some months ago for England, under Miss Maclean, Matron-in- Chief of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service, and who wero afterwards sent to Egypt. ' It has been hard work for them there, but they aro very keen about it, and would not remain behind in New Zealand for anything. By now it is very likely that welcomes have lost their novelty, as they have had three already, or four, one when they arrived at Albany, another in Dunsdin, another .in Christchurch, and now another' in Wellington. It is one of the ways in which people who stay at home are delighted to show their appreciation .of tile great work which tho nurses have done for the men who havo figured in tho casualty lists of this great war. Occupying seats upon tho platform in tho Town Hall, in addition to His Excellency the Governor and the other speakers., were Her Excellency the Countess of Liverpool, tho Mayoress (Mrs. Luke), Mrs. Masscy, Lady AVard, and Miss Robin. President Wilson's Marriage. President Wilson's marriage is fixed for the end of .December, and will be private.—Press Association. Mr. and Mrs. Pargetter, of Wellington, are visiting Napier. A sale of work in aid of the funds of the Brooklyn Presbyterian Church, will be held in Fullford's Hall, Brooklyn, to-day and to-morrow. The sale will be opened by tho Hon. J. G. W. Aitken this afternoon at 3.15. Mrs. Vickerman, is leaving by the Turakina for England. Mr. Vickerman leaves for Auckland to join the Tunnelling Corps. Four "war brides" at least are leaving by the Turakina on Saturday for England. They are Miss Doris Chilman, who is to bo married to Lieut. C. L. Tosswill, who has recently . received a commission in a British regiment; Miss Shirtclitfe, Miss Gertrude Dodson, of Nelson, and Miss C. Grigg, of "Longbeach," Ashburton. Mrs. and Miss Macmillan Brown, of Christe'mu'ch, are through passengers from Sydney to Lyttelton by the Moeraki, wjfriclil arrived) yesterday afternoon. (Continued on next page.)