SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2800, 19 June 1916, Page 2

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

I Soldiers' Room Fund. I Tho hon. treasurer of the above fund ' | (Mrs, Henry Hall) acknowledges the fol•1 lowing doiiiitionsr—Mrs. E. D. Barber, 3 £5; Mrs. Mandel, ,£3 35.; Mrs. Roth- | eram, £2; Mr. T. Neave, ail Is.; Mrs. 5 R. E. Earle, 55,; also the following 5 monthly subscriptions: J. Staples and a Co., Ltd., J65 55,; Messrs. W. and G. I Turnbull an d Co., £2 Is. Bd,; Khandal- % lah hostesses, 42; Mrs. W. F. Massey, • Mrs. J. W. Wallace (two months), Barber and Co., Mrs. 11. HadSekl (four ; months), Mrs. L. Bhindell, Mrs. H. Kirk- ! caldie, £1 each; Mrs. Joseph Joseph, Mrs, | Coleridge, and Mrs. J.Uwiton\ Watt (two months), 10s. each; Mrs. L, H. B. Wilson, Bs. '(two months) j Miss Francis, 2s. a Gd.; soldiers' contributions, £,'L 19s. Bd, 5 Women and Conscription. ] At a meeting of the Women's National Reserve in Christchurch, which .was adr, dressed on Friday last by ifr. Alpers, 5 Colonel Chaffey, and Mrs. Newall, Mr. | Alpers said he had noticed that reoently ; a lady had been talking against, con-' i scription. Even the politicians had ofj fered it reluctantly, forgetting that the ; French, Russinps, Italians, and Belgians | and Serbians were, very gallant con- | scripts, and that the enemy were cong scripts. A pressed man was as good as 'i a volunteer. Conscription was Socialism ! W the right sense, and was not respon- \ sible for Prussian militarism, since other i countries with conscription liijd no such i i military caste. Conscription in Den'f mark, his own country, was the most i democratic thing in the world, and so I it could be in New Zealand; and not a necessary _ evil, to bo put up by poli- ; tioians • with an noologetic ghrng to the I "Red Fe<ls." Women would bo enors mously in the majority after the wat, j and they and the soldiers would rule the \ Empire for the ji<ttt generation. It bet hovod T them, therefore, to see that con- • scription should be engrafted on tho i Constitution. The war would not be ! suddenly healed by a peace. The nai tipns, armed to t);e teeth, must watch 5 oje another for a long time, and Brij tain must remain a military nation, posi sibly with her 'first lino of defence in f .the air. \ W/imen and the War Regulations Bill. |j At a meeting of women whioh was S held on Saturday to consider the War Regulations Bill, which was introduced ; into the House of Representatives last < week, the following resolution was unani--5 niously passed: "XTiat this meeting of I women, held to consider the War HeguS lations Bill- now before Parliament,' cmj piratically protests against Clause 5, g paragraph il. This all-important suTjfect ' calls for the careful consideration | of Parliament, winch is responsible for | the welfare of the country, and we refuse to allow plenary power in dealing with it to be entrusted to a dictator. We also m demand Iho deletion of the words . 'to si women' in Clause 3 of tho same paraI graph." H .'l'lio War Regulations Bill proposes to T empower 'the Govcrnor-in-Council to make «J by regulations such provisions as, having i| regard to tlie exigencies of tho present J war or the conditions created thereby, he a thinks advisable for all or any of. several n purposes, among them being tho, clauses J to which exception is taken. Clause 5 .proposes to make provision "for the supj pression of prostitution, or for the press vention of venereal disease," and Clause 3 | provides "for tho regulation of the sale $ of intoxicating liquor ;to women"—the ijj last two words being the onos it is dej sirud should be deleted.

The Ashburton Hed Cross' Society purposes establishing two beds in the .Now Zealand Soldiers' Hospital at Walton-on-'i'haiutis. It is proposed to Bawl £25 witli Mrs. E. Y. Stephenson, of Auckland, who was to leave Ashburton for England dn Saturday. The £25 will cover "tho initial expenses oil establishing the beds, which will bo maintained by the" Ashburton Society.

Mr. aud Mrs. H, C. L. Bobjnson (Masterton) are paying a brief fisit to Wellington.

• ■On' Saturday evening another of Miss Eiorlnse's dances, organised 011 this occasion as a farewell'to the men of the Mth Reinforcements, was held in the Ooring Street Hall. In spite of many counter-attractions there were many dancers present, and a very pleasant and successful evening was passed. The committee assisting Miss Borlase consisted of the Misses Brice, Dolautour, Fulton, Bout, and Wardrop, whilo the' chaperones were Miss Coates and Mesdames Bruce, Bothamley, Delautour, Jordan, Matthews, Pope, JRoskruge, and Skelley, Tlio' hall had been decorated with lycopodium, flags, and foliage, and supperroom with autumn berries and foliage.

A Lomlon correspondent writes on May i that Miss Betty Neligan, daughter of Bishop Neligan, formerly of Auckland (N.Z.), was -married at Ford Parish Church, Northumberland, to tho Rev. Thomas J. Parry, temporary Army chaplain, the father of tho bride taking the service and her mother giving her away. Tho • wedding dress was of_ white crepe* de-chine, with chiffon trimming, and Mrs. Neligan lent her own veil, which ivas arranged with clusters of orange blossom. Thero wore two bridesmaids, anil Captain K. A. Parry, D.5.0., Suffolk Regiment, was his brother's best man. \

Our so-called'' useless sex seems to ba developing all sorts of 6trenuous attrl. butes that nobody suspected it of sessing before the vrar, and it almost looks as though man will have to givo up his pet theory that we • are merely intended to be a more or less ornamental (or useful) part of the household furniture, states n writer in the "British Australasian." In this connection wo heard ..two wholly spontaneous tributes to Australian girls recently. Some officers were exchanging hospital experiences 'at a* military club, and one remarked: "I was at an Australian Hospital, and. by Jove, those girls were a like men. They could do any jolly thing under the sun." The other story oomes from the country, where some Australian girls are doing farm work under the .National Land Council's scheme. At first the neighbouring farmers were extremely suspicious of this feminine invasion, but •;oon their attitude changed to interest, and then to envy. Now the most conservative of them nil has written off to 'he National Land Council, demanding "Two wenches, Australians."