SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 296, 3 September 1918, Page 2

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

SoldicrS' Cifts Funds, Tlio following schools have contributed to the Mayoress's Soldiers' Christ : mas Pudding Fund:—Ohariu .School, £1 10s.; Kaitoke,, 65.; Hihitaki, £1 Is,; Kntwarewa, 18s.; Lansdowno (Masterton), £10 65.; Feilding. Bs.; Taiigiwa, 2».; Marakeke, : los.; Matamau, £2 lis. 6d.; Stanley, £2 125.; Kajfataunoa. £2\ 155.; Wanstead, 65.; Ahititi, £2 135.; Otangjwai, £3 17s. 6(i.; Okahukura, £1 75.; Jliss M. Barglo (Waitaiiora, H. 8.), 155,; Ngamako, £1 75.; Kohuratahi, 10s.; Nihoho, 145.; ouiakn-wn, £1; Awahou, 18s.; Makotuku, £-1 65.; Tikorangi, £2 lis.; Tolago Bay, £1 55.; Midhirst, £1 125.: R.u,a Ika, £4 35.; Ore Ore (l!aotihi), Bs.; Cheltenham (Feilding), £2 os. 6c1.; Dannuvirke North, £8 3s, 6d.; Kapougn, £2 13a.; Pukeroa, 55.; Kohi (Waverloy), £1; Dannevirke, £4 IBs.; Karapiti, 15s. 6d.; ICapuni, £2 55.; Table Flat School (Fcilding), los.; Pukoliinau, 25.; Spur Road (Colyton), 125.; Midhirst, 18s.; Pokako (Ohakutio), £1; Nowill School, Taranaki,. 45.; Horopito, £1 165.; Makaka, £1 Is.; tlmumuri (Ohakune), 165.; Waira-nga-a-Hika, £2 35.; Gisbornc, £10; Petana, £3 155.; Ackland (Midbirst), £1; Chilton Houso School, £6 18s. 10s. ; Warea (Taranaki), 10s.; Opaki, £1 55.; Alton (South ,Taranaki), £1 65.; Bainesse (Mannwatu), £1 . 55.; Waiongon'a, 55.; Manaia (Hawera), second instalment, 3s. , Contributions to the general fund have been received fromWaitara Women's Guild (Christmas puddings), £5; Patoa monthly parcels, £4; Patea (puddings), £25; Feilding Patriotic.So- ■ ciety (puddings), £7 10s.; AVaverley, £5; Manaia (Christmas parcels), £80; Busy Beo Club (Christmas puddings), £2 '2s. 1 ; Palmerston North, parcels' £9 15s. 10d., Christmas puddings £45 ,16s. Bd.; Khandallah, por Mrs. Dale, £3 2s. 6d.

Countess of Liverpool Fund Committee. : A meeting of the Countess of Liverpool Fund, Loniniittoo was hold yesterday morning in the Mayoress's room of this Town Hall. Mrs. Luko was in tho ohair, and thero were also present Mesdames W. F. Massey, Tripe, Jiarltrop, Thompson, Purely, M'Arthur, Hamer, Aston, . Tnpp, Aslionden, Murphy, and A. Crawford. Mrs. Luke reported that "K" Shed \iwl been completely cleared, and that there was great hope of getting away parcels in tho immediate niture. It was decided to con.tinuo tho work as usual. The treasurer gave a,. very satisfactory report of' the Liverpool Shop. Close on £165 had boen realised. Mrs. Luke proposed that a sock competition should. -, be held, and said Her Excellency tho. Countess of Liverpool had kindly offered to give the prizes. Tho secretary was instructed to send out. notices to this effect. Mrs. Luke also reported that she had made a satisfactory arrangement regarding tins for cakes, for the. soldiers' parcels.

Death of Mrs. J. F. Wills. < Mrs. J. I'\ Wills, an interesting Wei-' ] liiigtoni personality, bus been removed ( by death. Mrs. Wills Was well over ( tho borderland of 90, having been born , in the year. 1825, and she remembered, j as a child, seeing Queen Victoria , crowned. Mrs. ..came to New ; Zealand in the Phoebe Dunbar, and s)io could recall very many interesting do- . tails and events of tbe early life of ■ Wellington. With a three-weeks-old baby in her arms, sht> had sat outdoors tho whole of one night, during a series of almost- continuous earthquakes; she remembered whon there were no street lamps iiv Wellington, no roads, only rough tracks through the bush, and when the waters of the harbour lamped tho shore in the vicinity where Lambton Quay now is. In spito of her advanced years, Mrs. Wills was almost to the iast remarkably hale, brisk, alert, ohatta',' atid bright,, not a faculty imI paired, and she possessed many oldfashioned virtues, seldom mot with in these days of luxurious civilisation and in the bustle, and rush of our modern everyday life. Her husband predeceased her by twenty->threc years. Of her family of nine (five sons and four daughters), ; seven are living, the sons being Messvß. G. G. Wills (Auckland), and F. and W. Wills (Wellington). The daughters are Mrs. John Dhmdell, Mrs. C. E. Zolirab, Mrs. A. E. Bybles (Wellington), and Mrs. J.' Murray Christie, of Sydney/ There are also thirty-eight grandchildren and seventy great-grandchildren. Mrs. Vernon Reed (Bay of Islands) is visiting friends in Hawke's Bay. The Missfs K. and C. Penn havo returned to NeW Plymouth from Wellington. Miss B. King has returned to New Plymouth from a visit to Wellington. Mrs. Georgina Emma Kernohan has been appointed Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages and Vaccination Inspector at Norsewood. Tho effort which was made in Auckland on Friday by the Victoria League in aid d tlie French Relief Fund, by means of a Daffodil' Day, realised at least £560. - Mrs. Guv Didsbury. with her two children, is visiting Pirinoa. Mrs. W. Reynolds (Dunedin), who bad been staying with Miss Macanl drew, is now. the guest of Mrs. W. H. ' Field, The terrace. The lion, treasurer of the Red Cross Soldiers' Comforts Fund acknowledges x the following donations received since June I,:—Stratford Red Cross, £15; Hastings Red Cross workers, £6 ; Mrs. .John Huteheson, £3; Jliss Coate's, £l 10s.; Miss C.L.R., £3/ Miss Madge Whittaker, who has rendered many acts of kindness to the patients in the 'soldiers' ward at the Naaier Hospital, and who is leaving for lier homo in Invercarcill, was the recipient of a wristlet watch as a tokeil of the soldiers' appreciation of her thoughfulness for them. The Napier Soldiers' 'Club , tendered Miss Wiiittaker a farewell social, and took the onportunity of presenting her with a handsome vraveilinc case. , From as far away as London and Africa, ladies write for RUSMA, tlie superfluous hair destroyer, Tlioy havo found tlmt tliey ciuinot procure a. treilt- | ihent that will destroy hair from the faoe and arms as RUSMA does. A cure is guaranteed if pel-severed with. Mrs. Hullcii, Courtenay Place, opposite Tram Terminus (upstairs), J)ept. ]).—Advt. Tho weekly gas cooking demonstration, Eiven by Miss Una Oni'ter, will bo held lit the Gas Company's demonstration room to-morrow, at 3 o'clock. The l subject will lie "Scones, Cakes, and Fritters." 'We have just received G black and white cheeks, smatl and large; also, large American Glen Urnliiirt Cheek. Coleman, Ladies' Tailor, Customhouse Quay —Advt. Wedding Announcements. — Beautiful roses and the choicest of flowera only are need whon designing wedding bouquets, which I mako a specialty of. Packed and forwnrdod through the Dominion. Miss Murray; Vico-Kegftl Florist, 38 Willis Street.-, Advt. ,

Mothers' Pensions. In connection with "Baby Week" a Mothers' Pension Conference was-'held at the Central Hail, Westminster, at which ii resolution was passed, on the motion of Mrs. H. U. Irvine, calling upon the Government to promote a 'scheme- for the adoption of a system of mothers' pensions, which would enablenecessitous widows, wives of permanently disabled men, and deserted wives to care for. their own children in their own homes, states the "Daily News." Dr. Harold Scurfiekl (Sheffield), in advocating the care of illegitimate ehilren, reminded his hearers that Erasmus and Leoenardo da. Vinci wore illegitimate children of tho middle and peasant classes. "Moses was boarded out with his own mother, and Pharoah's daughter paid, mother's pension." JudgevNeil said that- when he visited a large poor-law institution the other day and saw hundreds of boys lined upj he asked,. "What do you teach them?" "Oh," replied tho official, "wo don't bring them up to bo Prime Ministers ; we tuaoh them to earn an honest living."

Nuns in the War. ' , ' . A heartfelt tribute to tho bravery and' patriotism of the Catholic Sisters has been paid by a Protostaiit soldior who was wounded in France. Here is what he says in a letter to a daily paper: — "Dear Sir, —I am a soldier home from France on account of a wound which has mado mo unfit for further service. Since I came home I have heard much of -the lied Cross 'over there- , —and surely they merit praise—but never onco have 1 heard the Catholic Sisters praised for their work. My father iR a Civil War veteran, and although we aro not Catholics,, he has not forgotten their nursing him and his wounded comrades, and ho has often bade mo respect tho Catholic Sisters. It was owing to one of them he escaped death after a battle; ho had been- lying on the field under shell-fire a day and a night when one of them bravod shot and -shell and led his rescue. My turn came 'over there.' Tho battle was over and the dead were lying all around mo, and I had been , knocked unconscious. When I ! revived there were two Sisters bending over me, though tho shelling was yet going on. They managed,to get stretcher-bearers; itV owing to them I am alive to-day."

The Military Salute. Almost everybody seems to be using the military salute, just now, ' sayis "America." As the baker's boy delivers a package of w bread his hand goes briskly to his forehead; little Polly while trundling her doll-oarriago pauses long enough to stand at attention and gravely salute; the profiteer salves his conscience by pompously returning, his clerk's military greeting, and saying: "Exeellont! Of course, we are all soldiers now." Even priests acknowledge the respectful martial jsalute of the faithful with a similar gesture. But few of those who use, whether lightly or seriously, the military salute are probably aware of its ancient origin or have ever considered the beauty of its symbolism. The military salute actually comes down to us from the Catholic Middlo Ages. As a writer in the current "St. Nicholas" reminds her youthful readers: "It was ever the eußtora of brave and gallant knights; upon meeting, to raise their visors and look each other squarely and fearlessly in the eye. On the road or in the arena before the tiltinc match clicking up tlie visor was an indispensable courtesy. Wβ no longer wear visors covering our faces, but we raise our hands to the visors of our caps and look squarely and fearlessly at the person The salute is a sign manual of a proud fellowship in arms, and not the subservient acknowledgment of a .superior officer." ■

Problems of Parentage.., "A Parent," discussing in - the Auckland "Star" tho'problem of how some marxiod moil in receipt ot £'i a week or less, are existing, considers that the .mental and physical strain must be considerable. Tile writer states:— "The-married nlan, in addition td providing for the future life of tho nation, makes, under this system, a much larger contribution to the national rcvonue than does the singlo man: A study of the Customs schedule reveals the fact that the food and clothing of the people aro subject to very heavy duties, and when the retailers' proiits are added'it gives the following results Clothing and tea, 7s. (id. in the pound; boots, Bs. to -10s. in the i pound; bacon, lish, jam, cocoa, and colfee, IDs. in the pound. One investigator said that we were taxed 'from the cradle to the coffin,' and particularly on babies, because practically everything they eat, everything they wear, and everything they use is subject to duty. This law penalises the married man, as against the bachelor, because the former contributed to the revenue in pre-war time. The future for young mothers certainly does not look bright in this regard, and something requires doing to improvo the i position. The sight of mothers overburdened with parcels and luggage getting on trams and trains is atrocious. On the railways, at least, the; authorities should require, that porters should always assist people accompanied by oiiildran, without expecting any . remuneration. All railway carriages on long distance trains should. have'either a, gas or electric heater for tho use of travelling parents. Then to charge half-fares from tho age of three years .up to twelve years is a very heavy drain on tho heads of families. As our railway service is publicly owned and is not regarded primarily as dividend producing, the fares from say three to nine should be a quarter, and from nine to fifteen a half. Though New Zealand was the first portion of the British Umpire to. give the vote to women nearly a quarter of a; century ago, the right of women to sit in our Parliament has not yet been conceded. It is petty arrogance for our present legislators to think they can truly represent the mind and wishes of the women of this Dominion. In the United' States, Finland, Canada. Australia, women are eligible for election to.some of the Legislatures. The Camp Commandant at Trcnthnm acknowledges with thnnks. receipt of the following gifts which have been placed at tho disposal of the troops m camp: —From Mr. K. A. Callander, Rongotea, illustrated papers; from Mrs. 11. M. Bacon, Owhango, parcel of books Preparations that creop into your existence, with instructions so simpl,v_ told tliey cling to the memory!. The AfflSom preparations aro renowned for tho Hair lind Face. No advance in prices. All Hairwovk. ' Correspondence invited from those who cannot call. Miss Mikuni, 91 Willis Street. .'Phone 811.—Advt. You want n neat, smart Suit for your boy. See our splendid range of Sports Suits at prices ranging from 255. to !ios. Goo. FowlilS, Ltd., Manners Street.—Advt. All parents are hereby cordially ro. quested to encourage Stationers and Storekeepers to push, the sale of "Thinker" Brand Writing 1 ablets and "Thinker" School Exercise Books for the nation's good—Bannatyne and Hunter, Ltd., wholesale ajents for the "Thinkor." —A-dvt.