BY WARSHIP TO THE PEACE CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 157, 28 March 1919, Page 4

BY WARSHIP TO THE PEACE CONFERENCE

MRS M ASSET AND LADY WARD TELL THE Til- EXPERIENCES. ■ Probably no other .women in the world : havo shared the experience of. (lie three \'ew Zealand ladies who arrived in.i,ngland the. other-day-for the Peace Conference travelling from Panama.to This country on an auxiliary cruiser. Mrs. nml Mis 3 Massev. wife awl daughter of the Prime Minister of New Zealand, and Lnilv Ward, wife of Sir Joseph nam, the'.Dominion'? Finance Minister, arc all experienced travellers, 'but. their aihentnreo 011 this iourncy, told to a representative of '"file Britisli-Auslralasmn, were certainlv novel, and probably a «ood deal more entertaining to the hearer than to the victims. "We caine to Panama bv the Kemuera," said Mrs. Massey, ''and had ii most"delightful joiirney hi) far; but then wo went overland to meet, the Ophir, and I am afraid oui 1 appearance must have caused an awful sensation, I jiej captain -Expected mv husband and Sir JoSopli Ward, but'had lio idea tlieie would bo anv womenfolk among his. passonscrs.nprUe was-absolutely unpropared tor n«. He aiid his officers were kindness itself, nud did everything possible to make us e.onifuriable, but. a' fortnight, on a. warship, in' very rough" wenther, has its disadvantages. i • "'Tlio -Ophir. you rPinember, took the King and Qureii. as Duke and Duchess of York, to the Dominions. Toil might iuingino we' slinuld have ban a luxurious journey-011 liei\ but nowadays she is a very liifferoi'it ship, stripped of lier old trappings, and ready for aciion. 'Jowever, it was all interesting, and at least, there was no submarine danger this time. , . "f)n the way home from England two vears ago." Mrs. Massey continued, "Ihe ship's engines suddenly stopped/one day, and all the passengers rushed to tho-fiide to look for file torpedo. But it was a false alarm. Wo had merely run into a huge whale, 'cutting it in two, and, incidentally, impeding our progress for haTf an 'hour. Great pieces of blubber were floating round thu ship, but when Mr.-Massey told that story in New /.calami people thought it was a fairy tale." Of conditions in New Zealand Mrs. Massey had much of interest to sav. The cost of living, has risen since the war, but.it is by no.means as high as in England, and food has been plentiful all the time. . liutler costs Is. 3d. a I}).-retail, steak about lflii., beef about Bd., etc. Cloihos of all kinds arc very expensive, but wages are high. The great, difficulty confronting the womenfolk is the scarcity of servants. It is' almost impossible to get. tlieni, and the need presses very heavily upon women with young families. The. ordinary wage for a. cook-general in a small household is 275. tid. a week. Housemaids aro fairly easy to get,, bu! coolw almost' an unknown qunntity. "Before .1 left home," said Mrs. Massey, "there was a movement on foot to get. permission to import Japanese servants, but I doubt.if it would be granted. I refused lo sign thejetition myself, for, acute,as the servant problem is, ,'J did not think it would be a wise move." Mrs. and Miss Massey hope to join Mr. MtKssey in.Paris, but at present accommodation is a difficulty, the hotels being crowded to. ovorllowing. Even communication seems a slow business, telegrams taking sometimes a day,and a lmlf to get t'rom Paris to London. . Ladv Ward's description of the voyage ever was most'amusing, though, like Mrs. Massey, she. paid a warm tribute to the kindness of the ship's officers. ''The captain," she said,,"felt that lie almost ought to have the band playing everv night to cheer us. up-.l suppost wo in list have looked miserable. There was a piano in the ward room, but it had to be tied down by -its I tigs to provent ft. from standing up on' end sullenly and waving them about.' If you lay on a sofa you were liable to be shot, sofa ami all. to the other side of the ship, or thrown down with the sofa on top of von- Under the arched roof of tlio old Op'hir saloon, thfft you may remember, a floor has been put down, and this improvised room was our special province. We had our meals there, often clingiu? firmly to the tables to prevent being flung about tlio room. ' 1 slent in a high bunk, and on> night I woke up and saw a rat: nisli p«t me. I thought to myself. 'The ship-must >be doomed. The r;.ts'lire leaving it.'"In .retrospect,. Lady Ward, evidently cnjoye<i her adventures, for- she, is an experienced travelled-this is her. tenth Visit to. England—and therefore takes discomforts philosophically. Askorl if she would try aeronbuje transit, next, she-laughed, aiid said she, thought she would rather like it. Tn New Zealand they havo several flying'schools, and most visitors to Chrisl.-churoh-are taken for a flight, althoughshe herself has-never tried one. -Everyone there is much interested-in the prospect of a (lying post, which, it i.< expected. will take about five and a half days to reach the .Dominion- from Great Britain.