Oxford Lecturer Tours the World

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 758, 3 September 1929, Page 16

Oxford Lecturer Tours the World

CHARMING WOMAN STUDIES DIFFICULT PROBLEMS BRIEF VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND tpHE study of native administration throughout the world, principally in British countries. This subject has brought Miss Margery Perham, Fellow and Tutor cf St. Hugh’s College, Oxford, to New Zealand, where she will study Maori life and customs for a few weeks. Miss Perham is holder of a Rhodes Trust travelling fellowship, given only to tutors at Oxford, and Miss Perham is the first woman to tour the world with one. The allowance is £IOO a month which enables the holder to travel comfortably to any part of the world. Miss Perham is a lecturer in history at Oxford and has made a particular study of colonial history. Her association with the League of Nations at Geneva brought her into touch with the Samoan unrest and for the last few weeks she has been visiting both British and American Samoa. Now she has come on to New Zealand to gather more information regarding native administration there and hopes to meet departmental officers. Cabinet Ministers and others in Wellington to discuss the subject with them. At Geneva Miss Perham met Sir George Richardson and hopes to renew acquaintance with him in Auckland. Although this is Miss Perbam’s first visit to New Zealand she met many people from this Dominion during the war. She lectured to the Australian and New Zealand troops at Codford, one of the principal camps in England for overseas troops. Miss Perham does not wish to make any comment regarding Samoa, but she hopes to write something on the subject when her investigations have been completed. She studied the question closely before coming out to gain first-hand knowledge. During her present trip Miss Perham has visited America. After spending some time in New Zealand and Australia she will go to Africa, where she hopes to spend a year. Apart from her academic activities Miss Perham has found time to write several novels. “Major Dane's Garden,” a story of Africa, and “Josie Vine” have both reached the colonies. The information for the first-named book was gathered during a visit to Africa, where the writer did a trek in Somaliland, along the Abyssinian border.