WOMAN’S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1922, Page 6

WOMAN’S WORLD.

PERSONALS. Mrs. T. H. Nicholson (Auckland) is at present staying in New Plymouth. Mrs. Holford, who has been the guest of Mrs. E. P. Webster leaves for Wellington to-day. * Miss Skinner has returned from a visit to Mrs. Hamerton at Miss le Cren, who has been staying with Mrs. Wade- left for the South on Tuesday.

Miss Reed and Miss Forsyth (Auckland), after a few days at the mountain house, have returned to New Plymouth.

Mrs. McDonald (Stratford) is at present in New Plymouth.

Mrs. Sidney Burgess returned yesterday from her holiday at Russell and Auckland. Miss MacLeod (Trentham) is staying at “Noradene” for a few days. Mrs. Pryce (Rangitikei) has been staying at the mountain house. Mrs. Home returned to New Plymouth last Tuesday after an enjoyable holiday at Mt. Cook. * The Misses Wynyard returned to Auckland last night. Mrs. McAllum (Inglewood) is the guest of Miss Hamerton. Mrs. L. Tonks * (Hawera) and Mrs. O’Donnell (Manaia) are staying at the Terminus for a few days. Mrs. Grant is visiting Palmerston North. Miss K. Mills is at present staying in Waitara. • • • • Mrs. Birch-Johnston is in New Plymouth for the week-end. Mrs. Wallace, Mrs. Dickie and Mrs. Wybourne motored through to Waverley on Sunday. Mrs. Lee is staying at the mountain house. Mrs. I. Day (Wellington) is at present staying in New Plymouth. Mrs. Norris, who has been the guest of Mrs. Lysons, returned home on Tuesday. Miss Greatbateh leaves for Christchurch to-day on a month’s holiday. ♦ • • • Miss Haise returns to Wellington early next week.

Mrs. Arthur Burgess (Auckland) is the guest of Mrs. Sidney Burgess. Miss Greenwood returned from Auckland yesterday. Mrs. E. Muir (Wellington) is staying in New Plymouth. The Misses Tukes have arrived from Auckland. Mrs. J. Russell (Wanganui) is staying at the Terminus. Mrs. le May gave an enjoyable afternoon party last Tuesday for Miss Overy, Amongst those present were Mrs. Griffiths, Mrs. Brodie, Mrs. Cholmeley, Mrs. T. Fookes and Mrs. C. H. Weston. Miss M. Dell is spending a fortnight in Wellington. Y.W.C.A. NEW PLYMOUTH HOSTEL. The monthly meeting of the New Plymouth Y.W.C.A. was held yesterday morning at the hostel. Present: Mesdames O. Blundell (chair), List, Mills, Mac Diarmid, Weston and Misses Hodder and Roughton. Apologies were received from Mesdames Alexander and) W. Ambury.

A letter was read from Miss Birch asking the secretary of the local branch of the Y.W.C.A. to solicit applications from girls for a short term training course for secretaries and voluntary workers in Y.W.C.A. work, which is to be held in Auckland in May under the direction of Miss Jean Stevenson. The) girls may stay at the hostel. A charge of £1 a week will be made for meals, and the expenses of the month will amount to £5. Miss Birch concluded her letter by saying that tjie “National Board and the field committee are sincerely hoping that there will be some students from each of the smaller centres attending the course for voluntary workers, as this offers a special chance for each town to strengthen itself by sending at least onie young woman to get knowledge and understanding of the Y.W.C.A.’s purpose and methods. Applications should be made to The President, Y.W.C.A, Clarke Memorial Hostel, New Plymouth. Miss Roughton reported that 42 casuals and 2 more permanents were admitted. The hostel had been full practically all the month and many applications’ had been made for accommodation during the Easter holidays. Miss V. Johns, wf New Plymouth, has been accepted as a student at the Y.W.C.A. physical training school m Auckland, which opens at the end of March. . . Country visitors and business girls still continue to use the fest rooms and dining-room at the hostel. The board would like it more widely known that the hoste] is for the use of country visitors in town for the day. and would be gratified if it could be of greater service to them.

A BLOW TO CONVENTION

PRINCES AND PRINCESSES. It is safe to say that, after the glamor of its romance, the most attractive feature of Tuesday’s royal wedding was to millions of British subjects, the alliance of an English Princess with an English gentleman. Princess Mary’s choice gives the convention of the diplomatic marriage a blow from which it will scarcely recover, and we fancy that if there is’room in the Princess’ mind for any impersonal reflection that will be a source of lively satisfaction to her. There have been precedents for marriage outside the Blood Royal, but none so strong as this is likely to be. Queen Victoria’s daughter. Princess Louise, married the Marquess of Lome, afterwards Duke of Argyll, and at a later date the eldest, daughter of the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VII.) married the Earl of Fife, a Scottish pobleman, who was elevated * duke-

dom at the wedding breakfast. Since the war the true star of romance led the Duke of Connaught’s second daughter, Princess Patricia, to marry Commander Ramsay, who is a distant kinsman of Lord Lascelles. For other precedents it is necessary to go far back in English history, and this excursion reveals' that the Royal Family is in no way responsible for the tradition of the diplomatic marriage. In the Middle Ages and later still—notably in the persons of Henry VIII. and James If. —English kings or heirs-apparent had no hesitation in marrying subjects. The restriction appears to have been placed upon them later by the great ruling families.

From the revolution of 1688 to the passage of the Reform Acts Britain was virtually governed by an oligarchy of the noble families. More particularly in the reigns of Anne and George I. the Whigs were ftble, through their hold on the boroughs under the influence of the great landlords, to check, and at times practically set aside, the power of the Crown. To the jealousies of the ruling famiies, both Whig and Tory, which wqxild not tolerate the elevation of any one of their number, may be ascribed the growth of the convention that the English Royal Family should marry into foreign Royal Families. At a later date this convention fitted very conveniently into the system of family alliances by which statesmen sought to safeguard peace and preserve the balance of power. To put it bluntly, eligible members of the Royal Family, but particularly heirs-apparent, often became pawns in the game of diplomacy and w’ere not infrequently denied the very human right of personal choice in the affair of life that matters most to princes as well as to peasants. From this altogether unfair position the Royal Family, with its customary good sense and tact, has been gradually extricating itself, until now the convention may almost be regarded as dead. It has happily lost whatever diplomatic justification it ever possessed. Alliances of Crowns have. given place to friendships of peoples, and it is no longer necessary for the circle of the Blood Royal to weigh high politics against the dictates of their hearts. This does not necessarily mean the end of foreign marriages, for many such marriages have in the recent history of the British Crown been founded on sentiment and have been amply justified. But the British poples would be happy to know that it does mean that marriages between persons of the Royal Family and British subjects will be regarded as the normal order of things. There is no longer the slightest reason for any fettering of choice, and one of the most auspicious auguries for Princess Mary’s happiness is that there has been none in her case. To the British Princess and to the Englishman she will make her husband, the best wishes of British hearts the world over will go out. And in the many prayers for the welfare o-f'the happy couple there will be a note of gratitude that Princess Mary’s choice has brought the monarchy even closer to the people and helped to break down a tradition that had outlived its purpose. —Auckland Herald.

NEW BATHING FASHIONS. SCANTIER DRESS PREDICTED. London, Feb. 14. The Daily Mail states that swimming costumes for women, according to leading English designers, will be flimsier and scantier than ever during the coming season. One of the most daring is a tight-fit-ting costume of stockinette, low-cut from the neck, and laced up the sides, and without a skirt. It is made in vivid dashing colors of yellow, red, green, or blue. Skirts will show slashing and lacing let in at the sides, with Vandyck points, and Greek key border trimmings.