A Dunedin Woman Who Spent Thirty Thousand Pounds On One Shopping Expedition!

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 46, 24 May 1935, Page 54

A Dunedin Woman Who Spent Thirty Thousand Pounds On One Shopping Expedition!

article, occupies a very high. place: in: educational cirtles in the: Dominion, and her advice . is eagerly sought throughout New Zealand, and: often further afield. It is just fourteen years since Professor Strong arrived in Dunedin, after a sojourn of five years in India, where she had. undertaken as well as her educational tasks the controlling of the household of the Maharajah of Baroda, the magnitude of which will be recognised when one learns that in all there were fifteen palaces with more than one hundred servants in each, and that on one shopping expedition she had the joy.of spending £30,000. The Home Science School under her wise rule has gone steadily forward, and to-day over eighty girls are in training, while five hundred and eight have passed through and three hundred arid thirty-three have gained their degrees or diplomas and are scattered throughout the world. The professor herself lives at Upper Studholme House, and it was in her very pleasant study there that I had the pleasure of a chat oma recent sunny morning. Upper Studholme is really the practice centre for the students in training, and there everything "is done by the girls themselves-housewifery, cookery, laundry work and entertaining, The house is one of Dunedin’s charming old resi-. dences and is set in a pretty garden, On the right of the, entrance hall is a delightful drawing room, -where’ many distinguished guests have been entertained and quite recently the girls had the pleasure of meeting there Admiral Byrd and his wife. "On the left is the refectory-a charming room with its polished tables, which give ample scope for the girls to work out original decorative schemes. The kitchen lies in the rear, and women visitors are always envious of its up-to-date efficiency; in fact, many a kitchen has been made-over, taking "Studholme" as its model. An up-to-date laundry, too, makes washing day quite a P STRONG, the subject of this

pleasant interlude, and all the linen is laundered on the premises, Upstairs there is accommodation for sume twenty students, and such problems as the best usag® for sheets, blankets and towels, and how to obtain the maximum of, warmth with the minimum of weight are worked out here in a practical way, This delightful house was made possible in ‘the beginning by the girls themselves,’who ran a hostel during the exhibition year, and by. doing all the work were able to bank quite a large sum to start a purchasing’ fund. ; . One can give only a slight idea in so short a space of the wonderful work being done by Professor Strong. but one must mention the A.C.E.-the Association for Country Education-the title by which the extension work is to be known in future. By means of this organisation the acientific knowledge gained in the university is made. available to the housewife and the country. woman. Miss Violet Macmillan is in charge «in Otago and Southland, while Miss Hazel Johnson, who. is working in the Wellington and Nelson districts with headquarters at Massey College, coroperates with the A.C_It. in the south. To the country woman and the town dweller alike, ‘this organisation is a wonderful boon, for here their problems are solved. by experts. Visits are paid to the country districts, where lectures, demonstrations and classes are held, and- here 24 it is that we find the link beween home science and radio, for week by week talks ‘on food, household and clothing problems generally are sent over the air by those connected with the A.C.E,