NOTES AND NEWS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 100, 3 June 1914, Page 4

NOTES AND NEWS.

Miss Beatrix Pyne, who has been visiting friends in Wellington, returned to Christchurch by the Maori this morning-•• Mrs Claud Sawtell arrived back in Christchurch this morning after spending several weeks .in Wellington. The Misses Knight (Mansfield Avenue), have returned to Christchureh after *a visit to the North Island. . ,Mr and Mrs B. B. Wood (Fendalton) yesterday for Dunedin, to be present at the races there.

marriage of Mr O. M. Hope, son if Mr . Arthur Hope, of Tumanako, fTimaru, and Miss Dorothy Steele, daugh : ter of Mrs Richard Steele, of Christ«lmreh, takes place to-morrow. . Mrs David Thomas, of Ashburton, jeeA her daughter,. Miss .Irene Thomas, were expected .to arrive in London Bljortly after the last mail left.

The members of the Girls' Frien aJy Society and parishioners at St. Peter's Church, Temuka, assembled one evening last week at the residence of Mrs James, to make,-a presentation to Miss 'Whitehead, on the eve of her marriage. Mrs Norris, on behalf of the parishioners, presented Miss Whitehead with a 3*ose bowl and a clock, and on behalf «f the Girls' Friendly Society, with a liandsome cruet. Mr Rutland responded on behalf of his grand-daughter, and the remainder of the evening was demoted to an amusing competition and musical items.

Arrangements for the New Zealand flower sellers on Alexandra Day (June 24) are ah'eady well in progress. Mrs Alington, who last year had charge oi ! the New Zealand stall, has again secured Whitehall for the New Zealanders 5 "beat." The Royal United Service institute, Whitehall, has been promised for use as a depot. Last year a most ornamental stall was erected outside. ■ - The sellers all carried their baskets JsTung from their shoulders with coloured xibbons, bearing the words New Zealand printed in big letters. New .Zealanders shortly expected in London when the mail left included Mr and Mrs S. G. P. Frew (Christehurch), Mr and Mrs. A. P. AVebster (Wellington), Mr. and Mrs Fookes (Stratford), Mr and Mrs Webber (Hastings), Mr jßillman (Wellington), Mr and Mrs Gray {Palm erst on North), Mr Cecil David-, (l?ahiatua)-, -Mr --.N;- Siminouds {Feather ston), Mr J. Matthews (Mangahao), and the Misses Fraser (Rangitikei). Miss Dorothy Bull, head teacher at the Sydenham Kindergarten, authorises

ws to contradict the report that she has accepted an appointment as lady principal of a school in South Africa. The paragraph referring to the matter, tvMeh appeared in THE SUN last Eight, was taken from a Wellington |>aper.

New Zealanders in London will, early in July, in all probability be assisting at a ceremony very much like tho, Australian function which took place last year when King George laid the founda-

tion stone of the new Commonwealth

buildings in the Strand, says the "Brit-.ish-Australasian.' * The site chosen for the new offices of the New Zealand Government, of which the Iving has promised to lay, the foundation stone, is also in the Strand, next to the Adelphi Theatre. The foundation stone is to be a huge piece of New Zealand greenstone, the "lucky" stone used so ijiueh for trinkets and charms. A big new deposit has quits recently been discovered in New Zealand. The High Commissioner, Mr Thomas Mackenzie, tells a story from Maori history, or legend, of how the greenstone led to a war between the inhabitants of the North and the South. A beautiful Maori woman crossed the mountains from her country, and came one day upon members of •another tribe building a canoe with blunt, clumsy instruments. She expensed her contempt lor the rough tools

they were using, and*when they asked if she knew of anything better she showed them a smooth sharp axe of greenstone^.which she used both as a weapon and a tool. The strange tribe at once wanted to know more of this useful aud beautiful stone, and the country from which it came. They sent out spies, and soon a war party was organised, whieh eventually conquered the greenstone land.

Petitions for a half-holiday on Saturday have been made by men employed in. Geneva and other Swiss towns, and some of them have already obtained it. The movement, however, is strongly opposed outside the chief towns by the womeh, who consider Sunday, the usual holiday, quite sufficient for their men during the week, and complain that their husbands spend a great deal of their weekly wages on an idle Saturday afternoon. Two large chocolate manufacturers who introduced the half-holi-day for the benefit of their workers recently have gone back to the old order, and, curiously enough, the men do not complain, while the Avomen are pleased.

The influence of the feminist movement is malting itself felt in Japan; in Tokio alone there are two societies which go, in some respects, further than most European .feminists. One of these —the "Blue Stocking Club" —a literary association, presided oyer by a woman novelist of some distinction, advocates the "emancipation of the body and the spirit.'' The Shin-shin KuginKwai, of which the leader, Mrs Komako Kimura, is an ardent feminist, aims at establishing a neo-inystieal religion, which denies the efficacy of all existing forms of worship. There no\y exists in London a school of motoring for women, which is owned and managed entirely by a woman. The principal is Miss Aileen Preston, whose devotion to motoring led her to enter motor works, where she received a complete training in motor engineering. Subsequently she took a post as chauffeur to a woman, and finally she opened a school of motoring for women in Kensington a few months ago. Its success has amply fulfilled her expectations. Numbers of women apply for tuition at her schools, niost of them with the intention of becoming teachers themselves. She finds that many women who wish to drive their own come more readily for instruction to a woman than to a man.

An international congress on tlie welfare of the child has been held at •Washington, aud attended by parents, teachers, clergymen aud statesmen from every nation. In her presidential address, Mrs Frederic Schoff pointed out that with better knowledge infant mortality could be reduced by 75 per cent. Among the topics discussed were: —The responsibility of the school for healthful conditions; the co-operation of parents in school housekeeping; the place of parent-teacher association in the educational system; the equalisation and definition of the functions of home and school in the matter of child nurture; the development of individual initiation by the Montessori system; married women as teachers, and the school and the working child. Representatives from many American States urged that a Ministry for Childhood should be established, with a woman Minister at the head. It is expected that this congress will lead to much useful legislation. The general idea amongst those who suffer from the "servant problem, 1 ' and especially Australian women, seems to be that domestic-.-service should be raised to the dignity of a profession, says the "British-Australasian.'O Australians in London will be interested in the domestic side of the Welfare Exhibition at Olynijiia. In the ''Women's Kingdom" is an "ideal registry office," run by the Ddinretii' Workers-' I'nion of (Jreat Britain. The I'liion demands for the

domestic servant seven conditions. Most of them are already the conditions of employment that one comes across in the ordinary household. Five of the union's conditions are these: "A minimum wage of 5/- a week; minimum time ' 1 out,'' half a day each week and alternate Sundays from 3 till 10 p.m.; not less than a fortnight,'s holiday a year on full pay and the use of a bath. To the- ear of the Australian who has suffered from the tyranny of the domestic in the Commonwealth all this sounds very moderate. A well-known German, who visited Australia and recorded his impressions and experiences, says he '' got so tired of bowing down to servants."