Women And The War

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 153, 29 June 1940, Page 3 (Supplement)

Women And The War

I WAS entertained the other day at the Maple Leaf Club, the Canadian Red Cross hostel for Canadian Service men in London, and was introduced to one of the treasures of the house. It is the large scroll hanging on the wall of one of the reception rooms the scroll the King himself signed a few days ago when visiting the club. It is divided into different sections — Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Each man availing himself of the club's hospitality is invited to sign under the appropriate heading. There is no attempt at copy book neatness. The men sign at all angles, upside down if they like, to bear out the happy informal spirit obtaining in the house. When the King went round with Mrs. Murray, who is in charge, he was rather puzzled as to which heading his own signature should come under. "Which," he asked, Mrs. Murray—"Ma" as she is affectionately known to the "boys"—is your province?" On being told it was Nova Scotia, he wrote George K.I. in that section. Lady Patricia Ramsay signed under Manitoba, and added beneath her signature, *'Colonel-in-Ohief, P.P.C.L.1." Ellen Terry' Daughter Miss Edith Craig, who has given up her fiat in Bedford Street and settled permanently at Smallhythe, the little Kentish town immortalised by her mother, the late Dame Ellen Terry, is taking a keen interest in the local Women's Institute work. She is anxious to make the most of the fruit in her orchard, and to that end is joining the communal effort of the institute to produce and market all the preserves possible this year. "Do buy your jam from us," she begged a friend who visited her during the week-end. Needless to say, the invitation was gladly accepted. Miss Craig continues her work for evacuated children, and still entertains them in the famous Barn Theatre. The Barn, by the way, is at present the resting place of numerous treasures taken down from the Bedford Street flat. Some will eventually be sold, I understand, while space will be found for others in the beautiful little cottage where their owner lives —a cottage so old that it is difficult exactly to date it. . Scrap Collectors The report of a woman who has done a bit of pioneer work in the economy campaign has acted like a tonic to the Ministries concerned. The economist formulated her own plans. For the past five weeks she has kept three rubbish cans in her garden, to which all nearby housewives take their peelings and other catering refuse daily. The cans are emptied by a pig farmer who calls four times a week. In this way the housewives are helping the man to feed two hundred pigs at no cost and with no particular organisation. As regards food scraps from flats in the district, the originator of the rubbish can scheme interviewed porters and now the farmer

From Our London Lady Correspondent

collects direct from almost every block. The woman economist says: "The pigs are getting fresher food than if the council collected it —which they don't! We are saving shipping space, too, for pig and chicken food. There are pig fanners collecting scraps from most of the hotels in all cities, and it w quite easy to get in touch with one as I did." Open Ah Museums Those who know Norway well are dreading lest the spread of the war to Lillehainmer should involve the destruction of the most famous and beautiful of all its folk-lore museums. It is situated only a short distance away through the woods, and here you see the most perfect example of village craftsmanship carried on in many instances, not by one, but by three generations of peasants. They work, too, in exquisite examples of the old wooden Norwegian cottages and chalets transplanted with American-like thoroughness from other localities to this, their new setting. The arts and crafts they practise are not only on view (for each cottage is a museum *in itself), but are sold in the larger cities. Nowhere else in Europe, except perhaps in Sweden, is there a counterpart of this wonderful open-air museum. Royal Ski-ers The fact that much of the fighting in Norway took place on skis recalls the Norwegian Royal Family's love of the national sport. Not only are King Haakon and Prince Olav devotees of the snowy slopes, but our own Princess, the late Queen Maud, used to accompany the family on the annual trek to Voksenkollen, ski-ing centre for all Scandinavian sportsmen and women, where in earlier years she joined in the actual expeditions until she became expert. I

Jearned.this from a boyhood friend of the Crown Prince who established himself in London as a dress designer. Last time the Prince was over here with his wife, Princess Martha, of Sweden, he proved that he had knowledge of other things besides good rulerehip and sport. He went with the Princess to his friend's show rooms and took keen interest in her choice of English clothes, frequently putting up suggestions of his own. Sister In Waiting The Duchess of Gloucester has had her eldest sister, Lady Margaret Hawkins, whose husband is in the Royal Navy, staying with her at Barnwell Manor, her country home in the Northante, and has followed the example of the Queen by getting Lady Margaret to accompany her to some of her official functions during the week-end. Her Majesty has made this arrangement several times, especially when she has been in Scotland, and her eldest sister. Lady Elphinetone, has taken the place of a lady-in-waiting. The Queen's niece, the Hon. Elizabeth Elphinstone, is delighted when asked to accompany her namesake aunt to social functions. She is a bright, vivacious girl, very intelligent and helpful, with naturally charming manners and an "easy way of meeting both people and situations."