FROM NEW YORK

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14782, 27 September 1913, Page 15

FROM NEW YORK

THE Y.W.C.A. IN AMERICA

INTIIRVIEW WITH MRS GLADDING.

A visitor to Christchurch is Mrs T. F. Giadding, of New York, a member of tlu> National Board of tho Young Woifi'en's Christian Association in tlie United »States, Who, with her husband, is making nn extended tour of the world. Mr and Mrs Gladding arrived in Christchurcii last night from tho West Coast, where Mr Gladding, who is an enthusiastic motorist, suffered tho indignity of being run over by a small boy on a bicycle. The accident delayed their tour, and made Mr Gladding a temporary cripple. In a brief interview with a reporter. Mrs Gladding stated that the Hoard of which sho was n member was the advisory body to nine hundred associations* embracing :x membership of a quarter of a million. Two hundred of these- associations were in cities, and abo;ifc seven hundred in institutions of higher learning.

In reply to a question as to what she thought of the -werk of the Y.W.C.A----m New Zealand, Mrs Gladding said she was delighted with it. Of course, tho movement wns young in New Zealand compared with its older sister in tho United States, but sho remarked that it appeared to be in a healthy and progressive state. Tho campaign to rr.Lso £15,000 in Auckland very much impressed he: , . Over nine thousand miles of their European tour were covered by motor, and Mrs Gladding was enthusiastic over the pleasures cf tiu's mode of travelling. Although she has seen many of the beauty spots of Europe and the East, she considers that NfW Zealand's star attractions do not buffer in comparison. The tropical nature of the vogctntion surprised hor. the "greenness" of the native bush b'ciny quite contrary to her expectation?,. "I havo an American friend." Mrs Gladding concluded, "who lias trnvcslc<! all over tho world, but she s«iys that nest to her own country, she would sooner live in New Zealaud. I quite understand, now, why she so admires your country/."