WOMEN'S TRIBUTES

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19818, 4 January 1930, Page 14

WOMEN'S TRIBUTES

LADY ALICE FERGUSSON. FAREWELL IN AUCKLAND. £THE PRESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND. January 3. A sincere tribute of affection was paid to Jior Excellency, tho Lady Alice Fcrgusson by a gathering of women of Auckland which iillvd the lown Hall this afternoon. Time presentations were made, one being from the Maori women, and the speeches of farewell expressed deep appreciation of the services rendered by her Excellency to the causes of womankind. The Mayoress (Airs A. D. Campbell), on behalf of the women's organisations of Auckland, presented her Excellency with a gold inkwell set in a block of greenstone, and inscribed. Mrs Campbell said that the women of Auckland desired to convey to tlie Ladv Alice l*ergns.sou an expression of thoiT very real regret that her stay with them was rajjidly drawing to a close. Mention had been made in oflicial valedictoi} addresses to his Excellency of the able and gracious support her Excellency had afforded him in the discharge of ti.e duties of his high office. "But none can realise as we women do tho strain these public engagements must occasion," added the Mayoress. "Perhaps you may value in some degree our admiration of the manner in which you have fulfilled the exacting duties you have been called upon to perform, while your courtesy and graciousncss have endeared you to all sections of our X>eoplc." Mrs J. T. F. Mitchell, on behalf of the League of MotGers of Auckland province, handed to her Excellency a memento in tho form of a greenstone paperweight carved with figures of a Maori mother and child as symbolical of what their Association represented.

A picturesque ceremony marked tho Maori presentation. Mrs Karaka, bearing a taiaha, led five members of tho Auckland Maori Association on to the stage, all being attired in Native costume. They chanted a Maori farewell call which is accorded only to persona of high rank. The gift presented was parchment on which, with appropriate decoration, had been ingrained a Alaori song of farewell written and composed by Mrs Maewa Kaihau. This was sung both in Maori and in English by Miss Etta Harris. A presentation was made by Mrs Kaihau.

Her Excellency shook hands with the members of the party before they retired and added the Maori form of salutation in returning thanks for the gifts. The Lady Alice Fergusson said that she had not expected such a wonderful gathering and she had difficulty in finding words adequate to convey her thanks for the very great kindness they were showing he;. She understood that 50 women's organisations were represented. This day would be treasured in memory for the rest of her life. What she had been able to do, although it was not half so much as she would have liked it to be, was repaid by the knowledge of the splendid work the women of New Zealand were doing through the Plunket (Society, the Girl Guides, the Young Women's Christian Association, and many other organisations. The devoted efforts which they were putting into all these would be an inspiration to her in the future. It had been her privilege to help in the formation of the League of Mothers, which was simply an extension of a much older society —the Mothers' L'nion—with which the speaker's own mother had been associated when she came to this country more than 30 years ago. Referring to the gift from the Maori women, her Excelleney said she had always taken the warmest and deepest interest in Maoris since the days when she had travelled about New Zealand with her father. She then said farewell to the Maori women in a phrase of their own tongue.