WOMEN THE WORLD OVER

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21690, 25 January 1936, Page 2

WOMEN THE WORLD OVER

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IBy ATALANTA.]

Interest attaches to a list of women delegates to the League of Nations appearing in a recent issue of the "International Women's News." At the end of 1935. 18 women are attached to delegations, we learn, but of these only two are full delegates. The two countries which have granted this complete recognition of women's civic value at Geneva are Sweden, which sent Miss Hesselgren, and Hungary, which sent the Countess Albert Apponyi. That Sweden should give suclv a lead is characteristic of the progressive Scandinavian states, among which Norway has removed almost every difference militating against women. That Hungary should follow suit is a most encouraging sign of equality taking root in Middle Europe. The Russian delegate, who is one of the 11 classed as substitute delegates, is one who has! already made history in the 'thirties as I one of the first women ambassadors— i Madame Kollontai, who has held office both in America and in Sweden, and! has also taken some literary part in Soviet activities. Some of these women hold office as experts, notably the French Madame Malaterre-Sel-lier, also Madame Hilda Yen Chen, of whose nationality there can be no doubt. A bygone romance, noted in "Atalanta's" column last year, is recalled by the inclusion of Mademoiselle Helene Vacaresco, who appears to be Rumania's one feminist leader. It will be remembered that Helene Vacaresco was Carmen Sylva's favourite maid of honour when Prince Ferdinand of Rumania paid earnest court to her. But a State match with Marie o'f Edinburgh was irrevocably arranged, and despite Carmen Sylva's passionate pleading, Helene's hope of love and a throne vanished. Neither young heart was broken, though Helene Vacaresco took up with no other love thereafter, but was satisfied to put Rumania on the women's map. Lastly, Mrs Rischbieth, of Perth, leader of Australian feminists, and lately invested with the 0.8. E. for distinguished public service, is substitute delegate for the Commonwealth. A notable gallery of the world's women.

An Archaeological Find "Something fresh," as Wodehouse would say, is reported from an unexpected quarter, namely, from the mouth of the Waitaki river. The Timaru "Herald" of January 10, gives prominence to an interesting outing enjoyed by the Arowhenua Maori Women's Institute. A South" Canterbury expert in Maori lore, Mr H. S. McCully, of Peel Forest, not long ago gave an address to the institute on the. contents of an ancient midden of that people known as the Moa Hunters, who are dimly hailed as the first New Zealanders, being the race which ante-dated the Maoris. So little have they left behind them that few of us have knowledge of even their hypothetical existence. Far be it from "Atalanta" to thrust into that long, fierce controversy touching the age of the moa and its connexion with Maori tradition. But the report referred to embodied the results of an earnest student's research into unwritten history, and it is surprising indeed to learn that so many evidences have been unearthed to link a hitherto unknown past with localities so familiar to Canterbury dwellers, and hitherto thought to have owed no contact with humanity to any other than our own pioneers. It is that giant bird which first focused scientific attention on our country which now is the key to its immemorial past. Mr McCully, in his address to the Arowhenua Maori Women's Institute, fitly broke this new ground to the view of primitive, if not aboriginal, New Zealanders. It certainly was a representative native gathering for which Mr McCully's thoughtful hospitality had prepared with such care. One lady of the much diminished West Coast tribe and the chairman of the Arowhenua Maori Runanga, with several other members, and Mr A. Hornsey, likewise a collector of native lore and relics, shared the treat prepared for the Women's Institute. The final contact of old and new Maoridom was secured by their finding on the scene of this barrow of the ancient dead one living resident, Mrs Mere Matenga, who' has courageously held to the home of her fathers at the mouth of the Waitaki. She was delighted to welcome friends new and old to that yet remembered rendezvous of Southern Maoridom. For it had been a settlement as late as 70 yetrs ago, and when some l ei ?!. 01 Lu me n be . rs ot the Runanga beheld the old river reaches, it was with warm memories of childhood. Among the crumbling evidences of. bygone settlement still visible, at least one man recognised in a low sod heap his birthplace and his first home, truly an. unrehearsed dramatic touch. Who Were the Moa-Hunters? Mr McCully's address, as reported in the "Herald," teemed with interest and seams likely to lead to a widely speculative, not to say controversial reopening of a famous question: when_ did the moa dominate the fauna of New Zealand, and what human race saw it perish? Not since that notable find at Glenmark—also a Canterbury site—has such a conglomeration of gigantic remains been found in any spot as in this Waitaki barrow and the trails which trace the hunters and their game to the very lakes that feed this boundary river. It was no breeding-place, but : a slaughter ground that has been laid jbare in Mr McCully's studious researches. There were decided evidences that systematic food-raids were organised for a span .of some UQ miles up the Waitaki. The perishable canoes cut from woods long vanished from a region notably treeless since its discovery by white men, still mingle with the debris of today, showing that their main, if not only, use was the transport of living moas to a spot where they could be killed and preserved at leisure for tribal supplies. The reader's attention turns naturally to the old query: who were the men we call moa-hunters? Controversy has raged round the Maori's part, in their destruction; so slight a hold has Maori tradition on the moa question at large that their very knowledge of it has been doubted. The Morioris. whom the Maoris undoubtedly dispossessed and dispersed to the Chathams, have been assumed to share New Zealand with the gigantic bird. Was it this race or yet another who raided the Mackenzie Lake-lands and dispatched their prey at the great river-mouth? Interest reverts from the contents of this moa-midden to those who heaped these giant skeletons now unearthed by Canterbury; students of an unwritten past. Waitaki mouth was explored, it is recorded in tradition, by the famed Tamatea, the first Maori explorer known to have circumnavigated New Zealand. Was that midden already forgotten then? Mr McCully's researches have set a big ball rolling, and.one admires the spirit that prompted him to reveal these fascinating results first to a body of intelligent and public-spirited Maori women.

DOWN TO THE SEA TO SWIM When you go down to the sea this summer you need have no anxiety as to theyesults of salt water on your hair, provided, of course, it has been waved the genuine Eugene way. So •phone 41-042—The Annette Toilet Salon. Miss Broun and Miss Feron are in attendance. __2

SALE OF FOOTWEAR. The first Sale we've ever had—and R ri £ e ?,, are cut th a ; vengeance. White Calf Shoes usually 14/6 and 12/6, Sale Price 10/6. Black Velvet 11/6 . and 9/11, Sale Price 8/11. Robinson's, in High street (opp. High street Post Office). _8