ALMONERS IN HONOLULU

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22597, 30 December 1938, Page 2

ALMONERS IN HONOLULU

HELP FOR RICH AND POOR

People of every nationality, rich and poor alike, are helped by the Hospital Service Association of Honolulu, according to its director (Miss kf. L - Catton), who is visiting Melbourne. And the organisation is just as cosmopolitan in the ranks of its workers, who include Chinese and Japanese, in addition to Americans. Each worker for the association is trained for two years, and holds a degree. While Miss Catton is away, her place is filled by a Chinese woman. Miss Elizabeth Lee. . Miss Catton says that the work is similar to that of almoners in Melbourne, “but we do not call it almonry, because to us that signmes ‘giving of alms’,’’ she said. “We think of our work as being the social component of medicine.” . The main object of the association is to investigate the history of patients and to discover inhibitions or conditions that may hinder medical treatment. “Sometimes, by our knowledge of the home life of patients, we are able to help doctors to diagnose cases, and sometimes we can make it possible for treatment prescribed by doctors to be carried out when otherwise it would be impossible.” Miss Catton founded the service in 1923, at>d it has grown “from a drawer in a desk In a superintendent’s office to a large department.” “The money to carry out our work is obtained from the United Welfare Fund,” she said. “An organisation of businessmen canvasses the town, the schools, the business houses, and private homes for contributions. We toll this organisation our needs. Last year we asked for 500.000 dollars, and we got it.” The mental hospital is the only public hospital in Honolulu. All the others are private hospitals. These are conducted on grants given by the Government for indigent patients, fees from other patients, and by endowments.

DUCHESS PREPARES

WARDROBE FOR AUSTRALIA

The Duchess of Kent, who is said to be as delighted as the Duke at the prospect of going to Australia next year, is now beginning to tackle the problem of her wardrobe while in the Southern Hemisphere. Already she has had several conferences with her milliners and dressmakers, to explore the possibility of their making special efforts to supply her, first with an extensive wardrobe of advance fashions to take with her to Australia, and, second, with a constant influx of new models from London throughout her time in the Commonwealth. , , What complicates this second plan is the difference in the seasons between Australia and the Mother Country, as a result of which Christmas occurs in midsummer. For this reason, any gowns or hats designed and made for the Duchess in London would have to be six months or more —to allow for the time of transit—in advance of the already “advance’ fashions in London, a task which Is calculated to give even the astute heads of the fashion houses a good deal to think about.

THE RUSTLE OF SILK PETTICOATS

FEMININE FASHIONS

The sound of rustling skirts, that soft music which used to accompany every well-dressed woman’s progress, will be heard again this winter. The older generation who remember the charm of hearing silk brush agamst silk will rejoice at the new fashions which are ready for the festive season, and the young who sneered at voluminous petticoats, which were often dresses in themselves, will soon be forced to admit that the latest styles enhance womanly charm. Every dressmaker in Paris is showing dresses beneath which the swishswish of taffetas, moire, and stiff silk speaks of new emphasis being laid upon petticoats. In some houses short afternoon frocks also boast petticoats of importance. Lace Over Taffetas A stiff silk petticoat is not just an idle and frivolous thought on the part of a dressmaker; in many cases it helps to hold out a full skirt made from soft silk, or it serves as an underslip for a lace frock, not to mention its value in preventing any kind of skirt from crushing as easily as it would with no such background. The revival of the petticoat is in reality a mere turn of the wheel of fashion. We are wearing evening frocks of well-defined period type which demand them. Fine Flounces All these dresses call for petticoats to show them off to best advantage, and some underskirts are made with tiers of finely-pleated flounces, while others of moire and similar stiff materials do not require the extra stiffening which flounces provide. Gay colours are the order of the day, particularly for petticoats which are worn with black frocks. There are checked and striped ones, deep violet and rubyred, or vivid green underskirts which are rather more dashing than anything our elders would have thought it quite good taste to indulge in. Yet for those who fancy them the dressmakers are showing petticoats of crisp white cambric embroidery such as our grandmother chose for those occasions when silk seemed out of place!

GIFT PARTY

Miss Myrtle Dawson (Loburn), who will be a January bride, was the guest of honour at an enjoyable “pantry” gift party, held at the home of Mrs H. W. Mitchell, Durham street, Rangiora. The hostesses were Mrs H. N. Atkinson (Ohoka), and Mrs Mitchell. Competitions were won by Mesdames J. Hiatt and R. Dunlop.

Those present were Miss Myrtle Dawson, Mesdames T. Dawson, T. Thompson, J. Hiatt, A. Collie, D, Hoskins, L. D. Hawkins, A. Mitchell, R. Kempthorne, J. Robertson, B. Dunlop, A. Thomas, G. Hochfort, «T. Wilkinson, Misses K. Hiatt, Thelma Robertson, Blanche Smith, Dora Edge, Constance Galletly, Masters T. Carlyon, and G. Johnson,