NEWS FOR WOMEN WOMAN RADIO OPERATOR

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26523, 11 September 1951, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN WOMAN RADIO OPERATOR

FEAT OF ENDURANCE DURING STORM

For 48 hour, during a storm a woman radio operator on a ship kept on signalling in order to have the ves-. sei and bring it Safely to Hobart. Miss Dorothy Smith is the first Australian woman radio operator to be appointed to an Australian ship—the intestate freighter Karuah. Her splendid courage and endurance in that nonstop signalling were mainly responsible, according to Karuah r s master, Captain F. S. Redgrove, in saving the ship and the lighter it was towing. In very rough seas the freighter Karuah was off the coast of Tasmania when a lighter it was towing from Sydney broke adrift. The ship’s wireless operator, Miss Smith, signalled Hobart for assistance when the 4-inch tow line broke in the storm, but poor reception jammed the message. Throughout the night and all next day she kept on signalling Melbourne and ships in radio range asking them urgently to relay the Karuah’s plight and position to Hobart. Early the following day search planes located the ship and directed a Hobart tug to her aid. Miss Smith is a South Australian girl. She had formerly been a governess and later a clerk, before taking up tuition at the radio school of Amalgamated Wireless of Australasia in Melbourne. "I could see no reason why women should not make efficient radio operators,” she said. At the same time she believed that she had only a remote chance of being appointed to a ship. "I was surprisedr and very thrilled, when I learned that Captain Redgrove was willing to take me in his crew," she said.

MISS K. DANIEL

VISIT SPONSORED BY IMPERIAL TRUST

Miss K. Daniel, of Taunton, Somerset, England, will arrive in Christchurch this morning as part of a two months’ tour of New Zealand and will see something of typical rural life in Canterbury and of the work of women’s organisations before she leaves for South Canterbury early next week. She has already spent four months in Australia and on her return to England she will lecture op the two countries. Miss Daniel’s tour is sponsored by the Imperial Relations Trust, chiefly to foster friendship between other parts of the Commonwealth and England. She was elected from 63 nom-

In England she is a member of the Women's Institute, past president of the Somerset Federation, and a member of the agriculture sub-committee of the National Federation of Women’s Institutes in England, Wales, Jersey and Guernsey. She runs her own dairy farm in Somerset. Miss Daniel finds that women’s institutes in New Zealand and in England are, generally speaking, run on similar lines, though in England, meetings are often held at night In England, members of institutes may take short courses in crafts at Denman College. Many institutes in New Zealand have links with English institutes, and Miss Daniel brings greetings and expressions of appreciation for the many gifts over a period of years. Miss Daniel believes that the making of a better world is something in which everyone must have a hand. Her theory is: “Let each one of us be worthy of a better world, and by that very fact a better world is within us and around us."

DENMANCOLLEGE ADDRESS BY MRS J. RENNIE Mrs J. Rennie gave an interesting account of a visit to England at the monthly meeting of the Associates Group of the National Council of Women.

One of the highlights of her tour, said Mrs Rennie, was the time that she had spent at Denman College. The College, situated at Marcham, near Oxford, was formerly the manor of Marcham Park and was purchased by the Women’s Institutes in Britain as a college for its members. It was renamed Denman College as a tribute to Lady Denman. The house, said Mrs Rennie, was Georgian in design and could accommodate 45 persons. Each room was named after a county, and the members of the institutes in that county furnished it in their traditional designs. There were various courses available to members of institutes, said Mrs Rennie and after lectures, tours were arranged to places of interest. It was all very interesting and educational and it gave members of institutes from various parts of England and overseas, an opportunity for discussion and learning, concluded Mrs Rennie.

Mrs C. E. St. John thanked Mrs Rennie for her address. Mrs S. Aitcheson presided.

CONTRACT BRIDGE TOURNAMENT

REPRESENTATIVES FROM

CHRISTCHURCH

Four teams from Crockford’s club, Christchurch, will compete in the New Zealand contract bridge championship tournament to be held at Auckland this month, opening on September 15. The players are Dr, J. P. McQuilkin, Mesdames H. Holder, L. Wyles and T. Armstrong; Dr. and Mrs C. E. Reid, Mesdames P. A. Ardagh and Cyril Stringer; Mesdames C. Taylor, w, Toomey, H. S. Richards and M. Pipe; Mesdames H. H. Wauchop, P. Gibson, Norman Barlow and W. J. Scott.

ENGAGEMENTS

Mr and Mrs J. D. Collins, Lake Coleridge, have much pleasure in announcing the engagement of their second daughter. Yvonne Merle, to Arthur Leslie, only son of Mr and Mrs A. E. Roskilley, Kurow.

The engagement is announced of Brian John, eldest son of the late Mr and Mrs T. Ley, Tallangatta, Victoria, Australia, to Kathleen, ydunger daughter of Mr and Mrs A. J. Yemm, Spreydon, Christchurch.

CURRENT NOTES

Mrs L. V. Bryant (Pukekohe) who has been visiting her mother, Mrs Nicholson, Rossall street, returned home yesterday.

Mrs Mavis Perfect (Huntsbury Hill) will leave to-day for Wellington on her way to Sydney where she will be judge in the national dancing section of the Citv of Sydney Eisteddfod. The Eisteddfod will be continued for 14 days in 26 halls. Later Mrs Perfect will go to Adelaide to act on a panel of judges at the Australasian ballroom dancing championship meeting that will open during the first week of October. Last week she returned from Auckland where she was one of a panel of judges at the New Zealand ballroom dancing competitions. The winners of this competition. Miss Eileen Stacey and partner, will compete at the Australasian championship at Adelaide.

Mr Robert Kite, of Lawrence, Kansas, a Fulbright Scholar who is studying geology in New Zealand, and Miss Fredora Fuller, of Salt Lake City. Utah, were married in Wellington on Saturday. The bride is a graduate of the University of Kansas and hopes to continue her work in speech therapy while she is in the Dominion,