MANY HOBBIES

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 99, 21 January 1938, Page 4

MANY HOBBIES

Enqlish Woman's Varied Life

An ardent desire to explore the Pacific Islands, to' visit Australian country stations by aeroplane, and to meet agian the many Australian friends she knew in London, are the reasons which have brought the Hon. Elisabeth May, daughter of Lord and Lady May, of London, to Sydney. , Miss May, who arrived by the Ormonde recently not only holds her “A” pilot’s licence, but also takes part in reliability motor trials in England, once took up bookbinding professionally, and also worked in an advertising office. "But the office went bankrupt when I was there,” said Miss May with a laugh.

■ She lives with her parents at their home in London during the winter, and they spend' the summer at their country home, which is on an island in the Thames River, 23 miles from London. "We own the Whole island,” Miss May explained. "It is not very big, and on it we have the house, a rock garden, a lily pond, and two lawns. Our kitchen garden and a few cottages are on the mainland, and we cross to the island Iu dinghies Or our chain ferry, which you have to wind yourself. The barges and river steamers pass us going up and down the river, and one day we were crossing in the ferry when a barge caught the chain, and pulled us up the river before we could get them to stop.’’

"Often in the winter the island becomes partly flooded,’’ continued Miss May, "and we have to row up the drive, dodging in and out among the trees.”

Miss May has planned to visit Fiji, Samoa, and the Solomon Islands, and then travel to Java via New Guinea. “If I find I- can travel from one small island to another in schooners, I would much rather do it that way.” she said, “and if my pilot’s licence allows me to fly here, I may charter an aeroplane, and see some of the country.”

A Farewell Party

To say farewell to Miss Ann GuthrieSmith, a visitor to New Zealand, Miss Dorothy Berggren, Christchurch, held a sherry party in her honour at 6 o’clock last night at the Hotel Waterloo. Miss Guthrie-Smith has spent 15 months touring New Zealand, and saile dlast night by the Wanganella on the first stage of her journey to her home in Berwick, Scotland. Many of the friends that she has made in the Dominion were present at Miss Berggren’s party and later assembled at the Queen’s Wharf to wish her “bon voyage.”