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Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 125, 28 May 1915, Page 9

WOMEN IN PRINT.

The Queen Carnrval is causing Wellington to have quite a special borst of brightness and gaiety, which is a relief in these sad times, and no doubt will aid the good cause for which the gaiety has arisen. The decorated tram car, with its clusters of red, white, and blue electric lamps, and its illumination of the "Absent-minded Beggar" song, and the sweet strains of various kinds of music that issue from it, are becoming quite a feature in our streets. The procession to the Cafe Chantant, and the attendant bands, attracted crowds of interested sight-seers, and each evening different street attractions are arranged. People seem to go on finding money in a marvellons way, perhaps because only email sums are asked for, which shows the sense of the "gleaning" system. A meeting of the executive of th© Military Hospital Guild was held in the Mayoress's room at the Town Hall yesterday morning. Mrs. Luke ocenpied j the chair, and others present were Mes- ! dames Shirtcliffe, Fitchett, Townaend, Winder, Blundell, Robertson, Hogben. Dymock, Miss Coates, Miss Joseph, treasurer, and Miss Nathan, secretary. Various accounts were read and passed for payment, and the secretary was instructed to write to the Dental Company thanking them for the-loan of a room to store the goods received for the hospital ship. The guild is working just now exclusively for the hospital ship equipment, and the different articles needed are coming in well. The workers at the Town Hall have been busy during the week cutting out garments, which have been taken away by others for making up. The Boseneath School Children's Bazaar, in aid of the Wounded Soldiers' Hospital Ship Fund, will be held in the schoolroom to-morrow afternoon, and will be opened at 2.30 o'clock by the Mayoress (Mrs. Luke). In connection with the bazaar, Mr. Hamilton Hodges and others will contribute musical items. Sister M. Claver, of the Home of Compassion, writes grateful thanks to all the friends who attended the teas lately given, and made welcome and generous donations. Also, to the Two-garment Society, which was good enough to send a more than usually liberal donation in view of the special need at the Homo just now. Miss Marion Mitchell, of Pweefton, is at present staying at the Ro^al Oak Hotel. Miss Mabel Hiley, sister of Mr. E. H. Hiley, has left for San Francisco, en route for England. Mr. and Mrs. Rattray, of Dunedin, are on a visit to Wellington. Mr. and Mrs. P. Hume, of Christchurch, who have been visiting Colonel and Mrs. Hume, left for the South last evening. Miss Barnett and the Messrs. Barnett are now residing in Mrs. Otterson's houso in Hobson-street. Miss Campbell, matron of the Karitane Home in Dunedin, has resigned her position, and is going to the front. Miss Coates, president of the Wellington Branch of the Victoria League, has received the following letter from Cairo thanking the league for the medical comforte which have been sent forward for the troops : — "I have received through Major Holmes, N.Z.M.C, some cases of Red Cross -comforts,, for which we have been most grateful. Since this hospital was opened for tho New Zealand Expeditionary Force early in December, we have had a great number of very seriously ill cases, both medical and surgical, and tho glaxo, arrowroot, extract of malt, milk cocoa, etc., have been much appreciated by the patients, and materially helped their convales cence, by providing the sisters with means of making dainty and various forms of nourishment, apart from that procurable in hospital. Owing to th« great demand for medical comforts in Cairo the contents of cases so thoughtfully packed by the Victoria League have been of valuable a.isislanee to us, fnd we would be glad if you would convey our best thanke to the generous donors. Up to the end of March, 48 appendices cases had been operated oh. some with general peritonitis, but every one has done splendidly, and tve have been equally fortunate with the pneumonias. I think over eighty have been treated here, and only four deaths. Again assuring you of our best thanks. — Yours truly, D.Millicent C. Michell (matron)." Discussing the fashions, a London co--respondent writes :—": — " I have not as yet touched upon the cut of coats. When you leave the loose peeudo Russian coat out of your calculations there is nothing really very new, 'except that all the new coats are much shorter in the basques, and what basque there is flares a little, or they are made up with well pressed pleats. The belt is worn, but only a partial form of belt. The loose part of the jacket is drawn under a strapped band, edged with military braid. Serge is treated with satin and braid, if you want a smart costume. The French tailors like the combination, and there- is always broad, fiat military braid as well. You may have a suspicion of militarism in the cut of these smart coats. A Napoleonic collar, mad© of satin, and strapped with braid, shoulder straps to match, with som« quiet form of button to hold these straps flat, and in this case the belt should have some relation. I am rather enamoured of the long blue naval overcoat. We see it a good deal in London just now, as the navy has an aerial service which necessitates a large staff of officers being on duty all over London. This is quite a consequence of the war. They wear a long blue coat down to their heels, with a strap at the back, on the shoulders are scraps of distinction lace to show the ra.nk of the officer, and the front is double>breasted. It is very smart looking, and will be copied by the fair sex, I am certain. Little waietcoats are worn, and the bolero, too, has a. chance of a vogue. But beyond all these freaks and changes of fa-shion the best houses, and the finest cutters of tailor-made costumes, s;ive a rather sever© stylo of coat, slightly longer at the back than in the front, buttoning straight down, with a neat la-pel collar, with fronts slightly cut away below the waist. This is the result of much observation at the beet sources at my disposal." A very interesting hour <&n be spent at the Electric Light Company's rooms, viewing the many useful household purposes to which electricity has been harnessed. The cooking stoves are arranged with the heat above and below, so that meats, cakes, etc., are evenly browned. Small attachments for boiling a kettlo, heating up meals, or cooking in a minor way, are excellent. Writing letters to soldiers at the front is becoming quite a feature in the Jjvea of many girls and women. Not only ! the letters to the dearly loved sons anil husbands, but letters to lonely ones, who ■ have either no "ppople." or none availAble to correspond with them. The mails bog; Nejw, Zealand, and, AuKferftUa

are so eagerly looked for by our men, and contain not only home news, but accompanying little packages of comforts, and our girls do not like the thoughts of many lonely men standing outside tho interests and pleasure of mail day. A correspondent wishes to know what ia allowable for her to write and to send to her soldier (whom she has never seen, and perhaps never will see). Any general news is permissible, avoiding any reference to the departure or number of our soldiers ; it is perhaps better not to allude to military matters at all. There is plenty of general news of interests, political and otherwise, which can be safely sent. Newsp_apers should be sent regularly, also occasionally socks, soap, soup tablets, or cigarettes. News has just come to Sydney of the death in the trenches of a young Frenchman much liked in Australia (his adopted land). A few months ago he took his just-wedded wife to France and left her in Paris whilst he went to fight with his brigade (says the Sydney Morning Herald). Last week a cable came from the bereaved young widow : "My gallant husband died a glorious death." On the first day in the trenches he was killed by the bursting of a shell. Out of a family of eight there are but four t round the table in the once happy French home in Coogeo. Two of the brothers of the young widow are in the thick of battle with the Allies in France. The grief in so many Australian homes to-day makes a strong wave of deep sym- ; pathy pass to every one in the land, and the fact that it is a common grief will bind all women in a closer tie than ever before. "He wanted to go; there would have been no keeping him back while the Empire was in danger," said the widow of another soldier. "It was in his blood. He used to say the child would ask what had kept daddy back | when the other children's fathers had gone." In a home in Sydney there sits, day by day, an aged woman knitting. She is the widow of a so]dier who fought in India and in the Crimea, and her grandson's name was lately among - the killed in action. Death to her has no terrors. She has faced it so often for her loved ones, and now is near the dread portals herself. Her pride is still there, and as she knits she murmurs, "A good lad, a glorious end. His grandfather would have been proud of him." Even to those of us who have never played golf the names of some of the famous players are familiar. One cannot read any of the English sporting papers without learning that Miss Cecil Leitch, Miss Westmoreland, and Miss Margaret Neil! Fraser rank as the foremost women golf players of the world, just as the names of Mr. Norman Brookes and the late Mr. Wilding head the list of notable tennis players. But the war. has claimed Miss Neill Fraser as a victim, just as it has Mr. Wilding. Miss Neill Fraser, who was the finest of all the Scottish women golfers, left Edinburgh in October for Servia as a member of the Scottish Women's Hospital for Foreign Service. She was qualified to work as a dresser, orderly, or chauffeur -as circumstances might require. While working as a dresser in the Sorvian hospital at Kragojevatz she contracted the dreaded typhus, and tho want of supplies, together with the awful weather conditions, made nursing and medical attention so difficult that Miss Fraser succumbed to it on 10th March. She was, as Miss Cecil Leitch says in an article of appreciation, one of the finest of golf players, and she showed the same pluck and cool judgment in her illness as she exhibited when facing obstacles on the links. "We all," says Miss Leitch, "feel proud to li-ive known one who has shown such bravery and devotion, and who has given her life in such a noble manner," A correspondent writes :—": — " To-day is the 100 th anniversary of the birth of the first white girl in New Zealand. This event took place at tho Bay of Islands, the father being William Hall, a shipbuilder, who, with his wife, were brought to New Zealand by the Rev. Samuel Maraden." Many people are not acquainted with the fact that there exists in Wellington a. Ladies' Forget-Me-NoL Club, well known in Great Britain. A branch was recently formed at Lyall Bay, and meetings a,re held regularly at the residence of Mrs. Morau, sen. Miss Moran is the secretary of the newly-formed club, and a warm welcome will be accorded to members of the parent organisation who care to communicate with her. The Forget-Me-Not Club is exceedingly well known in Great Britain, where it has a ['membership of 67,000, with hostels established in many places, and with a paper that has been published weekly for twenty-five years. The objects of the club are apparently social intercourse, and the extending of the hand of comradesaip to members in whatever lands they may travel in, should there happen to be a branch established in those countries. Members wear a badge, and make it their dnty to meet new arrivals of their organisation, and direct them where to go, as well as making life as pleasant as possible for them in the meantime. Should anyone belonging to the club intend travelling to another country in which a branch has been established advice is sent out beforehand, so that they are met and made to feel that they are not altogether strangers in a strange land. The club has branches in South Africa as well. Apparently, it works on somewhat similar lines to the Victoria League.

Fragrant Violets— Large supplies arriving daily Send you friends an artistic posie of violets or one of our popular violet boxes, packed and posted to any part of the Dominion. Miss Murray, Vice-Regal Floriste, 36, Willis-street.— Advt. "Father," she said, "bring me a- jay of Sydal when you come homo to-night." "Sydalj what's that?" "It's the stuff that does all the housework, dear. You'll get it at any shop for Is 6d, but don't bring anything else." Sydal (Wilton's Hand Emollient), the housewife's friend. —Advt. If it's a Hat for your little lad, you should inspect our stock of tweeds, Teddies, suede, at Is 9d to 3s lid. Geo. Fowlds, Ltd.— Advt. If you own a Pathephone, think of the pleasure, the flood of rich music, the outpourings of the finest, grandest voices in the world, turned on at will You can always entertain your friends, and your house can become the resort of the best and liveliest in your community. Why ,not sco our splendid new models? Prices from £4 10s. Oscar Hewett and Co., 56, Cuba-street, Wellington. — Advt. Bycroft's latest dainties for afternoon tea. Bellamy, Hinemoa, Croquet. Try them. All grocers. — Advt.