TOPICS FOR WOMEN

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1930, Page 13

TOPICS FOR WOMEN

Miss Keith a Sommorvillc has returned to Whangarei from a visit to Wellington. Miss Higgcnsen has returned to AVellington from a visit to North Auckland. I Miss Wyatt, a. Hamilton visitor to Wellington, has returned home. Miss K. Cowie, iinothcr Waikato visitor, has also gone North. Mr. and Mrs. F. N. Ambler arc Auckland visitors to Wellington. Mrs. Frank Strickland has returned to Wellington from a visit to Auckland. Miss J. Erwin (Christchurch) has gone South after a visit to the capital city. ; Miss Seed (Wellington) is the guest of Mrs. Arthur Sims, Opawa. Miss Mary Menzies has .returned to Christchruch from a visit to Wellington. Miss Beatrice Webster has returned to Wellington from a visit to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. Webster; Miss Ernestine Hadfleld has' returned to Timai-u after a visit to her parents in Wellington during tho school holidays. Miss Hadfleld is on the staff of Craighead Diocesan School. Miss M. G. Newall has returned to Wellington from a visit to Auckland. Mr. and Mrs. eorgc Nichols, Auckland, are .leaving by the Mataroa for England and the Continent to-morrow from Wellington. Mrs. A. Boss, Pahiatua, has been spending a few days in Wellington. Mis 3 M. Fuller, Wellington, is on a visit to her parents, Martinborough. Miss Mina Calclow, who is to take part in to-morrow's presentation of "Carmen" by the Koyal Choral Union, has arrived in Wellington from. Auckland. The engagement is announced in the Auckland "Star" of Doris Ethelinde, only daughter of Mrs. and the Into Mr. W. Parker, of Dcvonport, to Stanley Alien, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Compton, of Wellington. Mrs. A. E. Taylor, Huiroa, and her sister, Mrs. Leslie Mathesou, Hastings, are- in Wellington to farewell thenbrother, Dr. A. F. Mackay, who is a passenger by the Ulimaroa, en route for the Malay States. - Miss Mary Brosnahaii, Morvcn, South Canterbury, is visiting Wellington, and is the guest of Mrs. O'Brien, Oriental Bay.. The wedding was celebrated in the Church,'of England Grammar School Chapel, Melbourne, of Miss J. Spencer Blanch, younger daughter of Mrs. G. E. Blanch, Toorak, and of tho late Mr. Blanch, headmaster of the Melbourne. Grammar School from-1898 until 1914, and later headmaster of Christ's College, Christclmrch (New Zealand), to Lieutenant B. B. Dowling, B.A.N. fourth son of Mrs. ;Russell Dowling and tho late Mr. Dowlingj of Toowoomba (Queensland), grandson of the late Judge Dowling-, of New South Wales, and great-grandson of che second Chief Justice •of New South Wales (Sir James Dowling). Railway Dance. The young ladies of the Now Zealand Railways Head Office staff held a most successful dance in the Mokoia Hall on Wednesday evening. The committee comprised Misses Burbidgc, Davis, Denison, Holland, Leo, C. Smith, Tipling, yon Kcisenberg, Smyth, Warner. Obituary. Tho death lias occurred at Takapuna, Auckland, of Mrs. Dora Elizabeth Bolland, wife of Mr, Percy W.• .Bolland. The late Mrs. B.olland, who was aged SS, was a daughter of Mr,' and Mrs. R. T. Pilkington. She had always taken an active part in social, educational, and musical matters, and was the first woman to occupy a; seat on the Northcote School Committee. The late Mrs. Bolland was a prominent member.of the Auckland Amateur Opera Company,and a keen member of the Now. Zealand Royal Life Saving Society. All Over a Dress. The dyeing-of a silk frock in Paris has led to an unusual action for damages. When the owner of the dress put it on,1 she experienced.excruciating pain and had to take to her bed. Her complaint was diagnosed as "cutaneous reactions," and after a few days the pain disappeared. But then the young woman had a great shock. She found, that her body was a network of-tattoo marks. For her a disfigured body was worse than the pain she had endured, and she lodged against the dyer a claim for damages for injuries caused by negligence. The dyer replied, however, that he had used the same dye for thousands of dresses without any of his customers suffering the least inconvenience. The matter was referred to M. Kling, the director of the Municipal Laboratory, who applied fragments of the dress to his own skin and to that of "several women without ill-effects. The complainant was then induced to put the dress on again. Once more pain was experienced and tattoo marks appeared. The municipal expert was now forced to the conclusion that it was one of those cases in which certain persons were more or less poisoned by products and foods which were in general inoffensive. Counsel for tho dyer put forward an ingenious argument. Certain people of a particular physiology ere poisoned by eggs even when they were fresh. Therefore he held that an egg dealer could not be prosecuted 'for negligence because a customer had suffered after having eaten a fresh egg. Welcome Afternoon. Mr. ■ Brew, the' recentlyrappointed vice-principal of the Wellington Training College, formerly of Auckland, and Mrs. Brew were the guests of the principal, Mr. E. X : Lomas, M.A., and staffs of the college and normal schools yesterday afternoon. Tea was served hi tho library of the college, where flowers made a graceful decoration. Mr. Lomas extended Mr. and Mrs. Brew a very hearty welcome, and assured his colleague of the co-operation of all staff members. Mr. Kidson also spoke. Mr. Brew, thanked all for the warmth of the welcome, and said he appreciated the friendliness that had already been shown him by every member of the staff. New Zealand Artists. The Hon. Mrs. Ralph Vane (nee Airini K.Mair) and Mrs.- Norman Hope (nee Esther Barker), who have boon painting together ..in the Mount Cook region- since Mrs. Vane's return to the Dominion, held a private view of their pictures in Christchurch recently. Many of Mrs. Vane's pictures are in tempera, that is water-colours mixed with white of egg instead of water, states an exchange. This gives a very smooth finish to the picture, and also adds considerably to its life, as the albumen acts as a preservative. The Hon. Mrs. Vane is the daughter of the late Captain Gilbert Mair, and her mother was the famous New Zealaud artist, Kate Sperry, whose pictures to-day—especial-ly her Maori studies —are of great valuo. Mrs. Vane's husband, who died recently, at Kingston-on-Thames, near London, was a brother of Lord Barnard, of Barnard Castle, Yorkshire. Sailors' Day. Flags were on sale in the streets of Wellington to-day in aid of the British Sailors' Society, a voluntary organisation with an excellent record of service tor the year. Over 20,000 seamen were catered for last year; 76 men were found employment; and 570 were provided with food and beds. i i

Quiet Weddings. Wedding-goers are lamenting that so many modern brides and bridegrooms choose to get married in registry offices, lor in churches, without telling their friends, and dressed in cvcry-clay clothes. The pomp and pageantry or the modern' society wedding, with its elaborate bridal retinue, its dress rehearsals, the hundreds of presents to bu acknowledged, and the exhausting wedding -reception, is an affair literally dreaded by many brides, writes a Loudon woman representative who has had experience of countless society weddings, formal and informal. Dkectly an engagement is announced the-bride is overwhelmed with work. She has to choose her gown, her headdress, her train, and her flowers, as well as those of her retinue of attendants—twelve to sixteen is the usual number nowadays —none of whom likes the same colours or the same style. Then there ia the buying and fitting of her trousseau, the sending out of invitations, and a multitude of other special things, to say nothing of her ordinary occupation's, or choosing a house and buying furniture with her fiance. Five, six, and seven hundred presents are received by popular couples. Most of these are "white elephants." Mayfair Housecraft. Many a lover of Old London will get a thrill at the coming functions, when, on entering some interesting Mayfair drawing-room with its Queen Anno green panelling, old tapestry hangings, siiid perhaps a petit point screen and stool which the hostess has worked herself, they also find the old flowors whicli have been so long out- of favour, says an English exchange. A very oldfashioned love-in-the-mist is among past favourites that will reign again. The interesting thing about this, as about many other of the- old flowers contrasted with their modern successors, is that it is less pretty, but has more character. It is bigger, darker, stronger, and less laeoy. All the old mallows, too, will come back; the deep purple ones are darker than the varieties we know now. Even old bowls are coming into the scheme, for hostesses are having them filled with artificial flowers copied from old flower prints, The chatelaine of an old Georgian house possesses a very early papier machc bow inlaid with mother of pearl, .which she has had filled with lilies and other flowers made in metal, glass, wax, and wood, to get the lovely effect of different,textures. The flowers were copied from a period painting, and the bowl now lookp like an old. picture itself. ' "Mary Windsor." In her recently published "Biography of Queen Mary," Miss Cavendish says that Queen Mary was largely' responsible- for the choice of "Windsor" when the Royal Family changed its name during the war. "All the world" (she writes), "is aware that during the war the Royal Family changed their name from Guelph to Windsor, but not all the world is aware that Queen Mary was largely responsible for the choice. From her earliest girlhood, when, she used to stay there as the guest of Queen Victoria, Windsor has been her favourite residence, and she knows its history better than "any other member of the Royal Family. Indeed, so well docs she know it that, on one occasion, when by chance rhe heard a guide lecturing to a party of sightsoers concerning some happening in the castle 200 y^ars ago, she was ablo to detect two errors in his ,uarrativo, and to set them right in a friendly little note. Sho once told-a friend that-she.thought Mary Windsor One of the nicest names it was possible to bear." > i The Dnch'ess Embroiders. Among the younger generation the Duchess of Westminster is perhaps one of the most industrious and ambitious of" embroiderers, says an' English ' exchange. In her mother's rooms at Sir Frederick Ponsonby's official residence at Marlboro ugh Gate, ..there are lovely' embroideries which have been done by her. It is, however,' at the ;family'scountry home in Surrey that the Duchess's affection for her needle is best illustrated. There hang several beautiful pieces of tapestry which she has copied from famous designs, and in nearly all tho rooms, either, curtains or hangings have been embellished by her in some artistic way. Renovating a Frock. - "This is a very helpful suggestion for some of you who have a lace dress hanging fire, or for those of you who are contemplating a brand-new frock," says a London writer. 'Have a length of chiffon,' machine-hem-stitched 'in parallel lines two inches apart. Snip them through so that both edges arc picoted. ' Sew these strips lightly to the underside of youi'laee- frills. Choose your colours to harmonise with your frock, and remember that Paris is playing hard with very bright colours this year. Glaring French cherry, marigold, hard, glinting green, and sugar-bag blue are all being allied to black, but of dull material, please. Brocade coats are all- the rage, and the newest bro cades need no interlining."