ENGAGEMENTS GARDENING ROMANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 152, 29 June 1935, Page 18

ENGAGEMENTS

GARDENING ROMANCE

LAMB—HOOK.

The engagement is announced of Iris Joan, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. I D. Hook, Fonblanque Street, Westport, to Sholto Douglas, second son of the late Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Lamb, of Wellington. QUESTED—SELWAY.' The engagement is announced of Zeta, yourjger daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. Selway, Wellington, to Fenton, eldest son of Mrs. and the late Mr. C. Quested, of Lyttelton. READER-CROSS. The engagement is announced of Mavis Ada, eldest daughter of Mr. and the late Mrs. E. R. Cross, of Island Bay, to Herbert John, third son of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Reader, of Island Bay, Wellington. ~ / TRACY—HARDING. The engagement is announced of Azelda May, only daughter of Mrs. D. Harding, of Wellington, to Henry Bernard Jack, only son of Mrs. E. Livick, also of Wellington. PERSONAL" NOTES VICEREGAL. His Excellency the Governor-Gen-eral (Lord Galway) has accepted the position of patron of the Ne^ Zealand Croquet Council. Viscountess Galway has consented to be the Warden of the Pioneer Club. Miss Alice Gray is leaving on Tuesday for a visit to Australia, Norfolk, and Noumea. Miss Gray has been entertained at a number of "bon voyage" parties. Mrs. V. Riddiford, Woburn, Lower Huttj. is visiting Auckland. Mis. Ralph Beetham, Masterton, is visiting Wellington. Mrs. Peter Millar, Marton, is visiting her daughter, Mrs. A. G. White, Wadestown. Mrs. Douglas, Invercargill, is the *vest of her sister, Mrs. Howard Booth, Sarterton. ■• Miss Iris Potter, who has been visitIng Christchurch, has returned to Welington. ' Her marriage to Mr. Fox will ;ake place next week. Miss Fuller, who has been visiting ler sister, Mrs. Stewart, Heretaunga, ias returned to "Mirirau," Rangiora. - Mr. and Mrs. Frank Graham, Christihurclvwiir.be visitors to Wellington lext week. Miss Eileen Walker, Island Bay, left ast evening for a visit to Dunedin and Palmerston. , , • Mrs. W. A. Smith, Gisbome, is the $vest of Mrs. F. Curtice, Ly all Bay. . Mrs. L. C. Botilton, Buckingham street, is visiting her mother, Mrs. J. Mend. Invercargill. Miss Peggy O'Connor, Rongotai, was i passenger by the Maunganui this veek for Sydney. Mrs. R. Keith Taylor is leaving for \ustralia next week. She. will be a sassenger. by the. Wanganella on layMrs. A. O. Hugo and Mrs.- E. L. Masters (Stratford) are staying at the Irand Hotel. Mrs. Bond Barker and Mrs. G. F. Vlaclaren (Western Australia) and Mrs. F. Mowbray (Auckland) are itaying at the Hotel St. George. Mrs. Christie (Wanganui), Mrs. Nicholson (New Plymouth), and Mrs. Saldane (Hastings) are s'.ayint at the Midland HoteL . Mrs. J. C, Allan (Stratford) is stayng at the Grand Hotel. Mrs. L. T. Russell (Sydney), Mrs. C. Sfaylor (Auckland). Mrs. L. R. Muff :Wanganui), Mrs-AW1. Down (Auckandi, and Miss F. Farrar (Dunedin) ire staying at the Empire Hotel.

NEW ZEALAND'S FINE FLORA

"LET'S KEEP THEM HERE !"

A large number of members of the f English-speaking Union attended a 1 meeting at the Dominion Farmers' In- ] • Vfttute yesterday afternoon, to hear I Mrs. Knox Gilmer's address on the subject of "Gardens." Chairs were arranged theatre-fashion - across the length of the hall, which j was decorated with spring flowers. Mrs.. Eaton, Mrs. H. L. Cummings (who read the E.S.U.'s creed), Miss ' Thornhill, and Miss Nannestad were f the hostesses for the occasion, and Mrs. J. Bennie, acting-chairwoman oi' the - ladies' social committee, made an in- ' troductory speech eulogising Mrs. ' Knox Gilmer's work for society. Mrs. Gilmer, she said, was a great organiser ' and a woman of many parts, and they hoped that by the end of the year she would have two initials after her name which might; stand for "many parts." "PUREST OF PLEASURES." Mrs. Gilmer thanked Mrs. Bennie for . her remarks, and said she considered i herself a typical New Zealander, and she was very proud of the fact. She 1 then gave a most interesting address , on gardens, a subject upon which she is entirely at home. "Gardening" said Mrs. Gilmer, "is the purest of pleasures, and the great- ■ est refreshment to the spirit of man. Nothing but good can come of it. To be a gardener one must be an optimist, and an optimist is a good citizen." She then gave.her audience a most interesting history of gardens, and told them the surprising fact that there has never been a war that hasn't done some botanical good—awful though all their other consequences were, as .they well knew. Some of our most used fruit, vegetables, and flowers, she said, were introduced into England by the Romans. The Romans being great travellers had acquired many fruits and flowers from other countries—they brought the peach from China, and the cherry from Southern Russia.. They were wonderful, gardeners and grew flowers for their feasts, and with which to adorn -themselves. Nero spent the equivalent of £30,000 on roses for one feast alone. Mrs. Gilmer briefly traced the development of gardens, and the international exchange of flowers and friut, through the centuries up to the present day.' ! OCR PLANTS GO ABROAD. Botanically, she said, this was #n age of research and whenever she heard of an expedition of botanists coming to this country her heart ached.. Seyenjyflve per cent, of our native plants were not to be found in any other part of the world, and she felt there should be a law to prevent people from taking them abroad. In Geneva she saw New Zealand cabbage trees growing in tubs sunk in the earth, and in Vienna, the yellow rata which not many people had seen was blooming. Rome had a New Zealand section in gardens and,; plants had- been taken from here to every other country. Mrs. Gilmer appealedto her audience to become sufficiently interested to know what rare plants we possessed, and to try to protect them. The largest buttercup in the world, the largest tree (the kauri), and the tiniest pine (two inches high) were all natives of New. Zealand. "Let's keep them here" she said. "GARDENER'S FRENZY." Everyone should be a gardener, -she continued, and she quoted passages from the "Gardener's Frenzy," by Winnie Pallister. who asked if anyone would bother to cope with all the setbacks a gardener had to put up with —the perpetual grouch against the weather, the crick in the back, the crick in the neck, the backache and ruined hands, for the sake of a few, vegetables or flowers that could be bought in the shops if there wasn t something more to be got out of it of some of New Zealand's native flora, which Mrs, Gilmer'had gone to great trouble to collect, were passed around at the conclusion of her address, and she answered many questions and gave much valuable advice. Mrs. Bennie thanked her on behalf of the committee and all those present. She said .she had only met one person who did not like flowers, and that was a man, who, seeing a bowl of flowers on the dinner table, had said, "Take those off—we .cant-eat them. Several musical items added greatly to everyone's enjoyment. Mrs. C. Robison sjtng two solos, accompanied at the piano by Miss Van Staveren, and Mrs. P. H. Davey played several pieces on the piano. A delicious afternoon tea | was served. .: ■ i Among those present were:—Mrs. W. JBeere, Mrs. Ballinger, Miss D. Black, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Eaton, Mrs. Davey, Miss Gyles, Miss D. V. Claridge, Mrs. D A. Claridge, Mrs. Carr Smith, Mrs. G. Forbes, Mrs. and Miss Hare, Mrs. Oakley, Mrs. Middleton, Mrs. C. Plank, Mrs Perrett, Mrs. Hay McKenzie, Mrs. W. E. Lavelle, Mrs. Paterson, Mrs. H. Scott, Mrs. Schramm, Mrs. Schuck, Mrs. Strouts, Mrs. Scadden, Mrs. Fisher, Mrs Ross, Mrs. Vickerman, Mrs. Van Staveren, Mrs. Welch, Mrs. Thornhill, Mrs. Westrupp, Mrs. Byron Mills. NUBSM(fMVISI<B r SUBURBS BRANCH * The Wellington Suburban Nursing Division at its; fortnightly meeting^welcomed Miss Arnold, matron of St. Helens Hospital, who delivered an instructive address. Miss Arnold expressed, her pleasure at being able to help a section of an organisation whose services during the difficult period of the "epidemic;' of 1918 she especially eulogised. Her address was on "Obstetric," for which she was thanked by the lady president (Mrs. Ramsay). Mrs. Gaby returned thanks for invitations issued to other Nursing Divisions, who, with friends, helped, to form a large and appreciative audience. A welcome as a visiting member was also extended to Mrs. Houston, of the Beckenham Nursing Division, Christchurch, previously a St. John member trom overseas. ( It was announced that a\ party held1, recently for.the purpose of augmenting the funds of the Wellington City Mission for the Men's Shelter was quite succcsfuL . 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