SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Evening Star, Issue 25083, 26 January 1944, Page 7

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

[By Diana.] Miss Margaret Dalziel, the new principal of St. Hilda's Collegiate School, is at present the guest of Mrs G. M. Mac Lean, of Pitt street. Miss Enid Patcrson, of Sydney, is visiting her parents, Mr and Mrs T. D. Pi. Paterson, Maori Hill. Mr and Mrs R. L. Clark, of Lower Hutt, arrived bv plane to-day and will be the guests 'of Mr and Mrs John Wilson, Grant street, for the WilsonThcw wedding. Miss Irene AVilson whose marriage takes place on Saturday evening, has been the guest of honour at parties given by Mrs E. W. Hunter, Mrs Sydney Turner, Mrs Donald Maclean, Mrs Oyrell Brown, and Mrs Alexander Miss Edith Macdougall, who for the past two years ha 6 been secondary assistant at the Omakau School, left last week to take up a similar position in the school run by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company in Fiji. . Miss Madge Irwin, • Timaru, is the guest of Mrs W. Tyson, Maitland street. to ~,,,• Mrs Edgar Smith and Mrs Maurice James, who have been spending a, holiday at Warrington, returned to Christchurch yesterday.. , ~« Under the auspices of the Mid-Otago Federation of Women's Institutes a successful picnic was held in the Woodhaugh Gardens in ideal conditions. It was well attended hy members and their children and grandchildren. The chief attraction for the older children was the swimming pool, while the younger ones patronised the playing ground. There were races for all ages, and ice cream was provided. The idea of holding a picnic originated from the Taieri W.J.

Gladys Moncrieff has arrived back in Sydney from a tour of New Guinea, where she sang to the troops. She left Sydney on December 7, and has been in all forward areas. Miss MoncriefE said' that she had had a wonderful reception. She is going > to Melbourne to, rehearse her new production, ' Katinka.'

Dp Edith Summerskill, M.P. Much gratification has been expressed by women in Australia at the report that Dr Edith Summerskill, M.P., will accompany the Empire Parliamentary Association's delegation to the Commonwealth. Tall, slim, and auburn-haired, Dr Summerskill is not only a very attractive, but also a fearless and competent woman. She has been described as one who " carries herself like a guardsman, and has at times in the House a tongue like a rapier." She has long been a prominent figure among women in the politioallife of Great Britain, and has been particularly active in sponsoring the Equal Citizenship Bill for men and women alike, and in demanding that the inequalities of the laws operating against women in industry and against the status of housewives shall be removed. She is also a keen supporter of the " Women to Westminster " movement.

Woman Colonel in American Army. An American nurse, Florence Blanchtield, who was recently made a colonel by the United States army and placed in charge of 30,000 nurses at home and'Overseas, is a woman who can take a motor car apart, .make her own clothes, and work through a lively 12-hour day with the utmost oalrm In 25 years as an army nurse, this lively little colonel has served in posts ranging from France, in 1918, to Panama, the Philippines, and China. As she will cheerfully tell you. "I have had the itinerary of a travelling salesman." But it is her charges who are doing the traveling, to war fronts all over the globe, now. In the meantime she sits at a Washington desk supervising every detail of what they will wear in Iceland or Africa, the equipment they will carry, and how they will train for combat duty.