SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

Evening Star, Issue 25225, 12 July 1944, Page 7

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL

lily Diana.]

A concert-lea will be given in the. lounge of the Otago Women's Club on Saturday to raise funds for (he All Purposes Patriotic Appeal. Mrs H. C Campbell has arranged the programme, and there will be a bring-aiid-buy stall, in charge of the Aria and Crafts and Gardening Circles. After the final presentation of 'By Candle Light ' by the Dunedin Repertory Society on Saturday night, a supper party was held at. the society's rooms in Dowling iireci. Before congratulating the producer, Mrs K. D. Ncaie. of Christchurch, Mr W. U. Bnigh, chairman of the souiely, moved a resolution of sympathy with Miss .Kathleen Falconer on the death of her mother. Mr* N'cale thanked ilie. east and all who had assisted to produce the play, and wished the society continued success. In spite of wintry conditions, the sale of work and social evening organised by the ladies of Rest Centre 20 was very sue-, cessful. Vocal items were contributed by Mr Lloyd Spiers and Miss Frances Applegate, and Highland dancing by pupils of Miss Pat Atkinson. Mr'Airdrie Stewart was the piper, and the accompaniments wero played by Miss Dyer and Mrs W. Rowe. An. enjoyable evening resulted ,in the funds for prisoner-of-war parcels benefiting to the extent of £22. Free Kindergartens. The monthly meeting of the Freo Kindergarten Association was held in the R.S.A. committee rooms on Thursday last, and was attended by Mrs A. N. Haggitt (in Hie chair), Lady Sidcy, Mcsdamcs It. A. Ewing, D. Smeaton, C. V. Smith, G. Gallaway, J. R. Glendining, 11. A. Gamble, E. R. Ilartv, M.'Myers, I.'R. McAllum, J. H. McDougall, G. R. McLean, J. M. Paterson, S. G. Scoular, T. K. S. Sidev, W. B. Taverner, VV. Wright, and L. M. Wright. . The principal, Miss A. J. Duthie, roportcd that Miss Macalister, departmental adviser, i had visited (he various kindergartens and had commented favourably on the progress of the various branches. It was reported that arrangements were well in hand for the fair which wns being organised by the mothers' groups of the different kindergartens. Plans are in progress for tho conducting of a shop in conjunction with the street day appeal on August 11. Interest was shown in the twenty-first an : niversary celebrations of the Kaikorai Kindergarten. Accounts amounting to £326 2s 6d were passed for payment. Business and Professional Women's Club. I The perplexing problem of the decline in population, the main social question facing New Zealand to-day. was the subject of a talk given by Mr H. I. Sinclair at the fortnightly meeting of the club. A few factors in support of the decline mentioned by Mr Sinclair were:—Tho lack of housing accommodation, standard of education too high, raising of school leaving age, increasing industrial conditions, mechanization of industries, decline of Church influence, and the deferring of marriage until too late bv the modern couple whose desire it is to start in Jife with every requirement, leaving nothing worth while to look forward to. The impossibility of holding our place in the sun unless the raising of families is looked upon as a duty and a necessity, was stressed by Mr Sinclair. Immigration will not solve the problem; sufficient support must be given to parents to help preserve the future of our race. In proposing a vote of thanks to Mr Sinclair Miss Ij. Cunningham made some timely remarks''-about women not being consulted on housing committees and all matters-per-taining to the running of a home and families, which in governing matters the male seems to consider his prerogative. Otago Home Economics Association. Rationing of food is so new to New Zealand that many people feel that, interference with established dietaries must mean a lowered standard of nutrition. Members of O.H.E.A. were shown the fallacy of such a view in a very able manner by Miss C. Mac Gibbon in the Home Science Building on Monday night. Thn standards of optimum nutrition as sponsored by the League of Nations were tabulated in terms of daily quantities of meat, milk, eggs, butter, cheese, sugar, etc., for adults, for children over five, and for children under five. With these were compared the amounts obtainable in New Zealand under present rationing, which fully satisfy adult needs and infant needs, but fall short for children over five as regards butter. This deficiency can be remedied by supplementary amounts of green vegetables, carrots, liver, and cod liver oil. The,main problem for the housewife is to get variety into the menus with her limited rations of butter, meat, egg 6, and sugar. Miss Mac Gibbon, assisted by Miss Naylor, showed how meat meals can be helped out by using meat specialties (classed unpleasantly a 6 offal). Most attractive looking and savoury dishes were prepared front ox heart, sweetbreads, brains, tripe, etc., while the use of cheaper cuts of meat, were recommended as a further means of making the most of meat coupons. The fruit season finds sugar rationing a handicap, but practice has proved that fruit preserved in syrup made from five parts of water to one of sugar, will keep splendidly and will require no more sugar when eaten, while jam made with half the usual amount of sugar and with the addition of a little salt will be preferable to jam made by old-style recipe. Butter can be replaced in cakes" by dripping, with the addition of -lemon juice." Members wero keenly interested in the wide array of palatable dishes, jams, and preserves made and displayed for inspection and sampling, and extended a hearty vote of thanks to Miss Mac Gibbon and Miss Naylor. Mrs Arthur Grenfell's Visit. Mrs Arthur Grenfoll, vice-president of the V.W.C.A. in Great Britain, who is visiting .New Zealand, spent a few days in Christchurch at the end of last week. At a very large gathering of women, representing some 60 women's organisations, Mrs Grenfoll spoke of the war-time services of the Y.W.C.A. in Great Britain and of the ex-, lent to which the co-operation of its voluntary services had been sought and valued. Starting with military departments, she said, to-day in all Ministries voluntary workers' lake part in 50-50 consultations in all matters of recreation. The Y.W.C.A. was the one women's organisation allowed in camps and air stations. " Our stipulation when asked In take on this work was that we might provide tho service with our own money and our own uniforms. We are there to give diversity. " With you we share the same faults and qualities, and perhaps ihe tame capacity for understatement," said Mrs Grenfeil, speaking of conditions in Britain today. "Wc are an armed, beleaguered fortress, yet one which is carrying on great social experiments." The blackout she dc- | scribed as one of the worst features of war f.me. Its tendency was to make winter seem three times its long, and its harm to the adolescent could not be measured. After an alarming survey of the effect of conditions on children from 11 to 16 years of age, the Government had set on foot a | scheme called the service of youth, in which : school children and those under the " callup age " were urged to enlist voluntarily, I and to give community service of all kinds. Girls, said Mrs Grenfeil, learnt the arts of citizenship, of cooking, dancing, and soft-toy making; they minded children, and cleaned offices, and, since the Y.M.C.A. was at the war there were jobs for boys, too, in salvage collecting and shining hospital taps. Substantial financial aid had been granted for this work, and the Board of Education had at last wakened to the fact that youth work was as vital to a community as school work. Mrs Grenfeil read special messages to tho I Y.W.C.A. of New Zealand, from .'.he Queen j and Mrs Churchill, expressing warm appreciation of the help New Zealand women liad given during the war. < [ "Do not wish us too much prosperity," I concluded Mrs Grenfoll. "There is, 1 feel, a growing spirit of faithfulness and sacrifice in the world, and a diminishing sense of selfishness, but we are not yet through with

our suffering and our education. Stand behind us and strengthen us _to _ help our greatly-suffering youth, which is giving daily of its lives, for freedom." Miss H. K. Loveli-Smith returned to Dunedin on Monday from Christchurch, where she met Mrs Gronfe'.l. Mrs Grenfeil is the wife of Lieutenant-colonel Grenfeil. D. 5.0., and a granddaughter of Lord Lylteiton, who was chairman of the Canterbury SettlementAssociation, which colonised Canterbury. She will not visit Dunedin.