SOCIAL & GENERAL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 90, 29 March 1911, Page 11

SOCIAL & GENERAL

Napier, Mar. 28. Presentations. Mr and Mrs Smallbone and family left today for Marton. During the last week they have received many presentations. In -.ddit’m to a purse of sovereigns presented by the Post Office staff, Mr. Smallbone received a farewell g ft from the scholars of the Bluff Hill Sunday School. Mrs. <w was presented with a pair f k *ely silver vases by the nienowrs of the Croquet Club, and ?hst Hmallbone received a silver hand mirror and many good wishes from her late pupils at the Bluff Hill Sunday School. Government House, Auckland. Great interest has been taken in Auckland in the renovating of Government House. With r»-» exception of a few inside details everything is now complitv >. The furniture arrives this week 'i he members of the houselioli staff from Wellington arrive shortly, and all will be got in readiness for the reception of Lord and Lady Islington on April Sth.

Items of Interest. Mrs. Guthrie Smith is v«>itirg Mrs. Stopford. Miss Whitaker (Wellington) is staying at Bishopscourt. Mrs. Nantes is visiting Makerton. Miss Turnbull (Dunedin) is t inguest of Mrs. Logan. Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Smith, Miss Smith, Mrs. Alridge, and Miss Hetley sailed by the “Muritai” on Sunday for London. Mrs. Younghusband is visiting her uncle. Sir .Maurice O’Rorke, Auckland. Mr. Horace Weber, the Cathedral orgariist, left for Wellington this morning, where he is to be married to Miss May Shakeshaft, of Adelaide, on April 3rd. Miss Turton (Wellington) is on a visit to Hawke’s Bay. Lady stout is just concluding an extensive tour in England on behalf of the Women’s Social and Political Union, The Women’s Freedom League, The British Women’s Temperance Association, and other societies whose principal object is the enfranchisement of women. Beginning in Sussex, Lady Stout was to visit Manchester. Blackburn, and Yorkshire, returning to London at the end of this month.

Architecture as a Profession for Women. It has recently , been stated that architecture is a profession eminently suitable for women. It is a field of labour in which woman’s ingenuity is sorely needed. From the earliest days of house building unto the present men have been planning habitations, and it is really about time that women had a chance of showing what they can do towards constructing a comfortable dwelling-place. With all his experience man has not been wholly successful as a builder of nests. He has made them pleasing to the eye within and without; he has learnt how to economise space; he has discovered many means of adding to comfort and saving trouble; but there is still much to be done that one feels perfectly sure women alone can devise and of which women alone will ever think. As time goes on it will become more and more necessary for us to save room, avoid anything that is in any way conducive to extra work. Labour grows scarcer, domestic helpers more independent, and time seems to be shortened. If a woman wal planning a dwelling either on a large or small scale, she would at once think of all the little things that make for domestic comfort. Cupboards are one of these, round corners are another. There are endless “uselessnesses’’ in the kitchen that could be dispensed with, much that might be advantageously introduced. It would be a real joy to a woman to build a nest after her own heart, and to feel she was giving her sex just what they had been longing for in vain. If women can manage a J house they ought to be able to plan one, and architecture is a profession for the girl of the future seriously to consider.