WORKING FOR PEACE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 146, 5 June 1936, Page 14

WORKING FOR PEACE

Address Given to Napier Townswomen

Hrs de Castro, of Havelock North, gave a delightful talk to the Napier Townswomen’s Guild yesterday afternoon. She is a fluent speaker, revealing depth of feeling and a keen sense of humour. In opening, she said she was glad to have the opportunity to meet both members of the Guild and the W.T.C.U.

“Peace,” she said, was a subject dear to her heart and women could do much to promote it. Women had fought hard to obtain the suffrage, and it was granted in Britain only in 1918. New Zealand had obtained it much earlier; this lead they had given the world could be repeated in the fight for permanent peace. Mrs de Castro said that she arrived in New Zealand from England a fortnight before war was declared. Her son volunteered and, soou after, she went too and had the marvellous privilege of being in charge in 1915 of the British Soldiers' Club in Esez.bekiah Gardens, right in the heart of Cairo, Egypt, where from two to three thousand men came every day. After the evacuation of Gallipoli in 1916 she had permission to take into the desert at Ismailia the Empire Soldiers’ Club and this was before any of the New Zealand soldiers left for France. Later she took a holiday in England,

I then went to a conference of the International League for Freedom held at The Hague, Holland, and was there in 1922 with the famous Jane Addams, au American lady, whom she said it was a privilege to know and more so to work with. Both Dame Fawcett and Jane Addams, she said, gave up their lives for others and did outstanding work as organisers. Mrs Corbett Ashby (England) the speaker came closely in touch with, and she paid a tribute to her work in the International League of Women’s Organisations. “With deepest reverence,’’ said Mrs de Castro, “do I speak of the Duchess of Athol, who did noble work in Egypt. ’ ’ They had worked together, the Duchess taking her concert party to the Soldiers’ Club. In paying a tribute to the American Mission, Mrs de Castro said: “The only true hope for peace apart from the League of Nations is the English-speaking peoples of the world. “Peace,’’ she said, “is one of the greatest things in the world today. We need to keep it ever before us as an ideal and we need your prayers. ’ ’

After the war Mrs de Castro returned to New Zealand and at the Returned Soldiers’ Club in Wellington she aeted as a mother to the boys and welcomed the men of the 5G transports that returned to Wellington. Miss Spencer spoke briefly and proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mrs de Castro for her most interesting talk, members heartily applauding. Mrs J. H. Oldham also spoke and

said feelingly. “We should all go forward and do more for the great cause of peace,’’ she said. She also worked in the settlement with Jane Addams in America.