CIVIC CLUB

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 139, 14 May 1941, Page 5

CIVIC CLUB

lor ilie first time in tbo history of ibo building Civic club a lady speaker addicssed members at the luncheon yesterday. Fho epoakor-gucet was Mrs E. ti. .McGregor, of Colombo, who id a daughter of Colonel and Mrs A. M. Macaulay, of Warwick Street. The president (Mr T. L. .Mills) accorded the speaker an enthusiastic welcome. Alls McGregor's subject was ‘‘Ceylon and its People.” In her interesting remarks Mrs McGregor dwelt on Colombo, the chief port and capital of Ceylon, which i.s familiar to troops both in the Great War and the present conflict. She described (lie port, as one of ever-changing and never-failing interest. Great ocean liners plying between Europe and the Dutch E_ast Indies, China, Burma, and Australia all called there and always there rode at. anchor quaint and fascinating craft from other parts of the globe, including the Alaidive Islands. The speaker went on to describe the contour and configuration of tlie country, the rice fields and luxuriant foliage, and the people moving in softly draped clothing of every imaginable colour. In 1802 Ceylon became a Crown Colony possessing 5j millions' of “Ceylonese” and other nationalities. Airs McGregor contrasted the life of a shopkeeper in Ceylon with our shopkeepers. In Ceylon “you simply acquire enough capilal to buy a portable quantity of the goods you intend to sell and off you go, a shopkeeper.” The smallest shop the speaker saw was an old felt hai, the shopkeeper’s “stock-in-trade” being bundles of safety pins and shoe laces. The laces were threaded through the hatband and suspended from the brim and the hat worn. Another popular shop consisted of an umbrella. Closed, it would carry goods to the site selected. Having arrived the owner opened it and upon its inverted surface displayed his stock, which might be anything from pencils, notebooks, and soap to small articles of attire. Concluding, Airs AlcGregor said: “Ceylon is a fascinating country and I can only suggest that when we return to ‘piping times of peace’ you take a trip and see it for yourself.”