SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19386, 22 July 1926, Page 5

SOCIAL NEWS.

Miss Margaret Bailey, of Remuera, is staying in the Waikato for some weeks. Mrs. George Wright, who has returned from a visTT to Australia, and Miss Jean Wright from England, aro now settled in their home at Golf Road. Included among the guests at Braebnrn are Dr. Ada Pattison, of Wellington, Mrs. Douglas and the Misses Stark, Dun edin, Mrs. A. C. Begg and Miss Begg, Dunedin, Miss Barraud, Wellington, and Mrs. Rochfort, Piopio. The sub-comittee which works for the Mayoress' War Memorial Library Leaque, is assisting at a " Bring and Buy " sale, to be held at the Y.W.C.A. Hall on Wednesday, the 28th inst, This sub-committee, besides having a display of scrap-book work, has undertaken to look after tho produce section. Their Majesties' second Court at Buckingham Palace was no less brilliant than the first. The wonderful vogue for silver and gold tissues and laces, enriched with exquisite embroideries in diamante, crystal, pearls and silver, enhanced the magnificence of the scene. An outstanding feature of the toilettes was the choice of trains to match the gowns. Plumes and veils fastened with ingenious bandeaux kept close-cropped heads in harmony with the dignity of Court dress. A woman owner, Miss M. B. Carstairs, was the winner in eliminating tests to decide Great Britain's representatives for the international motorboat races on the Thames recently. Her craft Newg, equipped with a Sunbeam engine, averaged 35 miles an hour, and finished nearly 20 minutes ahead of the second. Wearing blue dungarees, a French beret and masculine socks, Miss who is Eton-cropped, was presented with a doll mascot when she. came ashore with her companion, Mr. .Joe Harris.

Iho toilettes of the Royal ladies at the second Ascot day were brighter and prettier than ever, says an English exchange. The Queen had a white dress and a mauve high-crowned hat trimmed with a plume in front. Her white wrap had a deep collar of creamy feathers. Princess Mary was dressed entirely in apple-green, her dress and coat being of crepe do chine and her hat of palo green crinoline straw. Princess Patricia looked very lovely in a dress of cyclamen pink and a large cornflower-blue hat, that threw attractive shadows across her iace.

Ono of the smartest auctioneers in London is a woman. Every Tuesday for the past nine years Mrs. Rose Elizabeth Smethers has conducted a furniture sale in Wandsworth Road, where she carries on business in partnership with her husband. "It is hard work. I have 270 lots to sell between 4 and 7.30, but I work quickly," she told a correspondent. "There is never any nonsense or any noise in my auction rooms. I know most of my customers now, and I am on good terms with all of them. Although I do not think men ever really approve of women holding responsible positions in business they treat mo with the greatest respect, and I always obtain a fair price for my goods."

"If a girl spends her day addressing envelopes and clearing up an office many people regard it as a superior occupation to that of a girl who does the varied work of looking after a home. This is the natural result of a system of society in which the dignity of work, as such, is not recognised." These remarks were made by Miss Gwatkin, of Streatham High School, at the annual conference of the Association of Head Mistresses at West Acton. Miss Gwatkin appealed tor a higher school curriculum which caters for the practical-minded girl. "There are, of course, the girls of small ability," she said, "but I have an uneasy feeling that the schools somotimes manufacture dullards out of good material. Judge a girl by what she can do, not by what she can't do," exclaimed Miss Gwatkin, who expressed the view that the teaching of housecraft would partially solve the problem.