SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19447, 1 October 1926, Page 9

SOCIAL NEWS.

Smellie and Miss Bertram, of Wellington, are on a visit to Waitomo Caves and Auckland. Mrs. J. Atkins, who has just completed a six! months' tour of Australia, | has retuifoed to Auckland. | Miss Cecil Hall leaves by the Marama j to-day on a visit to England and France. She expects to be away about six months. A dance was held at the Lyceum C'iub • last evening which was "successfully arranged by Mrs. Eric Waters, Mrs. Grew and Mi si Hooker. The hostesses were Mrs. Eric Waters. Mrs. Cadoux and Mrs. Bullock. The ballroom was charmingly decorated in a scheme of green and gold. Festoons of gold and green balloons were suspended overhead and Iceland poppies effectively decorated the dais. In the supper' room*(.he tables were prettily arranged with spring flowers. Millicent Duchess of Sutherland has dramatised her novel-, "That Fool of a Woman,." which she published a year ago. lty-is in the hands of a London manager, who is much'impressed with its possibilities and may produce it in a few months. Meanwhile the duchess is in Venice. The characters in "That' Fool of a Woman" are said to have living prototypes in the London of to-day. For weeks after the novel was published people discussed whether their friends were included. Lady Cecil, C.8.E., and Miss Margaret Cecil went with Mrs. Buckleton, president of the Wellington Victoria League, to the opening of tne Marsden School on Tuesday afternoon, and left by the Tahiti for Sydney, in the evening. "Miss Cecil, who has written a book dealing with flowers and plants,. %vas much interested in the, native productions of New Zealand, and took what opportunities she could In her brief visit to study the available ones to be found in or near tlie cities. A year ago w J ornen .were all slavishly following tbp same style and trying to get their heads to look as like one another as so many boot buttons, says a fashionable hairdresser. Now, although their hair is no longer, there is more individuality about it. For instance, one or two smart women have let their side-pieces grow long, and either wound, them over the ears or crossed 'hem at the nape of the neck. This is an excellent idea for the woman who is t;o longer very young, as it av.vds the Lard at the back of the neck,* while keeping the head small and sleik. Lady Doris Hilda Gordon-Lennox will accompany the Duchess of York to New Zealand. Lady Dbris, who is 30 years of* age, is a life-long friend of the Duchess, says an English writer. She Ls a daughter of the Earl of March, and married Lieutenant Vvner in 1923. She has one daughter, born in 1924, and named Elizabeth, after the Duchess. Her husband is Lieutenant Clare » George Vvner, who won his rank in 1916. and is 32 years of age, He and his wife have frequently entertained the Duke and Duchess at their home, Studley Royal, Ripon. / One woman in every 40 in England and Wales is a member of a women's institute. This was one of the striking state*ments about the progress of the movement mad'' at the annual gathering of the National Federation of Women's Institutes, ai the Queen's Hall. If the count were made of the mral population only, the proportion would obviously be still more impressive. ' Another illustration of the stage the movement , has reached after 10 years' work is the fact that, there is a prospect, as the treasurer announced, of the Government grant being dispensed with altogether in 1926-7. Women of fashion in Paris are said to be indulging in a new walk. When flares and flounces w-ere popular women walked briskly to show them off, but now that they have gone a new walk called "the shawl walk" has come in. It is rather languid and'is supposed to suggest the somnolent beauties of Spain. Mannequins and those who always like to be in the forefront of fashion are i said to be practising the shawl walk - assiduously. The legion of men who"already cry out that a woman is never punctual will surely protest vigorously if women ' adopt a slow, casual style of walking. Considerable difficulty is being experienced by many of the hospitals, particularly the smaller institutions, in securing * nurses and probationers, of the right type, says a London paper. It was hoped "that interest in this great profession ycould be increased by the llospital, Health, Nurswg and Midwifery Exhibition and Conference, held at the Central Hall. Westminster, under the patronage of Princess Marie Louise. Matrons, nurses, and health workers from all over the country attended the exhibition and lectures, and there Was a representative display of the latest discoveries for use in the hospital and sick room. Just before her election the Parliamentary- questionnaire was put to Miss Bondficld, the well-known Labour member: She answered frankly. She was against compulsory retirement of married women fronv State employment "unless efficiency was not maintained." She favoured family allowances, but objected to these being gained through a wages pool. She would allow, but not encourage, information on birth contfol (a subject much discussed at present in England). As regards restrictive legislation coriceraing women's employment, jsuch as the much-debated lead-paint, question, "she confessed that she had strong views, which she would discuss with any persons sent to her for that purpose.