A HOSTESS SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20303, 10 July 1929, Page 17

A HOSTESS SCHEME.

FOR FOREIGN FRIENDS. j A correspondent has some interesting suggestions to make in regard to the entertainment of visitors from foreign countries tu New Zealand. She writes : This visit of the Kmden has set many of us thinking ahout the whole problem of our relations, as women of New /ea land, to our foreign guests. We have seen, with our own eyes, men Iroin a former enemy country who are not tiic gross beings we were (aught to believe l them during tho war, but gentlemen— J courteous, kindly, and understanding. ; For wherever they have gone in Auckland people liavo spoken well ol tliem. Their visit aroused discussion before their arrival; il made nn issue, as il were, for all of lis to consider; in fact, Auckland became a glorified Hyde Park w here people aired their feelings and expressed much that cleared the ground for the visit itself. .Dubious wu all were u) the outcome. But thanks to (Ik: good temper inherent in New Zealanders we were able to meet our guests half-wav, while they, on their pari, far exceeded our expectations. Now some ot us are wondering whether our mild hostility was not due primarily to our isolated position in the Pacific; v.hcther, indeed, most hostility is not due to lack of real knowledge of eaeli other by the various peoples of tho world. In England today they recognise this fact, and tho Leagu'n of Nations Union in London has tried to overcome that situation by creating ti hostess list. That is to say, each woman who is a member of the League stales just, what amount of hospitality she is prepared to give to members from League of Nations Unions in other countries. Tho latter are reciprocating. Some English women offer to entertain one or more foreign guests for certain evenings; others for weekends; some for longer periods. Fifteen hundred English women, immediately after the war when the- children of Austria were on the verge of starvation, opened their homos and kept one or mot"0 of the children for as long as 10 months in somo cases. On the other hand, some women, with very little income but with large hearts, slate they would be glad to have foreign visitors, providing the latter could pay for their food. Several women in Auckland, feeling they have little or no opportunity of meeting foreign guests individually, have been discussing the possibility of having similar hostess lists here. To begin with, they are thinking of asking the Auckland branch of (ho League of Nations Union to take their names so that when interesting foreign friends arrive in town they can meet them and have as many of (heir own Auckland friends present v for the sfiiiiG evening as possible. i Perchance, they think, there may be

other Auckland families who would itko to bo hostesses in a similar way. No largo organisation, such as the London branch has, is necessary here in Auckland, but individual entertaining on a vcrv small scale is what those in Auckland who wish to make, wide and interesting contacts aro hoping to accomplish.