SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 3

SOCIAL NEWS.

Mrs. K. Woodley, of Now Plymouth, is staying at the Station Hotel. " Mrs. A. Wood, of Christchurch, is visiting Auckland and is staving at the Grand Hotel. Mrs. J. ,T. Gatenbv. of Hastings, is visiting Auckland and is staying at the Grand Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. A. Hopkirk. of Cambridge, have taken a house at Takapuna for the holidays. Miss M. S. Gillander, who has been visiting Rotorua, has returned to her home at Carlton Gore Road. Mrs. E. S. Donald and her daughters, of Wat ling Street, Epsom, are spending the holidays at Takapuna. The Misses Audrey and Shirley Garland, of St. Michaels, Waiuku, are spending the New Year holidays at Taupo. • Lady Hunter, of Wellington, lias returned to Auckland from a visit to the North, and is staying at the Grand Hotel. Mrs. F. ,7. B. Ityluirn and the Misses Yvonne and Betty Ryburn, of Te Awamutu, are spending the holidays in Rotorua. Mrs. E. C. Brewis, of Hamilton, and Mrs. W. S. Philip, of Melbourne, are among the visitors staying at the Grand Hotel. Mrs. Abner Doble, of England, has returned to Auckland from a motor tour of the North Island, and is at the Grand Ho,el. Mrs. F. G. Mabbatt, who has been spending Christmas with her mother, Mrs. Scott Shaw, of Manurcwa, left yesterday for Whangarei. Mrs. M. A. Munro and Miss Jean Munro, of Claudelands, Hamilton, are on a short visit to the North and are the guests of Mrs. Harwood, Hakea-Nui, Wellsford. Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Woodall, of Wellington, are visiting Auckland, where they are the guests of Mrs. Henry Kent, Fairfax Road. Epsom. They will leave on Saturday for Rotorua. The award of Legion of Honour for 25 years of life and work as an artist in Paris was recently made to Miss Bessie Davidson, who is an Australian of Scottish descent. A hand-book on motor roads in China has been compiled and published for the first time in English by Miss A. Viola Smith, United States Trade Commissioner at Shanghai, in co-operation with Anselm Chuh, Chinese secretary. A woman who carried a secret and important message through the Prussian lines from one French general |o another during the Franco-Prussian War was recently awarded a. "('arte de Combattant." Thus, at the age of 91. Madame Hild, of Metz, has been officially recognised as a soldier. The Princess Esma. of Algeria, is said to be Turkey's first woman journalist. She began her professional career as a writer for L'Akcham, a Stamboul evening paper published in Turkish, French or English with equal facility. She is about to enter a course of journalistic study at Rockford College, Illinois. A unique and interesting position is held by Mrs. FitzSimons, F.R.Z.S., who has been on the staff of the museum in Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, for over 16 years. She is one of the few women able to assist her husband in his work and has had a thorough training in all branches of museum activities. Her special bent is organising. The only voman to be elected Lord Mayor in the recent municipal elections in England was Alderman Miss Florence Farmer, at Stoke-on-Trent.. She wore the same mayoral chain as her father wore when he was Mayor of the old town of Longton, now part of Stoke. Miss Farmer will preside over a council of 112, most of whom are men. The first woman to be elected to any Government in the Near East is Mrs. Afmolamure, a native of Ceylon, who was recently elected by an enormous majority to the' Ceylon Legislative Council at a byelection. Mrs. Afmolamure. who is the wife of the Speaker of the Council, lakes the place of Mendi Wa Adicar, a famous elephant hunter, who died recently. A London woman lawyer, Miss Carrie Morrison, recently pleaded at the annual conference of the Law Society for the .establishment of domestic courts to deal with matrimonial differences arid family quarrels. " I believe such courts would meet a widespread need, create happier homes, a more reasonable attitude to marriage, and consequently a better race," Miss Morrison said. A political education college for women, situated 30 miles from Stockholm, is kept 'by a Miss Elizabeth Tamm, a leading Danish feminist, who was once a member of Parliament. Women of all ages and classes are students at the school, where they are taught all aspects of politics, municipal affairs and social welfare. Women up to 57 years of ago are students there. Women had a big part in the general election in Britain, one of the most interesting and important duties being undertaken by Mrs. R. R. Bentley, who was in charge of the arrangements of the volunteer band of airmen and airwomen who placed their services at the disposal of the National Government candidates. Lady Bailey and Miss Winifred Spooner also assisted in the work. The latest volume of the Notable British Trials series, entitled "Lbe Case of Alfred Arthur Rouse," has been edited by a senior practising woman barrister at the English Bar, Mrs. Helena Normanton. This brilliant barrister was admitted to the Middle Temple, in 1919, was called to the Bar three years later, and was the first woman barrister to be briefed at ITie English High Court of Justice. One of the most novel wedding gifts on record was received by Miss Rosalind Henley, who recently married Captain George Pitt-Rivers, once in Australia as A.D.C. to Lord Forster, the GovernorGeneral. The present from her finance was a laboratory fitted up at their home in Dorset. It was a recognition of the fact that although only 24 years of age Miss Henley achieved distinction in chemical research work.

One woman living in Sydney knows more about a famous war sector than many of the Australian ex-soldiers. She is Mrs. Margot Adcock, who was horn at Rouiers, France, and went to school at Ypres, using the Menin road. Her family, who were living in Rouiers when the German advance troops arrived, moved to Poperinghe, where she met her future husband. Major Gurnet Adcock, of the 2nd Australian Tunnellers.

A well-known social worker in England, Miss ,T. E. Iligsori, intends visiting South Africa in March of next year. Miss Higson began her missions and work in the poorest district of Liverpool, but later, when the worth of her. work hecame' known, she went further afield. During the war she went to France and opened refuges at Havre and Rouen and was later one of the six women sent to India'on a "Mission of Help."

i lie leading wardrobe mistress of England, Mrs. Harding, of the London Pavilion, has a very important work to do. The theatrical wardrobe over which she presides comprises 700 costumes, 700 pairs of shoes, over 1000 pairs of silk stockings at 30s a pair, together with the hats and etceteras of a huge cast of principals and chorus. Only 10 years ago Mrs. Harding " dressed " her first stage production, a fairy play at a school. A brilliant, woman who attended the League of Nations Assembly at Geneva is Miss May Oung, a Burmese school teacher, aged 27. Miss Oung is a vicepresident of the National Council of Women of her country, and was one of the eight women who formed a Women's Consultative Committee last July in connection with the League of Nations to deal with the question of tho nationality of married women. A woman journalist, who has travelled round (he world, at the same time managing lo support herself in comfort, is Miss Alice Sehalek. of Vienna. She has been connected with an Austrian paper for almost 30 years and writes for papers in Germany, Holland, France, America and various illustrated London papers. Miss Sehalek has the distinction of being the only woman war correspondent, on the Austrian front. The Austrian Government- awarded her the officers' bravery decoration. An enjoyable musical recital was presented recently bv the pupils of Miss Myrtle Phillips to an appreciative audience of parents and friends. Violin solos were contributed by Margaret James, elocution items by Alma Haynes and a humorous play by pupils of Miss E. Blamires. Miss Phillips played a flute solo, also a pianoforte duet with Miss E. Piper. Pianoforte solos, duets, and trios were given by the following:—Molly Ashley, Mary Bannatyre, Betty Bowden, Winnie Bowman, Lois Davidson, Irene Dennis, Ailene and Betty Eaton, Pat and Joan Roberts, Albert Brow new, Alan Craig and Charles Vincent. Miss Vera Fielder, assisted by her advanced students, held a bfeaking-up party at the studio. Pianoforte solos were rendered by tho Misses Molly and Betty Langdon, Marie Santo, Dorothy Oram, Betty Hardy, Muriel Sleeman and Edna Buchanan. Vocal numbers by little Betty Langdon and Miss May Rowbothain were greatly appreciated. Supper arrangements were in the hands of Mrs. Santo and Mrs. Field. Others present were Misses Eva Harris, Phillis Milligan, Eileen Stanley, Bonnie and Tbelnia Midler. Jean Oram, Sylvia Gilbert, Marjory Spiers, Dorothy Weller, Jean \\ at son, Kitty Blincow "and Messrs. Tom Dunn, Ernest Hardy, Bruce Giles and Lloyd St en beck.