SCHOOLGIRLS' TOUR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21899, 7 September 1934, Page 16

SCHOOLGIRLS' TOUR

PARITY FROM ENGLAND WEEK IN NEW ZEALAND BENEFITS OF THE JOURNEY [from our own correspondent] LONDON, August 4 Twenty-five happy schoolgirls left London yesterday for a tour round the world. They are travelling by the Rotorua and will have from two to four days in Fiji, arriving at Wellington on September 20. They will spend a week in New Zealand, during which they will be i:he guests of members of the Victoria League, who have co-operated with the Oversea Settlement of British Women in arranging the tour. The girls represent 16 English schools. The party assembled in London the day before departure, and on that afternoon they were entertained at the headquarters of the Victoria League. Next day, before entraining, the girls were addressed by Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, Parliamentary Under-Secre-tary to the Dominions Office. The girls are 17 and 18 years of age. Dame Meriel Talbot introduced Mr. MacDonald. Addressing the girls Mr. Mac Donald said: —"You are going to see a vast part of the world not through the eyes of some lecturer or writer, but through your own eves. You will learn a great deal and gain the most vivid impressions of that extraordinary phenomenon, the British Empire, with its extraordinary mixture of countries and people living under the British Crown —ancient countries, with ancient roots, and other countries entirely new with no roots in tho past, but looking forward to the future instead. There is New Zealand, one of the most attractive lands in the whole world, and Australia, a country with a population of seven million, but where in the future 40 or 50 million people may be living." v , , „ The director of the party is Miss Edith Thompson, whose capabilities as a leader and guardian Mr. Mac Donald had highly praised., The assistant director is Miss Jean Stevenson, sports mistress.