THE MELBOURNE CENTENARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE MELBOURNE CENTENARY

FEW WOMEN CELEBRITIES " FAIR SEX " NOT CONSIDERED Melbourne women are feeling rather more than merely disappointed at the practically complete failure of any attempt to ensure the presence of distinguished women from overseas as " celebrity " guests at the Centenary celebrations, says an Australian writer. They are inclined to think that the whole affair has been very badly managed, and are perhaps not as sympathetic as they might be with the disappointments which have come the way of the Centenary Council in this matter. The latest withdrawal is that of the Marchese Marconi, which, of course, will take away in the person of his wife one of the most beautiful women and interesting personalities who were expected to visit the country. There will, of course, be Lady Baden-Powell, Lady Milne, and Mrs. Masefield, all of whom will receive a warm welcome from the women of the State, but the list of individual women which was submitted by the Women's Centenary Council has drawn no prizes at all. There is a suggestion now that an invitation be issued to Miss Megan Lloyd George as a celebrity in her own right, but Australians feel that it has got down almost to *' peddling " invitations, with rather humiliating results. The point that women emphasise is that women like Margaret Bondficld, who was on the first list, would have to consider very seriously an invitation that would take them from their jobs for at least six months, unless some very strong inducement was placed before them. It is quite likely that Miss Bondfield, for instance, was not given the slightest idea of the warmth of welcome she would receive in every State in the Commonwealth, or of the fact that hospitality would also be assured her everywhere. She has often expressed a desire to visit Australia if it were possible, and Melbourne women feel convinced that the nature of the invitation she received on this occasion did not help to make it possible. There is quite definitely a feeling that the women have not been given the consideration they regard as their due in this matter of Centenary celebration.