DISTINGUISHED VISITOR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 22

DISTINGUISHED VISITOR

KEEN PLUNKET WORKER LADY VICTORIA BRAITHWAITE " Auckland people must be not only good workers, but also good givers, said Lady Victoria Braithwaite, who, with her husband, Colonel F. P. Braithwaite, of Denver, England, is visiting Auckland. She arrived yesterday morning by the Mariposa. Lady Victoria Braithwaite, before her marriage to Colonel Braithwaite, was well-known to New Zealanders as Lady Plunket, the wife of the late Lord Plunket, a former Governor of New Zealand. Very interested in the Plunket movement, Lady Victoria Braithwaite said yestordav that she was amazed and delighted at the rapid progress made in the work in Auckland. When she left New Zealand for England in 1910, there was only one Plunket nurse in Auckland. Slio visited the Plunket home yesterday afternoon, and she said that on every hand she noticed signs of the generosity of the people in endowed cots and various other gifts. The Movement in England In England, she said, Plunket work had spread all over the country until it was known in every corner. They now had their own Plunket training home very much after the manner of the Karitane hospitals, and the number of nurses entering for training was increasing steadily. A tremendous amount of welfare work was being carried out by the Plunket workers and she anticipated even greater help in the future. She was looking forward_ to visiting the Punket homes in Wellington and Dunedin. She also hoped to meet Sir Truby King in Wellington. _ Auckland itself was to Lady Victoria Braithwaite a city changed almost beyond recognition. She said she was amazed at the progress made on every hand and in every way. Describing her voyage out from England Lady Victoria said she considered her visit to Hollywood one of her most interesting experiences. " It is remarkable how easily the camera can deceive you," Bhe sai'd. " I have lost all my illusions about films, but happily, when I see them I forget all about the deception." A Visit to Hollywood Lady Victoria Braithwaite gave an amazing description of one of her visits to a Hollywood studio when scenes from " Romeo and Juliet " were being " shot." She said the entire cast, dressed in the costumes of the period, stood or sat about the studio, knitting, reading, sleeping and talking until they were called. All about them was built the romantic city square. " I felt the most inoongru9us and insignificant person there," said Lady Victoria. " I was wearing ordinary everyday clothes in a world of romantic and beautiful costumes and scenery." Lady Victoria Braithwaite and her husband are accompanied by Lord Trent and Lady Trent, and their daughter, the Hon. Mary Boot, on a round-the-world tour. Lady Trent and her daughter, who are also interested in Plunket work, visited the Plunket homo in Auckland yesterday afternoon with Lady Braithwaite. This is their first visit to New Zealand and Lady Trent expressed the opinion that tho Dominion fully lived up to all she had heard of it. She was delighted with the variety of scenery she had already seen ill such a short stay and she was eagerly looking forward to visiting the South Island, Rotorua and the Waitomo Caves.

The party will leave Auckland to-day for Wellington, and after a brief tour of the Dominion will leave for Sydney and later for Java.