HOSPITALITY SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22618, 5 January 1937, Page 3

HOSPITALITY SCHEME

ORGANISATION IN LONDON RENDEZVOUS FOR STUDENTS WORK DONE BY WOMEN An interesting visitor to New Zealand shortly will be Miss Celia Macdonald of the Isles, who is at present visiting Melbourne and who lias been 11 familiar figure for many years throughout the Mmpire. Her father, who holds a Nova Scotia baronetcy, was Chief of the Sleat branch of the Clan Donald, and, as such, was known as Baron of the Isles. Dominions' officers 011 leave in London during the Great War, have reason to recall the kindly supervision exercised by Miss Macdonald as assistant to Lady Frances Ryder in arranging hospitality for them while convalescing in England. Since then, under a special voluntary hospitality scheme for the benefit of Rhodes scholars and students from all parts of the Empire, Miss Macdonald has looked after a family of between 3GOO and 1700 young men and women each year. The organisation, of which Miss Macdonald is now in sole charge, owing to the ill-health of Lady Frances, is affiliated with the joint committee of Empire Societies, and has its headquarters in London. It has become a popular rendezvous for young folk who are anxious to make those contacts which prove invaluable if one is to derive the fullest benefit from a period overseas. They enjoy the friendly informal atmosphere of the club teas, held every afternoon except Saturday and Sunday, and opportunities for seeing the English countryside afforded by the hospitality arranged for them in various parts of England during the vacation, or for week-ends during term. Miss Macdonald takes a great interest in what she terms "her large family." She left England in September last on a voyage which was prompted largely by health reasons, but the itinerary has been planned and adapted to enable her to visit her friends in many parts of the Empire. For seven weeks before going to Australia she travelled in South Africa, where she was the guest for a period of the Governor-General (the Earl of Clarendon') and Lady Clarendon in Pretoria, while she also stayed at Government House in Salisbury.

M iss Macdonald said she was known as Miss Macdonald of the Isles, because she was the daughter of the Chief of the Clan, and in further explanation said the Isles meant the Outer and Inner Hebrides, but the Macdonalds no longer held property there, nor, indeed, any property in Scotland.