ENGLISH SCHOLAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23400, 17 July 1939, Page 4

ENGLISH SCHOLAR

VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND EXPERIENCES IN RUSSIA An insight into standards of life in Russia was gained during a tour of the country this year by Mrs. J. A. W. Bennett, who, with her husband, Dr. Bennett, formerly of Auckland, and now a Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford, arrived by the Mataroa on Saturday on a two months' visit to the Dominion. Mrs. Bennett, who is an Oxford graduate, is on her first trip to New Zealand. Mrs. Bennett's tour in Russia took her into the Ukraine, an area not usually visited by tourists. She said the people seemed well contented with the regime and were well fed and warmly clad. Fashions, however, were those ruling in England about six years ago. Until a few years ago the people were still not adequately shod, and some wore linen rags round their feet instead of shoes. This difficulty had now apparently been overcome. The interest take in cultural subjects also impressed Mrs. Bennett. Ballet and opera performances in Moscow were booked out, largely by factory and similar workers. Moscow, like other cities in the country, was still in a state of transition, and fine new structures and concrete roads adjoined tumble-down buildings and rutted Mrs. Bennett, who secured the degree of 8.A., B.Litt., at Oxford, writes for several leading English publications. On the trip to New Zealand she completed a book of poems on which she has been engaged for some time. She is also working on a novel of Oxford life and on a book about her experiences in Russia. In the academic field, Mrs. Bennett is one of the editors of the Scottish Text Society, and is also engaged in preparing a Dictionary of Older Scottish for American publishers.