“BIG BROTHER MOVEMENT.”

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19785, 10 May 1926, Page 15

“BIG BROTHER MOVEMENT.”

MRS DE CASTRO HONOURED. DEPARTURE FOR AUSTRALIA. (Fkom Odb Own Cobeespondent.) LONDON, March 18. There are thousands o£ men all over the Empire to whom the name of Mrs de Castro conjures up visions of a vyartime camp in Cairo (says the Daily Telegraph). To the soldiers who passed through it she was always known as '‘Little Mother,” and befriended them in innumerable ways. ' Her knowledge ol conditions in Australia and Great Britain prompted the founders of the Big Brother Movement after the war to ask her to organise the movement in Great Britain, and, having accocmplished this task with signal success, she is about to return to Australia whore she will continue her efforts for this important Imperial movement. A farewell dinner in her honour was given by the Public Service Board of the Lyceum Club thi g week. Mrs de Castro was presented by the Duchess of Atholl, M.P., with a silver casket containing a cheque as a token of appreciation from hundreds of supporters of the movement in this country- There were, she said, enough “big brothers” to last Australia two years. Mrs Halford Hewitt (in the chair) wished there was a corresponding movement for the hundreds of girls who had no chance of marriage in this country. Many of them might find “big brothers" in Australia.—(Laughter.) Sir Kinloch Cooke said that, although he had had to do with emigration schemes for thirty years, the Big Brother Movement was one of the best schemes he had ever heard of. It dealt with boys from 14 to 21 year s of age, whom we found it very difficult to place in this country. There were 500,000 boys leaving school in England and Scotland every year. In Australia there was scope for every one of them, and under the Bie Broth'r scheme they would be brought up on the land. The Duchess of Atholl said that one could understand why, until the advent of this scheme, child emigration had not progressed fast. Expressing her admiration of the work done by Mrs de Castro, she added: “My respect for Mrs. de Castro was all the greater because I found when I met her in Egypt during the war. that she would not take ‘no’ from commandors-in-chief.” Among the guests present were: Lady Muriel Paget, Lord and Lady Denman, Sir C Kinloch Cooke and Lady Kinloch Cooke, Lady Cowan, Sir A. and Lady Weigall, Lord Haddow, Dame Meriel Talbot, Dr Selwyn Clarke, Mrs Percy Penn Clarke, Dr M. M. Hyde Clarke, the Rev. B. G. Bourchier, Agent for Western Australia, Lady Connolly, Dr Kimmino, the Agent-general for Tasmania. Letters of regret were received from Lord Forster (late Governor-General for Australia), Lord Apsley, and Lord Clarendon. The evening passed off with great enthusiasm. SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS. Mrs de Castro has done excellent spade work during the last few months, having organised and addressed meetings in many county centres, where branches have since been formed. At Bournemouth (Hants), for instance, a big meeting was held, the speakers, in addition to Mrs de Castro herself, being Lord Clarendon and Mr H. Page-Croft. At Manchester the Lord Mayor called a meeting, which passed off with much enthusiasm, and again Lord Clarendon was one of the speakers. The Duke of Sutherland and Brigadier-general the Hon. R. White spoke at Guildford (Surrey) meeting, where a branch has been formed. At Salisbury the Lord Mayor called a meeting, and at this one of the speakers was General Sir A. <). Godley, who was very keen about the Big Brother Movement, and who was able to speak with a personal knowledge both of Australia and New Zealand. Mrs de Castro, of course, takes a leading part on every occasion. Other meetings are to be held in Leeds. Bradford. Sheffield, Portsmouth —to mention just a few populous places where there is good material for carrying out the movement, —and the speakers will include Lord Forster, Lord Apsley, Sir A. Weigall, and Mr St. J. Hughes (vice-chairman of the Big Brother Movement in Australia). At a luncheon in Mrs de Castro's honour the Right Hon. L. S. Amery will speak, and there will be a reception by the English-speaking Union. The Duchess of Atholl was one of the first people to meet Mrs de Castro on her arrival in England, and she, together with Mrs Amery, has shown a great interest in the movement. They are anxious that Mrs de Castro should take a trip to Australia to fet in touch with the boys who already ave gone out, and naturally she will go on to New Zealand, where she hopes interest will be shown in this movement, which promises to be such a huge success, and which, of course, originated with a quondam New Zealander, Mr Richard Linton. New branches are being formed all over England, and good service is being fiven by the Women’s Empire League. Irs de Castro has meetings arranged for April dates, so she will not leave until after then. A few weeks will be spent first in France. The Duke of Sutherland is patron of the Big Brother Movement in this country, and the vice-presidents are: The Duchess of Atholl, M.P., Mrs Amery, Right Hon. Earl Beauchamp, Right Hon. Lord Belper, Captain J. Boyd-Carpeuter, Right Hon. Lord Carmichael, Sir Henry Cowan, M.P., Sir James Connolly, Right Hon. Sir Joseph Cook, Sir Clement Kinloch Cooke, M.P., Brigadier-general Sir Wyndham Deedes, Right Hon. Lord Denman, Mr John Douglas, Lieutenant-colonel Sir Henry Galway, Mr John Galsworthy, Dr Haden Guest, M.P., Sir James Blacklock Henderson, Right Hon. the Earl of Kintore, Right Hon. Lord remington, Sir Arthur Lawley, Right Hon. Lord Leigh, the Marquess of Lincolnshire, M.- and Mrs Richard Linton, Sir Henry M‘Mahon, Lord Richard Nevill, Sir Newton Moore, M.P., Viscount Novar Sir Franc Nevvdegate, Major the Hon. W. G. A. OrmsbyGore, M.P., Lady Muriel Paget, Lieuten-ant-general Sir R. Baden Powell, Sir Gerald Struckland, M.P., Mr A. A. Somerville, M.P., Sir Charles Sherrington, Right Hon. Lord Stanley of Alderley. Dame Meriel Talbot, Right Hon, Lord Tennyson, Right Hon. J ( . ti Tho as, M.P., Sir Charles Walston, Lieutenant-colonel Sir Archibald Weigall, and Mr B. Crempton Wood. M.P. The General Committee is composed of well-known people, who include: Mrs Amery, Rev. Canon A. T. Barnett (Church Army), Rev. W. Pennington Bickford, Rev. R. L. Gwynne, Admiral Henry Campbell, Professor J. R. Ainsworth Davis, Mr W. A. Bulkeley Evans, the Hon. George Fairbairn, Lieutenant-colonel Sir Henry Galway, Sir Robert Gower, M.P., Mr L. St. Clare Crondona, Sir Godfrey Lagden, Surgeon-commander C. C. Macmillan, R.N., Sir Alfred Pickford, Kt. (Boy Scouts), Miss Gladys Pott, Sir Charles Sherrington and Lady Sherrington, Mr J. J. Virgo, Major-general A. G. Wauchope.