SCHOOL GIRLS' TOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22369, 17 September 1934, Page 16

SCHOOL GIRLS' TOUR

DEPARTURE FROM LONDON LINKS OF EMPIRE MR M. MACDONALD'S RECOLLECTIONS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, August 4. . Twenty-five' very fortunate and very happy schoolgirls set out yesterday for a tour round the world. They are travelling by the Rotorua and will have from two to four days in Fiji, arriving in Wellington on September 20. Doubtless before they leave for Australia they will be regretting that they have only six days in New Zealand. Those will be crowded days, during which they, will be the guests of members of the Victoria League, who have co-operated with the Oversea Settlement of British Women in arranging the tour. The party assembled in London the day before departure, and on that afternoon they were entertained at the headquarters of the Victoria League. Next day, before entraining, the girls met in rooms adjoining Liverpool Street Station and were addressed by Mr Malcolm MacDonald, Parliamentary Under-secretary, Dominions Office.. The girls are 17 and 18 years of age, but by the casual.observer they might all be taken for over 20. Dame Meriel Talbot introduced Mr MacDonalcl. "You are starting out on an adventure," he said, "which everybody would like to have. The experience will be unforgettable even if you live as long as Methusaleh. The best form of education is the education of travel. You are going to see a vast part of the .world not through the of some lecturer or writer but through your own eyes. You will learn a great deal and gain the most vivid impressions of that extraordinary phenomenon, the British Empire, with its extraordinary mixture of countries and people living under the British Crown —ancient countries with ancient roots, and other countries entirely new with no roots in the past, but 'looking forward to the future instead. There is New Zealand, one of the most attractive .lands in the whole world, and Australia, a country with a population of seven millions, but where in the future 40 or 50 million people may be living. " You will learn a very great deal, and receive a very great deal of kindness, and the greatest possible hospitality. But, remember, we expect you to give as well as take. You have got a reputation as schoolgirls of Great Britain in your keeping. Leave behind you a good impression wherever you go. If you do this, you will be helping to bind closer together the peoples of the Empire wherever they live all over the world." Before the party went to the station platform they were presented with badges, and each with a box of chocolates presented by Dowager Viscountess Harcourt. Three hearty cheers were given by friends and relatives as the train moved away, and the girls, etill smiling, waved tljeir adieus. NAMES AND SCHOOLS. The director of the party is Miss Edith Thompson, C.8.E., who is known in New Zealand, and whose capabilities as a leader and guardian Mr MacDonald had highly praised. The assistant director is Miss Jean Steven Son, a sports mistress, who will be responsible for the girls' physical welfare. The full list of the girls, with their home counties and their schools, is as follows: — Rachel Aldridge (Hampshire), Bournemouth H.S.: Diana Burgin (Herts), Ethel Jarvis (Herts). Winifred Nelson (Herts) and Kathleen O'Brien (Herts), St. George's, Harpenden; Jean "Byford (Lanes.), Joan Druce (Dorset), Mary Jordan (Lanes), Rhoda Phillips (Surrey) and Margaret Tocher (Dorset). Liverpool College, Huyton; Barbara Corfield (London), Frances Holland School; Joan Dowsett (Essex), Woodford County H.S.; Catherine Few (Sussex), "St. Clair," Tun bridge Wells; Helen Few (Cambs.), Benenden School, Cranbrook; Ruth Few (Cambs.), Helen Wates (Kent), St. Felix School, Southwold; 'Ozelia Kidd (Devonshire), student»at Farm Institute, NOrthans; Janet King (London), Fredville Park, Mornington, Kent; Catherine King (London), Blackheath H.S.; Ruth Kitson (Sussex), Downe House, Newbury; Doreen Oldfield (Wilts.), Sherborne School, Dorset; Audrey Pope (Sussex), Cheltenham Ladies' College, Barbara Townsend (Somerset), " Highfield," Watford; Patricia Townsend (Somerset), West Cliff House, Weston-super-Mare; and Elizabeth Waller (Dorset), St.. Mary's School, Calne.