WOMEN OF DOMINION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18398, 16 May 1934, Page 7

WOMEN OF DOMINION

FINE TYPE PRAISED LORD P,LED!SLOE’S TRIBUTE A thoughtful address touching on various subjects was delivered by Lord Biedisloe at the Mothers’ pay rally, held in the Auckland Town Hall. His had been deeply impressed, lie said, with the numbers and earnestness ol Die assemblage, and with the beautifully eloquent and penetrating address of Dr. Graham Seroggie. As Dr. Scroggie had pointed out, in. these days when among large numbers of people brought up in good homes there was a disinclination either to practice or to preach their religion, there was yet a strong nucleus in this Dominion—to which His Excellency could testify—oi solid, earnest, God-fearing people whose power for good was simply enormous il they would but realise it and exercise it. “For over four years my wife and 1 have lived amongst you, and travelled extensively with our eyes and ears open,” said His Excellency. ►‘After a full experience of life, and with a knowledge of most parts of the world, I can confidently and without exaggeration describe as ‘wonderful’ four of your, outstanding national possessions—your climate, your scenery, your native bush and your women. There is nd finer type of woman in the world; and those who are not. true to type, whether amid affluent surroundings or in humble cottage homes, are conspicuous by their abnormality. “Only the wholesome atmosphere of: a good home, and a deep consciousness of the responsibilities of motherhood 1 can produce the type of woman which has in the past made for the physical, mental, moral and spiritual well-being of New Zealand. “I say advisedly ‘in the past,’ because there are influences abroad in the world to-day which are operating against the incalculable influence of home surroundings and the responsibilities of motherhood under the delusive appellation of freedom. Impatience of control, whether parental or scholastic, unless accompanied by the strictest self-discipline, is apt to lead to moral degeneration and social anarchy. . . . “The observance, of ‘Mothering Sunday’ is definitely worth while if it reminds us all of our mutual family obligations as well as of our beneficent home influence, and thus contributes materially to the sturdy virility of the community among whom we live, conscious always that the greatness of every nation has its foundation in the homes of its people.”