RECEPTION HELD AT CLUB

Southland Times, Issue 23782, 1 April 1939, Page 9

RECEPTION HELD AT CLUB

Amusing Views On

Indian Life

MRS RITCHIE CRAWFORD

ENTERTAINED A reception was held at the Womens Club yesterday afternoon in honour or Mrs A. F. Ritchie Crawford, president of the club, who has recently returned from a visit to India. The room, which was decorated with bowls of dahlias, sweet peas and mixed flowers, was crowded with members who had come to welcome Mrs Crawford. Apologies for absence were received from Mesdames Munnings, Derbie, Parfitt, Uttley and Miss Watts. Mrs Stanley Brown, acting president during Mrs Crawford’s absence, bade welcome to her on behalf of the members and said she was pleased to relinquish her temporary position in favour of Mrs Crawford. A presentation of a corsage of apricot and lemon abutilons was then made to the guest of honour by Mrs Brumby, president of the Garden Circle. Mrs Crawford replied. During the afternoon Mrs Crawford gave a talk on her trip, in which she gave a vivid description of Calcutta, as it appeared to her unaccustomed eyes. The ceaseless noise and the neverending crowds seemed to her almost overwhelming. The universal habit of chewing betel nut, with the unpleasant accompaniment, stained not only the people’s teeth a bright red, but also the pavements. Mrs Crawford spoke of the appalling number of beggars, not all genuine, but many of them deformed.

Motoring in Calcutta was done under the utmost difficulty because of the great number of goats, bulls and cows wandering at will all over the place. Time appeared to be of no account and traffic regulations of little significance and if congestion occurred in the street, bullocks were unhitched and driven off in one direction and the wagon pushed away in another. Since the advent of the taxi in India the rickshaw is used only by the natives. One outstanding characteristic of the Indian, Mrs Crawford, noticed, was his perfect carriage, due to the fact that everything was carried on his head. The children she thought very beautiful and they were usually quite innocent of all clothing. Speaking of her experience of living in a private house in India, Mrs Crawford explained that all floors were made of concrete or some similar material, to discourage ants and other insects. Coolies are so numerous that for a small family four have the sole task of tending the flower garden and another four the vegetable garden. Others have the sweeping of floors as their mission in life. Mrs Crawford found the Indians wonderfully loyal, and before her departure 91 children gathered at the house to bid her farewell and even sat patiently for an hour and a-half waiting for her to make an appearance. They brought gifts of . paperflowers and even made speeches. At the conclusion of the afternoon Mrs A. M. Macdonald expressed thanks and appreciation to Mrs Crawford for her very comprehensive talk. Those present were:—Mesdames Stanley Brown, J. Robertson, Roy Anderson, H. R. Gibson, I. Wilson, H. H. Roy ds, Minhinnick (Auckland), J. A. Thomson, J. Thomson, A. M. Macdonald, P. B. Macdonald, A. Cutt, J. G. Macdonald, D. Cochran, M. W. Morrison, M. C. Donaldson, J. T. Carswell, D. M. Scandrett, R. M. Strang, J. McCrostie, H. Brumby, A. E. H. Bath, D. W. McKay, A. C. Dickens, J. S. Brass, P. Frampton, H. Drees, G. W. Milward, S. W. Jones, J. F. Strang, B. W. Hewat, N. Earl, W. R. Mabson, S. J. Randle, D. Macpherson, A. W. Taylor, H. J. Pennington, J. N. Armour, R. C. Barrett, J. J. Purvis, C. F. Hackworth, G. C. Tapper, J. R. Sutton, E. K. Mills, W. Hinchey, E. V. McKeever.

Misses M. Hamilton, M. L. Cowan, B. Asher, Lumsden, J. E. McLeod, J. Stewart, I. Smyth, M. Ryan, J. J. Nicoll, V. White, D Fairweather, C. McLeod, O. Rein, M. Casey, D. Brodrick.'