DAME MASSEY’S WORK APPRECIATED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17890, 5 July 1926, Page 11

DAME MASSEY’S WORK APPRECIATED.

ACTIVE FRIEND OF SOLDIERS DURING WAR. The inclusion of Mrs W. F. Massev in the King’s Birthday Honours List will be received with sincere gratification by the many friends of that worthy lady (says a writer in the Wellington “Post”). As a Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire—Civil Division (G.B.E.)—Mrs Massey now takes her place among the few women who have had this honour conferred on them by his Majesty the King. Her elevation will come as pleasant news to those who have know’ll and admired her quiet inspiration. Though she studiously avoided association with political organisations, Mrs Massey was a worthy helpmate to her husband throughout his long and useful public career. The daughter of Mr Walter Paul, an early settler in the Mangere district, who owned a farm adjoining that of the late Prime Minister. she was married to Mr Massey in 1882, and shared with him the hard work which enabled him to establish himself as a prosperous farmer in the period which preceded his entry into Parliament. When Mr Massey became Prime Minister in 1912, he and his wife took up their residence in Wellington, the elder members of their family remaining in Auckland, and it was in the capital that the rest of their joint life was necessarily spent. As the hostess of “Arikitoa,” the residence of the head of the Government in Tinakori Road. Mrs Massey did not attempt the formation of anything in the way of a political salon, but her house was the main centre of hospitality to public people of all shades of activity. Distinctly home-like in character, it

was never the scene of gaiety, but came to be recognised as a model to the community of wholesome family life. There Mrs Massey remained until the death of her distinguished husband in 1925, when she returned to Auckland, In the later years of her husband's career, Mrs Massey was .in indifferent health, and there were times when her condition was such that her survival was despaired of. It is a matter of common knowledge that on the last occasion when Imperial matters called Mr Massey to England, for one of the series of conferences, which followed the war period, his wife was suffering from such grave illness that he left New Zealand with very little prospect of again seeing her alive, and that only his strong sense of duty to the Empire permitted him to leave the Dominion in such circumstances. However, Mrs Massey recovered, and -was in close and devoted attention to her husband in the months of illness that preceded his death. Though Mrs Massey was by no means obtrusive upon public attention in her good works, she did most valuable service to the community in the organisation of women's service to the military camps in New Zealand during the war, and also in the furtherance of the arrangements for the dispatch of comforts to the men at the fighting front. The gloomy days of the great epidemic of 1918 also saw her extremely active, in her own quiet way, in providing relief for the sufferers from the scourge Again, she was one of the strongest supporters of and workers for the Plunk et nursing organisation, which had her best assistance throughout the. years when she was. through her husband's pre-eminent, status and her own enthusiasm, in a position to be a power in the land. In the best sense of the term a thoroughly womanly woman, Mrs Massey will be greeted by the whole community as one who in the days of her authority, deserved well of New Zealand, and has now been recognised by King and Empire