VANITY FAIR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 92, 20 April 1938, Page 2

VANITY FAIR

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL Mr. and Mrs. G. Hill, of Hastings, 'i\ ere visitors to Wanganui for the • .veek-end. • • • • i Mrs. John Duncan, Taihape, is 'spending a few days with Mrs. David i Bell, Feilding. Mrs. M. Cobbe was a Feilding vistor to Wanganui during the holidays. Mrs. T. Wilberfoss, Campbell Street, has returned from New Plymouth. Mr. and Mrs. R. Brighton, Auckland, were visitors to Wanganui during the holidays. ♦ * • • Mrs. W. Greaves, Wanganui, was a recent vistor to Auckland. Mrs. G. Bolton, of Wellington, has been staying with her mother, Mrs. R. G. Christie, Fordell. Mrs. D. Gray, Wanganui, was a recent visitor to Wellington. • • • • Miss Olwyn Robson was a visitor to Wellington during Easter. Mrs. Tyerman was a Wanganui visitor to Lower Hutt for Easter week. Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Olsen, Wangaehu, are visiting Stratford for the Hann—Stallard wedding. Mrs. H. Webb is a Wanganui visitor to Auckland. Mr. and Mrs. Arkwright, of Marton, were visitors to Wanganui on Monday for the Collegiate School sports. Mrs. Webb Jones, Gonville, is spending a few weeks’ holiday in Christchurch. Mrs. L. C. Young, Carlton Avenue, left yesterday to spend a few days in Wellington. ♦ • • • Mrs. Russell Grace “Arles” Wanganui East, visited Auckland for the Easter race meetings. Miss Enid Collins, of Wanganui, who is on a motor tour, is at present spending a few days in Auckland. Mrs. Henry Keesing returned to Wanganui on Monday after spending the week-end as the guest of Mrs. F. H. Chapman, at New Plymouth. *•• ' • Miss Florence Cocks, of Wellington, has been spending the Easter vacation with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cocks, Wanganui. I A jolly dinner party for about 12 young people was hostessed by Mrs. : P. A. O’Neill, at the Rutland Hotel on I Monday evening. *•• • • • Mr. and Mrs. P. Wash, of Rotorua, i have been spending the Easter holi- . days as the guests of Mrs. F. Beard, i Wanganui. Miss Montgomery Moore, Victoria Avenue, entertained a large number of friends at an afternoon party during the week-end. Miss Margaret Carr, of Auckland, has been a visitor to Wanganui for Easter, as the guest of Mrs. Fell, St. George's School.

Miss Mollie Mitchell has returned to Wanganui after several months spent in Dunedin studying dietetics.

Mrs. Gerald Linfield left last week by the Wanganella and will make her new home in Melbourne. Several relatives and friends journeyed to Wellington to bid her au-revoir. Miss Tamfield, of England, who has been staying in Hawke’s Bay, is visiting Wanganui before returning to the Homeland. Miss Olive Graham, St. John's Hill, who has completed further nursing studies in Dunedin, intends returning to Wanganui early next month. She is visiting Christchurch and is planning a tramping tour of the Eglinton Valley.

Miss Erin Nelson, Christchurch, who is holidaying in the North Island, is at present the guest of her aunt and uncle Mr. and Mrs. Jock Graham, Keith Street, and leaves at the end of the week for Hawke’s Bay. Mr. J. B. Cotterill, M.P., and Mrs. Cotterill, left yesterday for Wellington. Mrs. Cowtan, a visitor to New Zealand from Singapore, who spent Easter in Wanganui as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Jenkins, St. John’s Hill, left, yesterday for Wellington and will sail this week for Sydney, where she will stay for several weeks, also visiting Perth and o'.her parts of Australia. Mrs. M. Bond, Wanganui, has left for Sydney to attend the wedding of her younger daughter, Miss Brenda Bond, to Mr. Noel Wade, which takes place early next week. Mrs. Maisey, sister of the bride-to-be, will he matron of honour. Among Empire artists who will broadcast in the transmission 4 programme (North and South America and the West Indies, in addition to Africa) are Miss Esther Fisher, New Zealand pianist, on April 26 (9.35 j p.m.), and Miss Judith Silver. New i Zealand soprano, on April 30 (9.40 ;>.m.) states a London correspondent.

HITHER AND THITHER Makirikiri Golf Club On April 27, in the Makirikiri Hall, the above club intend holding a dance. There will be good music and bridge for non-dancers. Schemes of Decoration. “Decoration For the Small Home” is a new book by Mr. Derek Patmore, which deals with the problem of how to decorate small rooms. As he points out in his text, we have evolved a new technique of living. The era of the small home and flat have taken the place of the old-fashioned way of living in rambling ‘houses. This book gives a very comprehensive study of how contemporary decoration has adopted itself to changes. The author suggests practical schemes for the small living-room, dining-room and bedroom. Other important angles of interior decoration dealt with include the use of colour in the small home, what fabrics to use, an explanation of modern lighting and a detailed survey of suitable decorative accessories, such as wallpapers, china, glass and use of modern woods. The book, which is illustrated with 65 black and white plates, should be an invaluable guide and help to those planning homes. This publication is per favour of C. W. Poynter, Bookseller, Avenue. Collegiate School Ball. Owing to pressure on space, the following names of old boys and their friends who attended the Collegiate School ball on Monday evening had to be held over until this morning’s issue. Messrs. E. H. L. Bernau, E. P. Richardson, P. Hoadley (Hawke’s Bay), T. Horrocks, T. Johnson (Wellington), H. de la Perelle (Wellington), J. Goss, C. Linwood, J. Ross, J. Anderson, W. Handley, A. Hatrick, H. Blyth, M. and N. Meuli, J. Williams (Hawera), Sherriff, J. Macfarlane, W. Emmett, W. Emmett, W. Moore, Fyfe, T. Latham, B. Green, Fantham (National Park), Garrick, R. Jack, D. Stewart (Palmerston North), G. Kain, D. and F. Orlon, G. Burgess, H. Goss, D. Collins, C. White, H. Taylor, B. Gibbons, W. Morton, S. Beedie (Dannevirke), R. Cameron (Turakina), C. Glenn, K. McLean, P. Bartrum, P. Toogood, H. Keesing, H. D’Arcy, P. Harden, I. Lyons, R. Mclntyre, J. Campion, Derek Beckett (Hamilton), G. Broad, H. Simpson (Marton), F. Wool lams (Taihape), R. Currie, U. Shaw, Spencer, B. and G. Bretherton, A. G. Fitzherbert, N. and S. Fullerton-Smith, V. Aldvvorth (Hunterville), R. O. C. Marks, D. Brice (Marton), W. Graham, J. Sutherland (Hawke's Bay), G. Lourie (Marton), R. Carter (Marton), G. Gibbons (Wellington), H. Keesing, H. Earle, I. Billinghurst, M. Dermer (Feilding), E. Webster, D. Anderson. Deans Low, I. Aidworth, H. Wicksteed, P. Briant (Marton), A. Livingstone (Takapau), W. Nelson, Robertshaw, A. Gould (Te Kuiti), G. Rhodes. G. Watt, F. Oldham, G. Allen, W. Griffiths, C. H. Beach, Walkinton (Waverley) A. A. Barton. J. Taiboys, Armstrong, Cooper, B. Martin, Chambers.

ENGAGEMENTS. The engagement is announced of Esther, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. S. Doust, Gonville Avenue, Wanganui, to Gordon, only son of Rev. and Mrs. E. Nicholls, Campbell Street, Wanganui. The engagement is announced of Vera Jean, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Thomasen, Rewa, to Athol Verne, second son of Mr. and Mrs. A. E. C. Shannon.

FALLING BIRTHRATE AUSTRALIA'S PROBLEM WOMEN OF THE BACKBLOCKS EXAMPLE TO CITY DWELLERS Some idea of the lives led by the women of the Australian outback regions is gleaned from an interview, published in an Australian paper, with the Rev. John Flynn, of the Inland Mission, and Mrs. Flynn, who will be addressing meetings in Wanganui tomorrow. “The women of the inland are living lives which should inspire all Australian women,” Mr. Flynn said. “The time is not far distant,” he added, “when our young women will be compelled to abandon cocktail parties in favour of children, and follow their example for the good of Australia. The women of the inland are few in number,” Mr. Flynn continued, “but they are doing even more than the women of the cities in keeping alive the spirit of Anzac. Will the Race Diminish? “Two kinds of erosion are threatening the future of Australia. Erosion of soil had been proceeding quietly for thousands of years before our forebears arrived in Australia and began to hasten it by overstocking pastoral lands. We admit this erosion, and now we have to face the much more ominous reality of the erosion of the race. “Everywhere you go people whisper —on the platform, through the Press, in the streets, and in private groups —that on present statistics in another 20 years the noble race of Anzac will as surely begin to diminish as the friable soil of our salt-bush plains. ‘We must populate or perish,’ Mr. Hughes has said, and this is not a platitude, but a great truth. “Those with a sense of humour,” Mr. Flynn added, “will discount these fears, suggesting that the day canno: be far distant when the tyranny of boredom will compel our young women to abandon cocktail parties in favour of children—their own. Possibly our gay young friends do not understand their own actions. Probably behind everything their is a subconscious sense of futility in bringing children into a world of bursting bombs. But still the fact obtrudes that we must not allow this erosion of the race to continue. The Mother Instinct “It is more marked in the cities. The women of the inland are setting the example which all Australia must follow. The mother instinct is keeping the women of the frontier by their menfolk even in face of hardships, which are much more numerous than comforts. But in the face of this they are rearing larger families than the people concentrated in fertile coastal areas where hardships do not exist. In the course of a recent tour Mr. Flynn and his wife travelled 4000 miles through the Gulf country of northern Queensland. They visited 40 families, some of them living hundreds of miles from any habitation. “Some of the womenfolk,” Mr. Flynn said, “had not seen another woman for 12 months, and they were overjoyed to see my wife. Many of

them were completely cut off from civilisation for five months of the year owing to the rivers being flooded and uncrossable after the wet season. One family actually lived for six months each year without milk, butter or vegetables. They had fresh meat once a fortnight, and corned beef, bread and treacle most of the time.” Fear of Illness Mrs. Flynn, who accompanied her husband, declared that one of the biggest problems facing the women o: the inland was the fear of illness. “I remember the case of a child.’ she said, “who was seriously burned As no flying doctor service was then in existence, the child had to be laker to Croydon, more than a hundred miles distant, in a car. The child died because of the delay. But recently when the mother became ill, her husband was able to send a wireless mes-

WEDDING MAM MO ND—PRE MICE I A quiet but pretty wedding wat solemnised in the Presbyterian Church, Ohingaiti, on April 6, whet. Kathleen Mabel, eldest daughter oi Mr and Mrs T. L. Hammond, Ohingaiti, was married to lan Kelvin Prentice, youngest son of Mr and Mrs F. Prentice, Marton. The ceremony was conducted by the Rev. H. McCallum. The bride, who entered the church escorted by her father, looked charming in a frock of white lace ano georgette. Her veil of embroidered net was held in place by a coronet of lilies. Her bouquet of waterlilies ana pink and white dahlias completed the bridal toilet. Miss Effie Hammond attended her sister as bridesmaid, and wore a frock of turquoise-blue lace and carried a sheaf of maize-coloured dahlias. The bridegroom’s brother, Athol, carried out the duties of best man. After the ceremony the Rev. H. McCallum presented the happy couple with a Bible, on which was embossed in gold the crest of the Presbyterian Church. A reception was afterwards held in the local hall. The happy couple left later by cat on their honeymoon to New Plymouth. The bride’s going-away frock was a smart bottle-green tailored suit, with hat, shoes and accessories to tone. WOMEN’S INSTITUTE MANGAWEKA There was a good attendance at th'? April meeting of the Mangaweka Women's Institute, presided over by Mrs Ince. The new committee is as follows: Vice-presidents, Mrs Waymouth and Mrs Pedersen; secretary, Mrs McLeod; treasurer, Mrs Moyle, Press reporters, president and secretary; points competitions, Mrs Salt and Mrs Dickensen; trading table, Misses Dickensen and Oulsnam; hostesses, Mrs Loye; pianist, Miss Crawford; social convener, Miss Gardiner. Potatoes grown for the competition were brought to the meeting, the topweight being 1171b5., grown by Mis W. Billinghurst. The president am, secretary were appointed delegates t j the Ruapehu Federation annual meeting, at Taihape. Mrs Guthrie gave a talk on institutes, dealing particularly with circles. Winners of the points competitions were: Flowers, Mrs Pairman 1, Mrs Pedersen 2; chocolate sponge, Mrs Pedersen 1 and 2; bed jacket, Miss Dickensen 1 and 2. The new programme was read and approved. A meeting of the dance circle will be held on Saturday, April 30, at 7 p.m. sharp.

sage »o the flying doctor at Cloncurry, arid he was there within a few hours and saved her life. “People in the cities could not possibly realise the sense of security that the wireless and flying doctor services provided by the Inland Mission have brought to these far outposts. Disaster comejjso suddenly. We were entertained by a woman at one station, and were amazed to find when we returned three days later that she had taken ill suddenly and had been moved to Cloncurry by the flying doctor.

“Quite half of these gallant women.' Mrs. Flynn said, “were not brought up in the bush, but are city women who have gone out there with their husbands. Some of them are the type that would probably once have been referred to as ‘cocktail drinkers’ in the city. But, being true Australians, they have become heroic inlanders. Theirs is truly a great example that might well inspire all Australian women. Out there they have no parties, or pictures or concerts. Their whole world is the home, and the outside world which we know is no longer a reality.”

GOLDEN WEDDING MR. AND MRS DAVID GIBSON. The consummation of 50 years’ married life was fittingly celebrated by Mr. and Mrs. David Gibson, Humphrey Street, Marlon, on Monday, when a family reunion was held. The couple were the recipients of many felicitations from their large number of friends on attaining their golden anniversary. Members of the family present were Mr .and Mrs. Alan Gibson, Mill Street, Marton; Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Anderson and son, David, Parewanui; Mr. and Mrs. Jim Gibson and daughter, Mary, Kaponga, Tarnaki; Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gibson and their four children, Kaponga; Mrs. David Gibson asd her son and daughter, Kaponga; Mr. and Mrs. M. Wysocki, Hair Street, Marlon; Mr. and Mrs. Henry Galpin and Miss Shirley Galpin, Tutaenui; Mr. and Mrs. Archief Gibson, Feilding; and Mr. W. H. Brown, Marton, who is an intimate friend of Mr. and Mrs. Gibson. The celebrations took the form of y wedding breakfast. A beautiful threetiered cake occupied a prominent position on the table, over which was hung a wedding-bell presented by Miss R. Wing. Mr. and Mrs. Gibson also received from Miss Wing a buttonhole and bouquet "respectively. Mr. Gibson formerly came from Edinburgh, Scotland and Mrs. Gibson, then Miss Margaret Paterson, from i Glasgow, Scotland. They were married i in Wanganui on April 18, 1888, at the residence of Mr. M. D. Brunswick, by the Rev. Alex Thomson. The couple then went farming in various places in the Taranaki district, coming to Rangitikei about 35 years ago to farm in the Tutaenui district. After serving on the land for some ’8 years in this part of the island, Mr. Gibson went into retirement and came to settle in Humphrey Street, where he resides to-day and continues to take an active interest in farming topics and horticulture.