WOMAN’S WORLD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 179, 1 August 1941, Page 2

WOMAN’S WORLD

SOCIAL AND PERSONAL Mrs. R. Burnet, who has been spending a few days in Wanganui, has returned to Feilding. I .... 1 Mrs. I. Stewart, who has been on a holiday visit of several weeks in j Wanganui, has returned to Hawera. Mrs. L. Paterson. Wellington, has i been visiting Wanganui. * Mrs. Bethany was a recent Wellington visitor to Waver ley. Mrs. A. Dickie, Waverley, is visiting her mother, Mrs. H. Williams, Hawera. Mrs. L. Carey, who has been on holiday in Wanganui, has returned to Cambridge. Miss W. McCallum, who has been staying in Marton, has returned to Hawera. Mrs. W. L. Jones and Miss V. Jones, Ohakune. were recent visitors to Wanganui. Miss Barnott, Plymouth Street, is visiting Hamilton for a fortnight, where she is staying with her sister, Mrs. Ridley Cooke. • * • • Miss Vida McLean. Auckland, is visiting her parents, Mr. and Mrs. R. McLean, Kakatahi. ♦ ♦ • • It should be obvnus to parents that to have their daughters taught dressmaking is a sound investment and one ihey will never regret. The Hollywood School of Dressmaking, 144 Victoria Avenue, is now enrolling pupils.* OBITUARY SIRS. FRED. CUNNINGHAM. The death occurred on Wednesday at the Taumarunui Hospital ot Mrs. Bertha Cunningham, the wife of Mr. Fred. Cunnigham, a resident of Wanganui for many years. Mrs. Cunningham was the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, ana alter her marriage in Wellington went wiih her husband to reside in Auckland for a short time. Except for about a year in .Sjdncy, Mrs. Cunningham Jived practically all her life ni Wanganui, her home being in Halswell Street. About two years ago Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham took up permanent residence at Turangi, where they had previously spent several weeks each year during the fishing season. Mrs. Cunningham was a member of the Orange Lodge, took a keen interest in the Plunket Society in its early days in Wanganui, and was a keen worker for the Swankers’ Club for many years before it disbanded. She is survived by her husband.

MRS. K. B. RYDER. The death has occurred of Mrs. Eliza Ryder, wife of Mr. Robert B. Ryder, of Auckland, at the age of 76. The eldest daughter of the late Mr. ' and Mrs. R. Ewing, of Palmerston I North, Mrs. Ryder was born at sea 1 when her parents were coming to New Zealand. Mrs. Ryder, with her parents, landed at Dunedin, and later lived at Kanieri, Greymouth and Christchurch, where she married Mr. Ryder in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Ryder I had lived in Auckland for some years. I She is survived by her husband, two ‘ sons and one daughter. MRS. A. W. B. ANDERTON. The death has occurred at Whangarei of Mrs. Amy Wilhelmina Bentick Anderton, aged 91. Mrs. Anderton was born during a voyage to New Zealand. Her father, the late Mr. William Head, fought in the Maori War in 1850. and was decorated for bravery. She was married twice, to Captain Frank Robinson, and Mr. Charles Anderton, who was a cousin of Sir Robert Peel. Mrs. Anderton lived in many parts of New Zealand, her early life being passed at Bombay, Bav of Islands, Thames and Whangarei. She is survived by four sons | and four daughters, 27 grandchildren ■ and 11 great-grandchildren.

| HITHER AND THITHER Coupons for Silk Stockings. 1 A business girl has offered the suggestion that coupons should be issued dor the purchase of silk stockings, as she thinks this method would be more satisfactory. Women who are in (business have not the necessary time to haunt the stoics wailing for a supiply to arrive. If a coupon per month | were issued to would-be purchasers, jail would have an equal chance to obtain silk stockings during the shortage. The Queen Can Shoot. The Queen has learned to shoot both with rifle and revolver. She is now’ good with either weapon (says the Sunday Express), but is better with the rifle. W’ar Office experts coached her, and she practised daily on the miniature range used by the ; Home Guard at Buckingham Palace. The Queen used ordinary service | weapons, the .303 rifle fitted with a ! Morris tube to take smaller ammunition, and the .38 revolver of the type ' issued to officers. The Duchess of Kent has also become an expert revolver shot.

The First Artificial Silk. It is interesting to learn that the first artificial silk was made by Sir Joseph Swan pioneer of the incandescent lamp. Seeking to invent a new type of filament for the lamp, he squeezed a mixture of wood and cotton pulp through tiny holes, and produced a thread not unlike the silkworm's. The women of his house crocheted these threads into mats, which were placed on view- al the Inventions Exhibition in 1883. Thus, over fifty years ago. the British public saw r artificial silk for the first time. Self-heated. Self-heating cans containing food have been introduced in several cities in the United States. There is a 15-minute wait, while the canned food, enclosed in an outer tin. heats without benefit of gas. electricity, or flame of any sort. The trick is accomplished by a chemical inside the first container, and Ihc action is started when four soles are punched in the bottom. The can is turned upside down and at the end of the stipulated number of minutes, coffee or food is si earning hot ready for the tabic.

Women Help Industry. At. the annual conference of the Dominion Council of Commercial Gardeners in Wellington, the full story was revealed of the valuable work done for Iho Hutt market gardeners and for the Petone canning industry by a group of women of the East Harbour section of the Women’s War Service Auxiliary. Hearing that a large crop of beans being grown in the Hutt Valley for canning for the Navy was going to waste for want of labour, a group organised to harvest them. Twenty to thirty women went out two days a week from February to the end of April, and gathered 1172 kerosene tins of beans, several sacks of potatoes, over twelve hundred kerosene tins of tomatoes, as well as weeding 41 rows of beetroot before a break in the weather. The ages of the women engaged ranged from the 20's well into the 70s. Four women picked 86 tins of tomatoes in less than two hours. The grower was amazed at their rapidity. The group of women also gave its services to the Petone canning factory, which was extremely short handed and in urgent need of help for large contracts for the forces. As well as the vegetables canned, 10 tons of pickling onions were peeled. For all work full rates of pay were given. The money earned has been pooled, less transport expenses, and is being used for patriotic I purposes.

Work for Women and Children. One of the remits supported by the conference of the Societies for the Protection of Women and Children, which will be put forward by a delegation to Ministers to-day, includes the following: That the Government be asked to increase the allowance for dependents of men in the armed forces by 25 per cent. It was stated that the allowance of 3s a day for a wife is the same as it was in the last I war, and it is argued that the increased cost of living made an increased rate of allowance imperative. That the full allowance of Is 6d a day for the support of soldier’s dependent children bp paid for both legitimate and illegitimate. Cases have occurred in which only 6d a day is being paid for an illegitimate child and considerable hardship results.

DOMINION CONFERENCE PROTECTION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN SOCIETIES For the first time in sixteen years the societies for the Protection of Women and Children are holding a Dominion conference. It is being held in Wellington, and was opened by Mrs. Peter Fraser, wife of the Prime Minister. One of the important decisions arrived at was that for the bettor carrying out of their work the four societies in Auckland, Wellington. Christchurch and Dunedin should, while retaining complete control of their own independence and identity, form themselves into a federation for the purpose of greater co-operation and more effective action. It was derided to make a strong protest to the Labour Department about the long hours worked by young girls of 15 and 16 years, lending heavy looms in the clothing factories. This work, it was contended, is too. strenuous for their years, and must seriously impair their power to bear healthy children later on. It was stated in a report that during 1940 there were 2407 girls working in factories in New Zealand who were tinder the age of 16, and approximately 350 girls under 14. Permits had been obtained for all these girls. These permits, issued by the Labour Department, are obtained very easily. It was believed that it would be much more satisfactory if the granting of these permits became the responsibility of the vocational guidance officer, because these officers are concerned with the planning of careers, not the mere filling of vacancies. It is regretted that girls of the age of 14 are going to work, for besides being immature physically, mentally and emotionally, they are faced with the 40-hour week and the possibilities of having to work overtime under the factory by-laws. It is quite possible for an employer to bring employees back, for four nights a week, irrespective of age. This cannot be good for manj r young girls, and it should not be necessary. It was slated that these conditions were mostly put down to the high wages offered, and not the stale of emergency in industry brought about by tho war.

The conference considered the time had arrived when women justices of the peace should be appointed to serve on the Bench with the presiding magistrate when cases in which husbands and wives, girls and children, come before the courts, and that such appointments be for three years.

It was stated that though magistrates in any Court can invite womcr justices to sit with them, this was not done in such cases, and legislator was needed to enforce il. It was also recommended that justices of the peace serving in the Children’s Courts should retire from service at 65 years.