THE SOCIAL WORLD

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1550, 8 January 1920, Page 26

THE SOCIAL WORLD

Announcements of engagements and contributions of interest relating - to weddings and social gatherings should be sent to Lady Editor, “Sporting and Dramatic Review” Office, Auckland. In all cases the writer’s signature and address must be attached (not for publication). Photographs of wedding groups will be reproduced by arrangement.

The Right Hon. W. F. Massey, with Mrs and Miss Massey, spent the holidays in Auckland. Mrs. and Miss Rita Harris, Napier, are. spending the holidays in Auckland and are staying at Stonehurst. Mr., Mrs. and Miss Bruce, of Goldie’s Brae, have returned from a visit to England. Miss A. Heath Slator, of Auckland, returned last week after five years’ war work in London. a . ■ a . a Mrs. Quane and Miss Joan Quane, of Christchurch, have left for England. • • • . • Mrs. Harry Box, Sydney, has left for England to join her sister, Dame Melba. Miss May Norrah, of Palmerston North, has been staying with Mrs. Wilfred Colbeck. Lady Northcliffe has been elected as president of the Society of Women Journalists in London. The amount of business done immediately prior to Christmas at the Auckland Tourist Bureau easily constitutes a record for the past six years: " Sister Blanche Marion Huddleston, R.R.C., New Zealand Army Nursing Service, has been awarded by the King of the Belgians the Medallie de la Reine Elizabeth. The Christchurch “Press” announces the engagement of Mr. Arthur Nattle Grigg, youngest son of Mr. John Grigg, of Longbeach, to Miss Mary Victoria, youngest daughter of Mr. John Cracroft Wilson, of Cashmere. The engagement is announced in an exchange of Miss Margaret A. Mackersey, eldest daughter of Mr. and ' Mrs. C. L. Mackersey, of Hastings, and Mr. F. N. H. Beamish, eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. G. R. Beamish, Whana Whana Station, Hawke’s Bay. •.• * • A definite intimation has been received by the Prime Minister from General Sir William Bird wood that, if possible the hero of Anzac will accept the invitation sent to him to visit New Zealand at the conclusion of his Australian tour, but that the visit cannot . be earlier than June next. Fifty “Florence Nightingale” medals are to be awarded in January to those nurses who are held to have performed the most heroic and selfsacrificing deeds during the war, states an English exchange. The awards will be made by the International Red Cross Committee of Geneva, and all fully-certificated nurses, of whatever nationality— Allied, “enemy,” or neutral —will be eligible as claimants. In future years only six awards will be made annually. The medals will be of silver and enamel, engraved with a portrait of Florence Nightingale. Mrs. K. D. Babington, wife of Ser-geant-Major Babington, Christchurch, . arrived from England with her husband and little daughter by the Ruahine. For two years Mrs. Babington was doing work for the New Zealand War Contingent Association, and during last year she has been working at the N.Z.E.F. Headquarters in London. For a while she was commandant of a club at Torquay. ■ « • • “There are no summer sales for the retailing of experience.”

Lieutenant-Commander Burke, V.C., D. 5.0., at a welcome given him in Wellington by the Navy League, said he thought New Zealand never had greater need than now of an Imperial Navy capable in case of war of preventing the enemy ships from leaving port. The British monitors could at any time go within 10 or 20 miles of the. enemy’s coast in broad daylight, and by means of a smoke screen from the motor launches bombard coast defences, and in no instance was a monitoi’ hit on such occasions. Had Ostend not been a Belgian town it could have been wrecked in this way. In the raid they had 8 monitors with guns firing shells, one of which was capable of wrecking a big building, so it could, be seen what damage could be , done had they not concentrated on the coast defences. All the

important towns in New Zealand were on the coast, and in the event of a defeat of the Imperial Navy there was nothing to prevent an enemy under cover of a smoke screen blowing any of these to pieces. On the Belgian coast there were 235 guns within 12 miles; 137 of these were from’ 6 to 15-inch, capable of firing up to 20 miles. Even if New Zealand could have such a battery, which was impossible, she would still be powerless to prevent an enemy fleet destroying her towns. On this account the only safety for New Zealand was an Imperial Navy capable of holding an enemy from proceeding to sea. The way. to. have a strong navy was to have a strong Navy League.

Mrs. Don, the New Zealand delegate to the World’s Conference of the W.C.T.U., and Mrs. Lee-Cowie are leaving for London this month. *•• • ' The Mardi Gras Queen election at Napier resulted in the Taradale candidate, Miss Airini Perry, securing 163,171 votes. The total number of votes polled by the nine candidates was over 500,000. 999 • ■ Dr. Going, formerly of Hamilton, died suddenly in England, aged 58 years. He left Hamilton last July, and was practising in Cambridgeshire, England. Before settling at Hamilton he had practised in Queensland and the Falkland Islands. He is survived by a widow, and one son, Mr. Philip Goring, who resides at Cambridge, Waikato.

A military wedding was celebrated recently at St. Paul’s pro-Cathedral, when Lieut. James Duncan, M.C. (Main Body, N.Z.E.F.), of Mataura, Southland, was married to Miss Ruby Thompson, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Thompson, Thorndon-quay, Wellington. The Ven. Auchdeacon Johnson officiated. Lieut. W. Wilson (Main Body) was the best man, and Mr. Archer Thompson was the groomsman. The bride was given away by her father, and wore a dainty gown of accordeon-pleated ivory crepe-de-chine and georgette. The train was lined with shell pink and trimmed with pearls and orange blossoms. She wore her mother’s wedding veil, and carried a bouquet of white roses and maidenhair fern. The bridesmaids were Misses Elsie Duncan, Myrtle Butts, and Gladys Armstrong.

Mrs. Fred Winstone, O’Rorke Street, Auckland,, is leaving for England by the Ruahine, accompanied by her younger son, Mr. Roy Winstone, who is going to Oxford. Mr. Winstone intends remaining in England permanently. • ® ® Mr. J. Milne, who has been appointed general manager of the Wellington Meat Export Company, was plresented with a gold chain and Maltest cross by the stall and employees of the Taranaki Farmers’ Meat Company, prior to leaving the services of that company. f s » • Miss G'lover Baldey, who left by the Moana en route to ’Frisco, has been the recipient of numerous farewell teas and many handsome presents prior to her departure. Her marriage to Mr. Gilbert Worrall takes place in Philadelphia. His sister, Miss Worrall, who has been the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Baldey, accompanies Miss Baldey on the voyage. ■ 9 5 9 A fashion authority tells us that “the chemise frock seems to have lost its favour with the majority of the smart dress-builders, probably, because it is too easy a model for those who “run up” their own frocks, to copy successfully, and, now when chemise frocks are seen, they are made of sumptuous silk materials, resembling the renaissance brocades, or some Eastern silks of georgeous appearance. These rich materials are not at all suitable for the full skirts and draperies we are going to see, and are only used for long chemises; long is not a slip here, for slowly, but surely, is coming the event of longer skirts, and these sumptuous dresses are gradually leading us towards them.” <909 A wedding of considerable interest in Napier was solemnised on December 18 in the Anglican Church, Kaiti, Gisborne, when the Ven. Archdeacon Williams united in the bonds of matrimony Miss Nan Heath, youngest daughter of the late . Mr. Heath, of Napier, and Mr. T. S. Weston, of Wellington, son of the late Judge Weston, of New Plymouth and Wanganui. The bride, who was given away by Mr. K. S. Williams, was attired in a maize-coloured satin dress, with a Leghorn hat trimmed with blue. Miss E. Baillie, of Waimate, was bridesmaid, and wore a pink crepe de chine dress with black hat. Mr. A. B. Williams, of Puketite, was best man. After the ceremony at the church the reception was held in Mrs. Ludbrook’s house, Kaiti. The bride has been resident in Wellington for some years as a teacher of physical culture. She left with the military nursing staff as a masseuse and served for some time in England during the war. 0•• 0 • 9 A quiet wedding was celebrated in St. John’s Church, Willis Street, Wellington, when Miss Minfreda Thomas, daughter, of Professor Thomas, of Auckland, was married to Mr. Spiers, of Napier. The Rev. Dr. Gibb performed the ceremony. The bride was given away by her brother, Mr. Norman Thomas, in the absence of her father, who was unable to be present. She wore a gown of pale grey. brocade and a lace veil, caught by a silver wreath, and carried a bouquet of pale pink carnations and sweet peas. The attendant bridesmaids were the two little daughters of the bridegroom, who were frocked in dainty white muslin dresses with sashes of pink and blue respectively, and leghorn hats trimmed with pink and blue flowers. They carried posies of sweet peas. Mr. Thomas, tile bride’s brother, was the best man. After the ceremony the wedding breakfast was partaken of at the Hotel Cecil, and was attended only by a few old friends of the bride and bridegroom, including Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw and Sir Robert and Lady Stout. Sir Robert Stout proposed the health of the newly-married couple. Mr. and ’ Mrs. Spiers will live in Napier.

Miss Clifford, Christchurch, came up to Auckland for the races.

Mrs. W. H. Hume, Hamilton, is spending the holidays at the Thames seaside.

Gold embroidery may be cleaned when it tarnishes with a brush dipped in burned and pulverised rock alum.

Mr. A. B. Floyd, who has resigned from the staff of the Rotorua District High School on account of having received an appointment in Auckland, was presented with a silver teapot by the school staff, and with a pair of silver jam dishes by the scholars.

Amongst southern visitors to Auckland for the races were Mr and Mrs Arthur Duncan, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Russell, and Misses Russell, Mr. and Mrs. V. Riddiford, Captain and Mrs. Gage Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Eric Riddiford.

Rusty black lace, which may have been. long in the family, can be revived and made as fresh as new by the steam of green tea.

The daring feminine fashion of wearing dresses cut so low as to reveal the major portion of the back is proving too much for Parisian theatre-goers (states the ParTs correspondent of a London paper) as an incident at the Porte Saint Martin Theatre shows. An actress in a oneact piece played at this house appeared wearing a dress so fashioned that almost the whole of her back was bare.' The audience thereupon sent up a vigorous “Hou-hou!” and their protests were so prolonged that the .actress had to make her exit and reappear with a mantle over her shoulders. The French are not by :any means becoming prudes, but they ;are determined that the limits of decency shall not be overstepped. “A few more examples af this kind,” said -an authority on dress, “and you will see that good taste will triumph.” Another matter which, has aroused public feeling is the announcement that balls will be held on All Saints’ Day. Dancing has become a mania in Paris just now, but many thousands of families who have lost sons, fathers, and brothers in the war are appealing that on the “Day of the Dead” the fox trot and the tango -should be forgotten.

Commenting upon the announcement of the departure of the Brothers Egbert for Australia to appear in the J. C. Williamson pantomime, “The 'Sleeping Beauty,” the dramatic critic of the “London Daily Mail” wrote as follows: “For varied experience as entertainers I do not believe there is anyone on the stage at the present time who has such a record as the Brothers Egbert. To look at them when they have taken off their makeup you would never think they have been in the theatrical business for more than 37 years. And they are not old men either, for Albert is 39 and Seth 41. From the time they could toddle they have been associated with the theatrical business. Years ago their father ran a circus of his own, and as soon as they could walk they were taken into ring and learnt its arts and mysteries.”