AMONG OURSELVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 115, 16 May 1924, Page 10

AMONG OURSELVES.

A WEEKLY BUDGET. (By CONSTANCE CLYDE.) c -~~~ ~~' * i "Many South Australian laws arc anomalous. Imt none more so than the thirty yours old State Children 'Act. * which decrees that it" a mother calls in . the State, through poverty, to help her with her children, the penalty is the loss ' of those children." So states an authority, who compares this iron legislation witli the more generous rules in the rest of Australia. New South Waltis gives fifteen shilling a week to deserted mothers and widows for each child under twelve months. From that age and up up to fourteen years twelve and sixpence i= paid. Queensland pays ten shillings to twelve and sixpence to 2000 mothers, and West Australia has a widows' pension scheme under way. A Royal C'omt mission t lie re that dealt witli the mat- ■ ter declared that the amount given c should lie such that the widow would c not be forced to work for her children's i, support. Says the critic: "Yet South J Australia not only says the widow must 1. work for her own brood, but that if she 1 cannot keep them from her earnings they - are to be taken from her. and the State i will pay someone else to do it. Thus, tl if she cannot scrub or launder or char n profitably enough to keep them, she ■\ must resign them to those who do none il of these things, but gets 9/ for every [j child given to her."' The writer come mends New Zealand legislature as re- . garde widows' pensions. It is certainly . strange, that there should be such a y difference between the law of South j Australia in this respect and the enact- .; ments in other parts of the island con- { tincnt. i TITLES FOR WOMEN. The Women's Freedom League of •. London has protested vigorously to the - Prime Minister regarding the absence of » women's names in the honours list. A , great array of titles lately t given men were read out, comr prising several baronies, five privy 1 councillorships, ten baronetcies, and r sixty-six knighthoods, while twentvr eight men were given the Order .of the Bath, etc. Of all these honours - the League mentions only two as r awarded to women, each receiving the [ Kaiser-i-Hind medal for first-class publice service in India. When the title f dame was originated, or rather revived. , women lmd certainly hoped for some- , thing better than this. [ HARRIED WOMEN IN PROFESSIONS. Someone has inquired as to the cur- . tailment of married women's liberty to t work, both in New Zealand and Knir- , land. In Xew Zealand, in professions. I anyway, custom rather than law rules. , A teacher informs mc, however, that [■ married women are less readily chosen than the unmarried, while adverse votes as to their rights to remain in the Public Service as teachers are fre- • quently passed. "A married woman was lately appointed to a country school," he informed mc, "hut that was because it was a. ra*L"»- mmnniilar die. ; trict, and there were no other applicants." A Home correspondent writes: "The one serious discouragement in last year's brilliant record for women's work ha 3 been the backward tendency seen in many directions to preve'jt the employment of married women/ The action of the London County Council in regard to its married women has been paralleled in many other, areas." Another writer adds: "We leiim with regret that the Norfolk Education Committee have : decided to follow in the steps of the ' London County Council, and to discon- i tinue their present practice of employing married women teachers. Exoep- • tional cases arc, however, to be con- i eiderod. Women on marriage will be • required to resign, and their reappointment will be considered in view of all the circumstances relnting to that particular school." The real reason of this embargo on the married women is really unemployment in some cases, so that, if that passes, there may be a return < to a law that most consider fairer, especially as in many cases the exclusion ' of married women is often gained br only a few votes. REFORM IN MYSORE. Commenting on the continuance of sex disqualification in England, in spite of many efforts to overcome this, an Englishwoman points out that Mysore, on the best authority, is about to take a decided step towards- such equality. Wide constitutional reforms are being " effected, and this is one of them. Mysore has a population of six millions, and, as the first Indian State to adopt, female franchise, it has token un important pioneer step. "After RussiaGermany and Austria; after Germany and Austria—Turkey; after Turkey •- Mysore." England, she. hopes, will also attain true democracy in this respect. QUESTIONS IN THE HOUSE; ] Questions especially interesting to « women have been frequent in tin , British ' House of Commons lately. The overcrowding of maternity wards and mothers' pensions were both considered. The latter subject refers to the weekly live shillings given to the father of a son killed in the war. a request being made that it be transferred to the mother should the father die. It, was pointed out that if the mother were in need she could claim a better allowance.

but as a woman said, she did not remember that the first pension is automatic, while the mother has to prove her need. Mrs. Wintringham asked that a medical woman and one with special knowledge of asylums should be put on tbe Committee of Inquiry into the. Lunacy Laws, but to this she received no definite answer. Attention j was directed also to the waste of time I which both men and women suffer in I lieing called to the jury when their seri I vices are not needed or long before I hey ; ■ are needed. There was a case of a . | woman summoned three times in four i : years for a week each time, and though - ' she had Lo be present four mornings on . each of the last two occasions, she was ! not called into the box once; nt least . live times as many jurors were sum-' , j moncd as were needed, and it. is sate .I to say that over half were in the same 1 i position as this particular lady. It is . j strange for us in Xew Zealand to realise , : that it is really four years since I.ng- , i lishwoman became liable to jury duty.