AMONG OURSELVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 257, 30 October 1925, Page 13

AMONG OURSELVES.

• A WEEKLY BUDGET. illy CONSTANCE C.LYDK.i N.U. S.E.C. SUMMER SCHOOL The summer school at Oxford hel.l a few days' lectures for magistrates, at which were present many women magistrates from all over the country. The addresses on the firat evening were yiveii by two of the women magistrates. Miss Rathbone and Miss Margery Fry. "It was remarkable." says the "Women's Leader," "to see so many women justices drawn from all parU of the country, eager to exchange experiences and to learn all that they could from the lecturers. Many of those present had been on the first list in 1920; others had served only a few months. Some were accustomed to the Bench of a great city, with its own special problems: others to a remote rural Bench, meeting perhaps only once a fortnight or once a month." During the afternoons the very different problems occasioned much questioning and answering. The classification and psychology of criminals was one subject of debate. Most of the magistrates expressed approval of recent changes in the separation and maintenance orders, which make them easier to administer. Probation, a subject so important in New Zealand, formed the basis of interesting discussions at this conference, certain recommendations being drawn up to be put in due course before the Departmental Committee, at present inquiring on the subject. There, was manifest some opposition to going en American lines in attempts to put down crime. The mental examination of criminals was felt to be as yet not a practical proposition for magistrates.

THE LIVING WAGE. The basic wage, so much discussed at our elections, has even a greater interest for British workers, with whom it is much lower. A very human story, ending tragically, is used by one social reformer to point perhaps several morals. It is the story of a railway checker on a railway who received 52/ a week, out of which he gave his wife 37/ for all expenses, reserving 13/ for himself. There were six children, and the mother, having expressed for the third or fourth time her conviction that life was not worth living, tried to put it into execution by taking them all over the mud flats towards the river Mersey. Some of the children, however, having optimistic views about life, managed to escape, the others, with their mother sharing, as a writer puts it, "the glory of a well-attended funeral at the expense of a sympathetic local football duo"." There was some hostility towards the father, on the grounds that he had kept too much of -the family wage for himself. The incident is used, of course, to demonstrate the need of genuine State help until a higher basic wage can he obtained. Such assistance, however. I cither for unemployed or underpaid perj s-ons. would need to be managed with care, as sometimes consciously or subconsciously the officialdom that manages such matters tends to put obstacles iv the way of those requiring it. Thus, as regards new regulations in England for what is called extended benefit (because more people are to be helped), there is a paradoxical tendency really to benefit lees, as one such enactment states that persons are no longer to receive benefit "if the} 7 have relatives to whom they can reasonably look for support." This is the kind of rule which the harder kind of official thoroughly appreciates. He can use it against many poor persons without their having any remedy.

ICELAND WOMEN. Iceland was formerly much in the rear as regards modernity. Yet it was not slow to give women the franchise, a right which their women quietly obtained in 1915. One outcome of the vote was a woman's paper, which is still going well, and of late appearing more frequently. It is run by Miss Larusdotter, the only woman editor in the island. This journal has the curious name of "The 19th of June," given to commemorate the fact that the suffrage was bestowed on that date. It is written in the Old Norse language (used in the country), which is so well preserved that those who know it can easily decipher MSS of the twelfth century. Miss Larusdotter gives faithfully the proceedings of the Alting. the Iceland Parliament, and also recipes, home news, and the usual domestic matter. The bestowal of the franchise has not changed the Iceland woman from being the most home-loving of Western and Northern nations. "MA" SIGNS, BUT "DAD" GIVES THE ORDERS. The elevation of Mrs. Ferguson to the Governorship in Texas still creates much criticism, some critics being so outspoken as to assert that, while "Ma" signs the rulings, it is her husband who really has the decision in most matters. As everyone knows, Mrs. Ferguson was given the appointment as a means of fighting the Klansmen, but there was possibly the idea of reinstating her husband, who had lost the Governorship previously owing, it is said, to some ill-conduct on his side. Such people state frankly that the lady is a good and intelligent woman, but without any real grasp of affairs, and gives instances true or false wherein the husband has not merely been the power behind the throne, but has sometimes come forward too openly, and, as oue critic puts it, '•with surprising want of delicacy" to show that he is the real master. "How do you like a woman Governor*" To this query the Texas ranchman answers "Don't know; we haven't tried one yet in Texas." However, even if this male dominance be true, we know how often the converse has happened in history with far more disastrous results. The statement may have arisen from the fact, however, that Mrs. Ferguson is conspicuously- domestic, and will seldom talk of matters political. She prefers to be photographed as a grandmother than as a Governor—and in the opinions of some has played rather to the gallery iv this respect.