AMONG OURSELVES.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 70, 23 March 1928, Page 10

AMONG OURSELVES.

A WEEKLY BUDGET. (By CONSTANCE CLYDE.) WOMEN DOCTORS BANNED. The attempted banning of women students at five well-known London hospitals (of which the cable informs us), reminds us that London has by no means a bad tradition regarding modernism in this respect. It was in Glasgow that the first women students were hooted and pelted, and in another Englishspeaking community that they were admitted only because the male students, when asked their opinion, shouted-"Yes," because they thought the idea was a joke. When several quietly-dressed ladies appeared in their class room a little later, none was more astonished than they. Considering how t'-- blue stocking has been derided, it is c.:: .

to note that one objection to the feminine element is that it lures the male confreres away from the football field, a feat which even the ordinary flapper does not always accomplish. Whatever the final decision, it may be agreed that women doctors will always flourish so long at least as we have an India. As regards the latter, very untypical was the man doctor who said that "if Eastern women would not accept a male physician, they deserved to die," but the remark shows' how far sex bitterness may occasionally be carried. Unfortunately our own sex is not always loyal in this respect. It is now some time since a noted actress said, "Never," when asked to contribute to a hospital of women doctors, although until aware of the fact that it was staffed by women, she had been quite ready to disburse. WOMEN MAYORS. ; A full description is now to hand regarding the late meeting of women Mayors in Liverpool, Miss Margaret Beavan, its Lord Mayor, presiding. The affair appears to have been a huge success. The vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University declared that "the speeches were a revelation to him," says the "Women's Leader.'*? "It must indeed have been a very awe-inspiring event for the people of Liverpool. We ourselves always feel overawed, and somewhat enchanted by the presence of one mayor alone—providing that robes and chain are worn. To have seen so many all at once, quite apart from the fact that they were women, must have been an overwhelming experience. But, though we might have been overwhelmed, we should not have experienced the crowning emotion of the vice-Chancellor. Their speeches would not have been to us, as they were to him, a revelation. We should have known what to expect beforehand, because, after all, women are only made mayors when, by outstanding personal merit, they have disarmed a load of prejudice." " The paper then mentioned a real revelation its editor had experienced, when Mrs. Greene, Mayor of Bury, asked another magistrate to pass sentence, because this was repugnant to feminine feelings. If she could not'undertake all ma<nsterial duties, she shouM not have been on the Bench.

INDIA'S MARRIED CHILDREN. Bombay has only a small proportion of India's population, yet it contains some 74,000 married children; nearlyl 2000 are thus disposed of for life before' they are one year old. With such marriages, which, of course, are mere con- j tracts, legislation can scarcely interfere, but reformers mention that the result of Buch contracts is usually to make the real marriage earlier than would otherwise be the case. As a matter of fact the instinct of most natives is so much to subordinate the individual to the family, and the rule works so well in many respects that the practice of such infant betrothals would still continue. A boy may be betrothed to a bride not yet born (assuming, of course, that the latter is of the opposite sex), a small plant given the infant's future name acting as substitute at the betrothal ceremony. In many parts of India girls are not married in reality until their sixteenth year. Writers in Indian magazines point out with indignation that Miss Mayo, in her book "Mother India," has not touched at all upon the good side of this home rule, or the anarchy that would result if the young people were given at once the same liberty that has been so long enjoyed by Europeans. It must be remembered that to the Eastern young person it is the greatest misfortune to remain unmarried, and that romance in connection with the matter hardly enters her mind. Romance with her concerns itself with religion or with her family, and she is more anxious about the disposition of her mother-in-law than of her husband. IRISH WOMEN'S PROGRESS. Not so long ago we read of equality of opportunity and payment in the public service of the Irish Free State, and though the two Governments of Ireland have sometimes, it seems, retrograded somewhat, progress, according to feminist papers, is not wholly lost. Both Governments are sometimes ready to support exceptional women. Thus Northern Ireland, Belfast, has for the first time put a woman in the first place in its rota for High Sheriff, which means, of course, that the Governor will ratify the appointment. In the Irish Free State, at the same time, we notice Miss Lamb, the only woman town clerk in Ireland. She was appointed to the post on the retirement of her father. Attempts have been made by women for such posts, but with this exception so far in vain. One persevering Irish woman is said to have tried for 12 years. The Irish Women's Suffrage Association, under tbe leadership of Mrs. Haslain, encouraged her efforts, but all to no avail. So far, too often, there must be succession to a father or husband, but in time the woman alone will have a better show.