A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 4 (Supplement)

A MAID IN MAYFAIR.

A LAPSE IN DIGNITY.

WOMEN IN PRISONS.

(From Oar London Lady Correspondent.) Though the Press gallery whs on tiptoe when Miss Megan George* roso in the House of Commons to ask her first Parliamentary question, the occasion was rather a sizzle. It was a very ordinary little question, and Mist. George, under the paternal eye, did not muster enough courage to fire off a "supplementary," So I even the most vividly imaginative sketeh ■writers Avere flummoxed. But now Miss George has been busily preparing a maiden speech on rural housing. Its delivery made Parliamentary history; because, though great Parliamentarians of the past, like Joe Chamberlain, have gone through the ordeal of listening to their son's maiden oration in the House of Commons, Mr. Lloyd George was the first ever to hear- the maiden speech of a daughter. SUZANNE'S NEW TRIUMPH. Mdlle. Suzanne Lengleu has achieved a hew triumph. It is associated with tho tennis court, although it has no connection with her appearance there again, and it should make practice and actual play easier for the champions who are following her. She has invented, after a great deal of thought and experiment, what sports enthusiasts consider the ideal tennis ensemble. A friend just back from the dress shows in Paris, tells me that there is no doubt about its practical value to the keen player. It gives freedom and yet looks smart and artistic. Suzanne has always agreed that "shorts" were ideal wear for tennis practice, but all her sympathies have been with the players who considered them not quite the thing for wear in public. Her new outfit gives a neat, smart little "top," sleeveless, to which is joined at the natural waistline a very full culotte —or divided, skirt —which swings from a shaped hip yoke. It is cut so beautifully that there is no suggestion of the divided skirt about it when the player is resting, and very little when she is in play. "BE QUIET, SUSAN." An amusing little feud is being Watched in the House of Commons, and, surprisingly enough, Miss Susan Lawrence is the figure about which it is revolving. One of her-Labour colleagues, Sir. Archie MacLaren, Avho sits for Burslem, "was trying to drive home his points in debate the other night, and Miss-Law-rence, who was sitting in front of him, persisted in talking in earnest tones to /somebody on the front bench. At last Sir. MacLaren could stand it no longer and, in a beseeching tone, burst ,out with, ?'oh, do be quiet for a minute, Susan." Hiss Lawrence would probably have ignored the use of her Christian name at r Labour meeting, but it is a breach of Parliamentary etiquette to address her in the House other than as "the right hon. lady," so she went off in high dudgeon, and was -only half-mollified When they met afterwards, and Mr. Macjjaren apologised. .. > , 1 . ■ A BRIDE IN BLUE. Brides frequently- introduce a certain amount of colour into their bridal processions, and one ory.two more daring spirits have been married in dresses of pink or some other tint, but London had not seen a fashionable bride in blue, I think, until Miss Mary Lutyens, youngest daughter, of the famous architect, the wedding fans at St. Margaret's, Westminster, by appearing in a lovely velvet frock of the softest shade of hyacinth with touches of silver here and there, and silver slippers which gleamed, while her hair was bound by a halo of crystal points. Tiny bridesmaids in silvery bine velvet dresses and little pages dressed to match met her at the porch, the little girls carrying sprays of silver eucalyptus leaves, and the bridal procession which wended its way to a massed, with silver leaves was most picturesque. Miss Lutyens, now Mrs. Anthony Sewell, was bridesmaid to her sister, Lady'Ridley, a few years.ago, jvhen the latter had a green wedding. WOMEN AND PRISON REFORM. Talking yesterday to a woman just back; Irom Geneva, I was interested to hear of the support that women are giving to the proposals for prison reform, recently discussed by the general council of the League of Nations. English women, I .gathered, would like to see the French system of dealing with women prisoners tried in .this country., A married woman there, sentenced to not more than- a year's imprisonment, takes her baby or small children' with her, and the little family is cared for, with others, in a separate block where nuns act as wardresses. The mother is exempted from tasks and encouraged to devote her-' self to her children, and is instructed in modern methods of hygiene and child welfare. Time after time it has been proved that the women respond to the kindly, humane treatment, and to the religious teaching of the sisters, and "go straight" for'the rest of their lives. AN AMERICAN CHALLENGE. While lawn tennis promises to be as exciting as ever this year, tho women's golf championship will be rather, like the proverbial Hamlet, with Hamlet omitted. Neither Miss Joyce Wethered nor Miss Cecil Leitcli is piaying, and on the form of last year, . Miss Glenna Collett, America's leading woman player, seems likely to have a clear run through into the final unless some English player in the second flight has the good luck to put her out. For the painful admission has to be made that after Miss Wethered and Miss Leitcli, most of our English women players must be classed among the "also rans." Miss Glenna Collett, by the way, is bringing over with her a team of twenty American girls. Not only will they play in the championship, but they are hoping also to arrange an international match somewhat on the lines of the Walker Cup contest. The number a. side has not yet been fixed, but Miss Molly Gourlay, the English champion, has promised to get up the home side. "PASSIONATE" PERFUMES. The idea that modern youth is not romantic is a complete fallacy. This is the opinion of the manager of a Mayfair ecent shop. He tells me that the scents with passionate titles—"Quelle Ardeur," "Souvien dc Toi," and "L'Ainour est Douce" —are bought quite as much by young men for presents as by the young women who use them. When making their purchases, many of these young men obviously attach more importance to the name than to the nature of the scent, and I am told that some hundreds of bottles with romantic titles were delivered this month at smart houses as "valentines." As only the more delicate scents arc in fashion at the moment, , however, it often happens that the title is the most virile thing about them.