WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 93, 20 April 1932, Page 11

WOMEN'S FORUM.

CHILD BEGGARS. "I was walking up Queen Street yesterday," writes a correspondent, "when I was approached by a. little boy of about nine or ten who asked me if I would give him enough money for his tram fare home. My first instinct was to obligo the little fellow, but I happened to ask him where he lived. He admitted to a district within easy distance of the city and a place to which, as it happened, I had often walked myself. The boy did not look hungry or unable to walk. I commented on the fact and he said that he had already walked from Dominion Road. I do not believe in giving 'children money wantonly, so I asked him to come with me to a tram and I would pay his fare and send him home. While we waited for a tram, it occurred to me that the boy should be at school and might be playing truant. He said he was going home to get a note from his mother to explain his absence, and then followed a jumbled conversation about why he had been to Dominion Road and what he was doing in the city at that time of the day. But for the fact that tho youngster could not remember the name of his school and, in fact, was Tather hesitant about giving his own name, I would have thought he was absolutely sincere. However, as I paid, I settled his fare and left him in the care of the conductor. In repeating the incident to a friend I learned that she had had a similar experience only a week before. Surely it is a bad thing when the children of our city begin to resort to begging in this manner. It is difficult to know what to do. A refusal to a genuine case would be heart-breaking, but money obtained in such an easy way would sow seeds that would not produce the best type of manhood. Children could be given meals under such conditions and their wants humanely attended to, but to give money, would, I think, he extremely unwise." WOMEN FLYERS. The list-of outstanding performances in the world of aviation which has been compiled by the International League of Aviators, contains the names of three women flyers. Tho one who has been selected as having accomplished the most outstanding feat in 1931 is a Frenchwoman, and the other two are English women, and the performances for which they have been honoured arc typical of the" difference in tho flying interests of woman aviators of both nations. Mdlle. Maryse Bastie has created many endurance records. Probably her first one, then a record for Frenchwomen flyers, was achieved when she remained in the air for 24 hours 24 minutes. In September, 1031, she broke an endurance record of 35| hours, created in the previous May by Mdlle. Lena Bcrsfein, by flying over Le Bonrget for 37J hours, and her new duration record, which has been acclaimed by the International League of Aviators is 37 hours 55 minutes, without refuelling. The second record which Mdlle. Bastie holds is the light 'plane straight distance record of 1795 miles from Paris to Nijninovgorod. This record, too, was previously held by Mdlle. Bcrstein. Amy .Tohnpon's achievements are too well known to Now Zealariders to need recapitulation, and New Zealanders generally will bo glad that she has been chosen as one of the two British champions of 1931, as a result of her flight to Tokyo. Miss Peggy Salaman, the 19-year-old English flyer, is a newcomer to the ranks of women aviator.*, but nevertheless, her flight to Capetown has been recognised by the award of a medal of honour.

GOOD-BYE TO TEA. The afternoon tea party, as a feminine function is dead in London. A few years ago tho hours of four and five wero the most popular times for women to foregather, and "come to tea" was an invitation which meant an exchange of gossip and news over the teacups and, probably, a table laden with pastrieri and cakes. Now both the wording and the meaning of tho invitation have changed. "Come in at teatime," is a bidding which implies an hour of bridge or backgammon, with no sign of a teatable and no liquid refreshment until the later appearance of cocktails or sherry, says a. writer in an English paper. The dieting craze, the business activities of many women, the increasing popularity of afternoon bridge, and in°tho summer, a reluctance to interrupt games of tennis and golf, have all helped to bring about the death of the tea habit. A recently married hostess, who regularly entertains her friends in the afternoon, said she never gives them tea. "I wouldn't dream of taking up time and space with all the paraphernalia, of a tea-table," she said. "We usually play bridge, and a stop for tea would be a nuisance. Nor do I find that anyo/ie ever asks for it; a cocktail or a glass ot orangeade after the game seems to be all they need." Another hostess said she used to have a tea-table until she found that no one ever went near it, on the grounds of banting. Now they did notwant it any more, whether they were banting or not.