WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 183, 4 August 1932, Page 13

WOMEN'S FORUM.

SPECTACLES TO MATCH. The latest idea in fashion land is to have spectacles rimmed to match one's frocks. The dull tortoiseshell or horn which looked so unattractive in the evening has been replaced by silver and gold, green, blue, pink and primroseyellow. Pretty brocade and velvet cases are being made to hold the new spectacles. If,.as is most likely, these become popular, we shall be collecting scraps of beautiful material with which to make spectacle cases in our leisure hours. AUSTRALIAN NATIVES. Family doctor, dentist, clergyman and lawyer to 600 aborigines in Queensland, tho Rev. W. F. Mackenzie, with his wife, are on furlough in Melbourne, Australia. Mrs. Mackenzie is matron to the 00 girls of the mission boarding school. At times she is also schoolmistress to the native children. She was the first white woman some of the natives of the region had ever 6een. "Tobacco," she said to the Melbourne "Herald," "is bartered among aborigines hundreds of miles from settlements, passed on from one tribe to another. The native women thoroughly enjoy their smokes. So that the family may share, I have seen them blow clouds of smoke into the mouths of their IS-mpnth-old children. My husband is called upon to help many'sufferers from toothache and earache, as well as treating malaria, cuts and sores from a travelling pharmacy. It is often said that primitive peoples have splendid teeth, but by 30 many of the aborigines have ground their teeth down to stumps, and by 40 are toothless. They suffer badly from toothache. Sand is often mixed up with their food, and probably this has the effect of wearing down tho teeth." "Australia's aborigines can be saved if segregated in reserves," said Mr. Mackenzie. "At Aurukun they are holding their own, and elowly increasing." Queensland, he believed, led Australia in its care of its aborigines. Where natives were brought before courts of justice they were defended by the protector of aborigines of their particular district in person. Mr. Mackenzie considered that such a system was essential to the welfare of the natives. FASHIONS IN THE RAIN. Umbrellas—not the usual rainy day kind—furnished the colour splashes for wintry styles at a Melbourne race meeting recently. They provided an interesting fashion feature on their own. Seemingly, the utilitarian umbrella has been put to rout by an invasion of showerproof ones in a variety of cheery colours. Hoisted by leather-coated and fur-clad figures weie mibrellas in such shades as brick red, rose pink, purple, green—both bright and dull—and even beige. Those in brown tones were numerous. One in caramel shade, says the Melbourne "Herald," showed a violet border in double lines. Nearly all umbrellas sported fanciful rib tips from simulated amber and ivory to compositions in lacquer red. There was another point to be noticed. The smartest shapes were flat, after the elylt of a Japanese parasol. A figure in a sapphire blue leather coat shielded herself from the intemUtent showers with a flat umbrella showing a light blue geometrical pattern on a sapphire blue background. There were amusing style contrasts. Some women were gloved in white kid and booted in goloshes. Remembering the way certain parts of the course became waterlogged on rainy days, number of women patrons placed comfort first and waded through the puddles in high leather boots or bootee goloshes. A new kind of golosh in very fine beige rubber fitted the wearer like a glove, from toe to the upper, which reached almost to the knee.