WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 285, 1 December 1932, Page 13

WOMEN'S FORUM.

VILLAGE DRAMA. A small group of Cambridge men and women in England arranged, a six-week dramatic camp on the Downs near Guildford, in Surrey. They wrote their own plays, and their main ideas were to experiment in production under village conditions, to try out some of their own theories, and to make contacts with the village drama movement. A pastoral which was a satire on the present political situation, a translation of a Latin comedy, a revue, a masque and a few one-act plays made up their repertoire. After a week or so of rehearsals, they gave four performances a week at the camp or in the village hall to invited audiences. There were about 14 people in the group, all of them able to take part in the acting, and all of them also making some other contribution to the produetions. Lady Catherine Balfour composed the music for the masque. LARGE SHOES. The feminine foot has long been an object of tolerant ridicule; the heel that is like a miniature etilt and the pointed toe where it would seem the toes were crumpled up into bunches have both, in turn, had the finger of scorn pointed to them by the less smart or the wise ones who believe in comfort first. But women really are getting more sensible in their footwear, and as their sense grows, 60 grows the foot itself. Indeed, if it continues to grow as it has during the past 20 years, said one of the organises of and Shoe and Leather Fair, London, women will eoqn take the same sizes as men. Before the war the average 6izes for women were three and four; to-day they are five and a half and six. It is not uncommon to be asked for a size eight. Increased sporting activities are, no doubt, largely responsible for_ the increased size, but herhaps, too, it is stated, women are now more sensible, and study comfort before appearance, refusing to compress their toes into a space far too small to hold them easily. It is amusing to note that many women whose vanity lets them suffer pinched toes, are most indignant about the binding of Chinese women's feet. The contrast is, of course, rather great, but the principle is the same. WOMAN GOLD MINER. The lure of gold in its roughest state has attracted an Australian woman. She is Mrs. A. J. Hunter, of the Edie Creek Goldfields, New Guinea, and she works her own claim. With her hair shingled, and slight and athletic figure, it is difficult to realise that here is the one woman in New Guinea with the strength, ambition and ability to do this mansized job, states a Sydney paper. But modestly 6'he disclaims all credit. "The day starts at 6 a.m. for the boys," she stated, "and very little later I -walk down to the claim clothed for tihe work in shorts and a man's shirt. Then I supervise all handling of gold from, the moment it is removed from, the ground until it is dispatched to the bank. Many larger claims smelt their own metal, but we do not do this. It is dispatched merely as coarse gold to the coast, to be loaded into schooners for transport to Port Moresby. Intense cold throughout the year is one of our troubles. But really, tihere is so much work to be done during the day, with accounts and correspondence to occupy the evenings and Sunday, that there is little time to think of loneliness, weather conditions or civilisation. Very often I help the fang with the actual work. This means shovelling the 6and into sluice boxes, washing it into pans, and then cooking it until dry. The final stage of the process consists of throwing the metal in a sieve. Now, of course, excellent prices are obtainable for gold, so the

Edie Creek fields are flourishing. Personally, I have never experienced any trouble with the boys, but that is all a matter of tactful handling. Remember that they are human beings like ourselves, and good feeling will result." To reach her claim, Mrs. Hunter travels for half an hour by aeroplane from the coast, and then walks for five hours, as the country around Edie Creek is too mountainoiis to permit a landing ground.