WOMEN'S FORUM.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 85, 11 April 1933, Page 13

WOMEN'S FORUM.

A LONELY WOMAN,

ALMA KARLIN'S LIFE. Many members of women's societies whose memories go back to the stricken year§ after the war will call to mind a young Austrian girl who drifted to Auckland at that time with the unusual intention of working her way round the world, and who addressed them. She was Miss Alma Karlin, author and journalist, and the struggle .she had, even here, where people were kind to' her, to make ■a living was severe, yet nothing would daunt her indomitable spirit on her quest. Miss Karlin was born in Austria before the war and came of people in good circumstanced, but the. turn of the war tide dissolved her nation and she became a Yugoslav under the new arrangements in Europe. She was an accomplished linguist and spoke and wrote several languages, in fact part of the time she was in Auckland she earned some money by translating Spanish. This knowledge of languages was her standby in lier struggle to work her way around the worlcl. She also was a botanist, antl this was one of the reasons she took the step. As she says herself, it was with a small sum of money, her typewriter, and an exaggerated idea of her own capacity, that she sot off on such a grave adventure. Her first experience was in the third class of an Italian ship down the Mediterranean, calling at the way ports, and such were the experiences even in that short time that even to read them in print made the reader feel physically sick. But nothing could daunt her determination and she continued on to South America, even getting seemingly quite foml of the Italian liner and its queer assortment of Arab women, and a woman who spoke three languages and had married a pure Peruvian, who ibeat her every night; That was a slight hint as to what was before her when she travelled alone and poor, a white woman, through the South America republics, especially Peru, of whose morals she gives a truly terrible account, as likewise of the rest of the Latin countries. In justice to these people it timet be mentioned that just before the time Miss Karlin was in Auckland, the wife of a New Zealarider had returned and told a Press representative how she had ridden alone both through Chile and right across Ecuador quite alone without any fear of molestation. But then she was not poor, nor working her way. Miss Karlin was acting at this time as cor-respondent-for 29 papers in-Europe, who had syndicated her articles, but the result of the war had been to stop money being sent from the stricken country of Austria and therefore she was dependent on what she earned, and being a stranger and a wanderer she found the greatest difficulty in even obtaining enough bread in some places to keep her alive. Now she has published a book, which in German has run into an edition of 00,000, and since then she has translated it into English. The book is splendidly written, with a fine dignified literary style and a simmer of wit and laughter always running through even the darkest places. While in Auckland she was befriended by the Rev. W. G. Monckton, the Rev. George and Mrs. Coats and the late Mr. J. W. Poynton, S.M., all of whom she mentions with gratitude in the last chapter, which closes the "Odyssey of a Lonely Woman."

WOMEN'S BUYING POWER. In speaking to the .Women's Auxiliary of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association, Mr. T. L. Hutchinson touched on a vital subject to New Zealand, its power to be more self-contained. Speaking generally, if a community made the things which were required for its own use there would be work for all who would work, said Mr. Hutchinson. The economic dictum that each country should concentrate on a limited line of production and import the other tilings it needs had, like most economic theories, broken down in practice. The way, tlierei fore, was clear before us. We should develop our manufacturing industries, employ our own people, and give everyone a chance to live in comfort at least, in a land of plenty. Let our cities and towns grow, as they would do, on sound lines. Agriculture alone was not sufficiently wealth-producing for this growing country, said Mr. Hutchinson, and manufacture must take its rightful place as being of equal importance in economic life. No excuses and plausible platitudes would explain away the basic fact —that the country must develop industrially in the cities and towns or else continue the present downward path towards poverty and want. "In conclusion," Mr. Hutchinson said, "what is the woman's part in bringing about this better state of affairs ? The reply is brief. "Women must take their, part in government if the job is not to bo botched. Man alone cannot govern a country adequately and well. Women must read and think on the lines of government; tliey must educate themselves for positions in public life. Want of real education in public affairs is the bane of our political leadership. The education required is not difficult, and it is a fascinating subject when rightly understood."

WOMAN BOWLER. One of tlie younger generation of women bowlers in Victoria, Mrs. L. Gray, of the Murrumbeena Club, lias won the Ladies' Association's champion of champions for tlie third time. Mrs. Gray began the sport nine years ago in her own home, where her husband, who is a captain of the Murrumbeena Club, constructed a one-rink green. With the opportunity for practice it was not long before Mrs. Gray forced her way into the championship class against players of 15 years' standing. Five championships of Murrumbeena, thrice champion of champions, singles proportional title, and runner-up in the open- championship stand to her credit. Last season, partnered by K. Fretwell, she scored in the mixed pairs tournament against the strongest of men players. Varying the procedure this season, Mrs. Gray played with her husband and repeated last season's pairs win. She has an attractive style and has mastered the forcing game, the feature of the play of men.