NEW ZEALAND MANNERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 139, 14 June 1935, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND MANNERS.

I do not believe ithat any able-bodied, healthy man would be guilty of remaining seated whilst an elderly woman stood. Anyway, why choose the male for attack? Why not also include our healthy, able-bodied young women? Many of the men may bo going to or returning from a hard day's work, i don't see how there can be any hard-and-fast rule as to who should offer their seats. It would depend on circumstances —health, etc. As for the carrying of suitcases—l have b-sen. told by men that they have been looked upon with grave suspicion on offering to carry a parcel for a woman, so I do not 'blame them for falling short in that respect. In regard to the men rushing the ferry boats —for the last eighteen months I have been using the ferry boats, sometimes two and three- times a day, and I have yet to see one of my own. sex who would let a man race her on to the boat if she 'had made up her mind to get there first (that is, of course, omitting those men. who choose the discomfort of clambering over the side and thereby lessening the crush). I find, on the whole, that if any jostling is to be done some of the women are more capable than the men. They seem to take it f'»r granted that they have the two unquestioned privileges —that of being first, and that of being rude, and that no one should complain of it. Fortunately this applies only to a very small section indeed, and generally both sexes on the ferry boats behave admirably and very good naturedly towards one another. K. SCHEIFFER.