GIRLS' DRESS.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15460, 13 December 1915, Page 10

GIRLS' DRESS.

MINISTER OF EDUCATION

PROTESTS.

"When the Minister of Education (Hon. .J. A. Hanan) was in Auckland the other day, He had the couragc —or hardihood —to Hay something on tho subject of girls' dress (says the "New Zealand Times"). "It is painful to see many girls with appearances that indicate shallow minds .and the disposition of butterflies rather than tho iustinets of true womanliness,'' he Raid. "Many of these young women who walk about the streets on high heels and in uncomfortable clothing will actually tell you that they have been to high schools to learn deportment."

The Minister stuck to his guns when this matter iva<? mentioned to him by a "New Zealand Times" representative. •'I know that it is a perilous thing for a mere man to tackle a question of this sort, and I am quite prepared lor sneers and ridicule from some quarters,'' he said emphatically. ''But as head of a Department which is responsible, for a very important part of the training of our young people, I feel justified in making reference to these silly fashions. Every competent educationist in the world admits that games play an important part in developing arid moulding the character of the ehild. Every reasonable person knows the vital importance of the physical well-being of our young people." The provision of proper play-grounds for the schools of New Zealand is one of the problems the Education Department is facing ;it the present time. el- we find some oi our school-girls so dressed that they cannot possibly run, or even walk, with ease and comfort.

"W hen 1 see a young girl, just at the growing age, pattering along the street in a skiit so tight thai she cannot take a proper step, or in those ridi culous high-heeled shoes. [ wonder what her parents are thinking about. Do they really want their girls to ape the manners and habits of the butterfly classes of older countries? It i« more important that ou- jxirls should be physically fit than that- our bovs should be. since the mother counts more than the father in the making of the nation Fashion! Why. T gather from the illustrated papers' that- these silly d'-esse.c are out of fashion in the countries that originated them. The girls of Fraiu-e are dressing for work, and not for disolav. 10-dav."