New Zealand Soldiers and English Wives.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16205, 7 May 1918, Page 6

New Zealand Soldiers and English Wives.

■His Worship the Mayor of Christchurch has been getting into hot water lately. Ho has had a long and very trying spell of office, and on the whole has discharged his duties ivoll, but even Homer was known to nod, and one can hardly bo surprised if the worthy Mayor, in the midst of his many anxieties, should occasionally make a mistake/He is now being taken to task because at some up-country meeting ho deprecated the idea of New Zealand soldiers bringing out English wives, instead of takin-r to themselves helpmeets from tho girls of their own country. A meeting was

J held last night for the purpose of protesting against tho Mayor's implied disparagement of English wives, and a somewhat amusing account of the proceedings will be found in another column. ' Tho excellence of New Zea-. land wives has passed into a proverb, and "Tho Press" is prepared to maintain their excellence with its last breath. But there is a river in Monmouth and a river in Macedon, and there is no doubt that a good many English wives will hold their own with any wives in th 0 world. On the other hand, unsuitable wives may be picked up in England as well as elsewhere, and there is reason to fear that some of our men have been rather too hasty in making their choice, with the result that they have not done as well as they might have,done had they waited till they returned to New Zealand and taken the all-important step with more deliberation. Most sensible people, we think, will agree that the Mayor was quite within his rights, and even within his duty, in uttering a friendly word of warning on this subject. As for the mooting of protest reported in anothor column, We aro afraid it will confirm the impression j largoly held elsewhere.

that Christchurch, although a very beautiful city, is spoilt by possessing more than its fair share of "cranks."