GIRLS, DRESS ALLOWANCES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 97, 17 January 1908, Page 3

GIRLS, DRESS ALLOWANCES.

Tho question of girls' dress allowances is ono that is always cropping up, especially 1 in families whore there are a nuniber of 'girjs to bo provided for.. The" first tiling : tb bo said in'this connection is that wliatover'■•'•tile amount is, it is not nearly theso days, when tho luxuries of- toir years ago havo becomo tho absolute necessities of tho present, tho difficulties of deciding what to go without increases. After all, it is merely a mattor of arrangement. ■/: The girl with £30, or oven £20, a year to dress on, is much better off than she who has to contrive to meet daily recurring items, suclr as fares, travelling expenses; m fact,-., the outlay of everyday life (board and lodging, of courso, excepted), on ,£SO a year,'paid quarterly. Girls who flattor themselves-that .they dress themselves, travel, amuse, and surreptitiously feed themselves on £40 a year from their own homes, never notico tho countless •things that como from their parents as naturally as tho air they breathe. • Tho "bottom drawer in mother's wardrobe". may usually be depended on whon one is on tho financial rocks, and a new frock or blouse' is most'important. If mother should fail to'-rise to the occasion, a trip to town with father often yields most satisfactory results. 1 " Perhaps pno gets into debt, then tho temporary outr lqok: is serious, for-it means a scene, and a few tears, with tho frequent outooipe, however, that father puts his hands in his-'poc-kets, and the way is mado smooth again, and there is a pound or two to the good'for a frosh start. A brother is a very goqtl. person wjien tho situation is extra difficult; b'nt all this is wol| known to tho ordinary girl,-and it is whon all these <;hanpes and'possibilities are cut off that she realises that £30.'a year arid a homo is wealth compared to filoo'and "batching" in rooms in tho city,' which poars to bo tho culminating point of happiness to some young womon of the day.; ;