TOPICS OF INTEREST

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 49, 26 August 1922, Page 16

TOPICS OF INTEREST

(By /

.; The,late. Lard .Nfl.r'thcliffe/ is being ™largely,",.quoted, and v:oE "his saying are 'being .invpkted .with" ■^rivid:''.interest; but tone whic|)"Vwill appeal to.women par-■•-ticul(rrly ■js'Jjig' opinion on Lady Bathurst, th& Director of the London Morning . Post. While., not always agreeing. with -her policy or her methods," Lpi'd Northcliff c said that he knew thai the paper was produced by the genius of a woman assisted by two capable men. "If she: were living in America," he said, "her i name would .ring from one end of the continent: to Jhe other," and be hurled at Great' Britain as-a-sign of-American " National Superiority;" Another Englishwoman- who" receives much commenda: 4 tion on wide-spread grounds is Lady BonhwßrCarter. -''Nothing/ says an 32nglish',...writer,, "could .be more coldly ...logical', more fundamentally, intellectual, than the matter of, her argument |in public speaking)—and nothing more jsoatt(ely -ieminine than her 'way of stating it. It appears that Lady Bonham■'.Caarter is as. much. at her ease on an ...orange box ,at a Paisley street corner, M^at.a- big meeting held-at the Oxford iTown Hall, to whioh, dons,.both hostile find converted, came flocking. A saying • quoted from the National-Liberal Club is. that if. only Lady Bonham-Carter . had been a man the course of English '• politics would be travelling over a very 1 different channel.

/ "Are the mmdi of women reflected in their clothes?" was a question asked 'flrhile viewing a big assemblage on . a Vdreas" occasion. The answer must be dn the.affirmative mainly; always with a reservation against the costumiers who argues that an extreme of fashion is "smart" and also becoming, without tsnuch regard to the person or personality of the wearer of the clothes. \ Most women give due consideration to their Jclothing, specially those born under :'Venus, who regard the beautiful as of first importance. There is a big section of women who dress in black and white, sometimes with a delightful splash of colotu, and these are always distinguished and in excellent' taste. The younger ones charm in some of the Trivia shades (that are produced "in such •perfection nowadays.. But it is the" form of the dress- that, shows the mind .best—not the . colouring—and the fine perception of the ■becoming and decent is mirrored as ' (plainly as the signs of a coarser mould of mind. ..,,.-..

Bacon's essays are notably .practical. Perhaps the one concerning the building of houses is especially so; yet with the imagination which, is necessary.for the successful building of any ' edifice. Coii trolled imagination is one of the mo'sV -.valuable qualities any human being can- possess,, and one that is consistently sneered at by the. unimaginative. Bacon says: "Houses are built to live in, and not "to look on; therefore, let use be ' preferred before uniformity, except where both may be had. Leave the goodiy E'abricks of -Houses, for Beauty only, to the enchanted Palaces .of the Poets; who . build them with Small .Cost. He that builds a fair. House upon an ill.Sea(<) committeth himself to prison." , Thus saith Bacon, and his Old World wisdom ia' yet new, and should. l;e ..applied to-day. Sunshine-is the great- necessity; yet those who started .Wellington ..residentially built on .the shady Thovndop' side move freely J than on the sunny Oriental-side, strangely enough. It is possible that there- were reasons conqerm'ng good landing-places for boats and. goods that may; have influenced the choice.

, .Much imagination must be shown in : the building, of a-successful house. Misi takes . are bound to be made, however ' carefully they are guarded against, and people must just call philosophy to their •id. Moreover, they must not mind the criticism of their friends; or by any. chance show them the house, when only tho foundations are laid, for these are 1 deceptive to a degree on the small side. The imagination of a woman leads her in and out of every door; up and down tjie stairs; looking put of every window, ,and placing every piece of furniture., Therefore she may be depended upon to have a just-estimate' of the way ,the house.shouljl be planneS; while in New Zealand she may be ;trusted to minimise work in every possible way in arranging her ideas of a home, visualising the finished house is quite an art, and should be cultivated ,to the best advantage be'- , fore starting out on any. undertaking in ' building, or in any other important matter. .... .' . ■ .

Much surprise was expressed by various speakers at Mr. J. C. Andersen's lecture on land matters, that so many women- should .have appeared at such a lecture.. It was a stormy night; yet the fireside'failed to hold., a great many women who were anxious for information concerning the land question. There are many N6Uch "signs of the times" nowadays. ,~ln the old days lectures 'iw.ere few, and the attendances to match; while to-aay the reverse is the case. An observation made by Mr. Andersen is worth chronicling ,He said: "Battle is always going on between people who are trying,to make a living and those who are trying to make a fortune. The latter usually win.,"-

Speaking at the same meeting, Mr. J. 'A. Hanan,- M.P.; said that London is hfeld by practically a handful of people/ 'and later, Mr. H. A. Atmore, M.P., stated that there had been no - revaluation of, land in ' ■ England^ since 1694; that immense revenue cauld be got from a country that .■was not dominated by land owners. He , •mentioned that only £500,000 -was. the whole"larid"~reventre"*Df*""Great"Britain, ' ■ while in New Zealand it -amounted to

£1,300,000. Mr. Hanan was of opinAop that people came from the Old Countries to avoid land monopoly, and yet permitted it in the new with-an extraordinary want of foresight. He considered that there,should be more production of all kinds, of children, as well as goods. His ideal was a country with the districts away from towns peopled by big, wholesome-country children; these districts being supplied as well as the towns with proper facilities for hygiene, amusement.' and "convenience.' -The, ideal is a fine one; but at present there ars many country children who arc anything but models of health, and largely owing to lack of proper food, hygienic life and surroundings, and amusement.

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