MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 May 1929, Page 3

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OF INTEREST

(Notes by

Marjorie)

PRESENT-DAY MORALS. INFLUENCE OF DRESS. SYDNEY, April 18. An august body, known as the Council of Social and Moral Reform has been sitting in Sydney and discussing present-day morals. During this, discussion some extraordinary views were expressed, and the statements made by some of the speakers causes a doubt to rise in the mind as to whether the world is as good a place as some of us are inclined to imagine. For instance, a well-known social worker, Colonel Swain, of the Salvation Army, said that many of the girls nowadays were “nearly nude,” but the average man in the streets of Sydney fails to find, much evidence to support this sweeping statement. Mrs F. Swartz praises Adelaide because it has prohibited pillion-riding, and because on the Adelaide beaches a man is not allowed to sit nearer than 3ft to a woman. Again, there is no evidence that the morals of Adelaide are any better than those of any other city. The president of the council (Mrs A. V. Roberts) said that on Palm

' Beach, near Sydney, she had seen sights that were not fit for the eyes of decent people, but as she did not enter upon any details it is impossible to say whether the statement was justified, or to judge of her standards of morality. “If I had my way,” said one woman, “I would banish the movies. And I would compel everyone to wear bathing costumes that- really covered them from neck to knee.” “I would not have the costumes any longer than they are to-day,” replied Mrs Edmond Gates. “I am broadminded enough to see that the limbs of our young people are beautiful, ana I do not think that there is any need for them to cover them up while they are surfing. . “I know perfectly well that stricter supervision on our beaches is not going to get to the root of the ti ouble. We have to face the fact of a general lowering of the standard of morality between men and women to-day. One sees extreme instances of it in the growing number of effeminate men who are about, and the number of masculine girls. Girls to-day must be taught the value of chastity.” “Dress in the streets is responsible for a lot of the lowering of our morals,” said Mrs E. L. Goodison, organising secretary of the Racial Hygiene Society. ‘Why do girls want to show their knees? I am sure the knee is the ugliest part of the body. Dresses could be ankle length without causing any discomfort. The chief trouble on the beaches is that men and women lie in lewd attitudes. Women could “bake” just as well in a pretty wrap.”

PUFF-BOXES FOR MEN. A man in the lounge of a London hotel was observed the other week to take out a tiny gold puff-box and carefully powder his nose. Despite the gasps of onlookers he remained unperturbed. Calmly replacing the box. in his vest pocket he lit a cigarette and walked out. The man was initiating a fashion which Paris hopes to make popular. The attempt is being made to introduce beauty products for men. Vanity cases, goldcased pocket mirrors and puff-boxes, all designed to please the male eye, are making their appearance in the shops. There is a cute little powderbox with a discreet puff specially designed for use in the theatre. There is a slightly more massive one for everyday purposes —for a dab or two after a strenuous game of golf, for instance. Another intriguing gadget is a powder-puff box and cigarette case combined. A shopkeeper from whom a, “Sunday Chronicle” representative sought information disclosed the surprising fact that not only are these beauty aids for men being marketed, but they are also being sold in large quantities. “Oh, yes,” he said, “we have sold quite a number to young men about town. Why should men go about with shiny noses when a little*dab of powder will make all the difference?” LEAP-FROG!

Th© surprising result obtainable by a combination of athleticism and initiative was witnessed in Queen Street (says the Auckland “Star”). A lady, one of the throng of hurrying shoppers, discovering that a shoe lace had become untied, halted abruptly and bent down to adjust it. A pedes-, trian immediately in the real’ found' himself entirely unable to avoid a collision, and rather than overthrow the fair bender (or, another alternative, hurl himself sideways on to the sidewalk), took the astonishing action of treating the impasse as an invitation to a. game of leap frog. Which participant in the 1 frolic was the more amazed is a matter for conjecture,

ENGLISH GIRL’S PLUCK. I LONE WORK IN THE BUSH. In constant danger from wild animals, a Leicestershire girl is fighting a lone battle against the wilds thousands of miles from her home. She is Miss Peggy Billson, and in Kenya Colony', in Africa, she is trying to turn a virgin forest into a dairy farm with the sole assistance of only six native boys. Miss Billson, who was a landworker during the war, once ran a farm in Sussex, but the desire to travel and see the world induced her to go out to Ceylon, and later to Kenya Colony. She has written to friends in the Women’s Farm and Garden Association in England, and told them of her day and night battle against the forces of nature.

There is no winter and summer, Miss Billson says. There should be a rainy season, but it has not arrived, and consequently there 'is a drought. ' Hardly any farms are fenced. The cattle are herded all day, and at night put into an enclosure, and in some parts with very high sides, as a lion can jump a. six-foot fence with a full-grown ox on its back’.

Miss Billson adds that her employer has a small herd of cows which she looks after. She is also in charge of 3.67 acres of forest land. “It is a slow job turning forest into a dairy farm.” she says. “However, I have cleared, stumped, fenced, and planted about six acres with oats.”

DUCHESS OF YORK’S NEW CAR

All the Royal Family seem to have been investing in new cars recently, says an overseas writer. The Duchess of York has a new grey limousine, with pale grey brocade inside and silver fittings. An unusual addition is a small, plainly-set-out calendar. And the mascot in the front is a silver lion.

This lion was chosen because it reminds her of a certain lion from which she and the Duke were in danger while in Africa. It was finally shot by the Duke, and its head nowhangs in the hall of 145, Piccadilly.

“DON’T SEW AT BUSINESS.” At a recent conference in Norwich, of the Norfolk Federation of Women's Institutes, Evelyn Lady Sufiield, the president begged 'the women not to knit while business was going on. Women, the president said, were coming into everything on the same terms as men, and men were entitled to complain when they saw women neglecting business to knit, and sew. The women put away their knitting needles, and the subsequent business was discussed briskly. VIVID YELLOW POPULAR. Yellows, especiallj’’ the vivid canary shade, and sealing-wax red are very popular, while navy blue and black are more favoured this year than ever before. Hats are still of the tiny, close-fitting, and “eyebrow-revealing” variety, says a London writer. These call for petite and perfect features, but are worn by those possessing neither. Nevertheless, Dame Fashion must be followed. The Duchess of Sutherland seems to disregard Riviera, fashions, and remains faithful to the beret, which certainly becomes her remarkably well. In this fashion she is aided by Lady Wodehouse, with ' whom she is frequently seen. The Duchess is seldom in the Casino at night, and prefers to play between tea and dinner. In spite of the excessive heat in the rooms she invariably retains her fur coatone day a luxurious sable, worn over a navy blue skirt and jumper, with a blue beret, and the next a three-quar-ter length squirrel coat with a navy blue crepe de chine skirt and a jumper of white crepe de chine printed in blue and red. With this she chose a bright'red beret, held at one side with a blue and white enamelled brooch. WOMEN FROM NOWHERE. SYDNEY, May 2. To Wooliongong, on the south coast of New South Wales, has come a woman who has lost her identity and does not even remember whether she is married or single. She knocked at the door of a boardinghouse on Wednesday and asked for a cup of tea and the opportunity of a rest. At first the proprietor of the boardinghouse noticed nothing amiss with the woman, but during subsequent conversation he learned that she had lost her memory. The only clue to her identity was a piece of

paper in her handbag. ■ The name of “Jessie” was written on the slip of paper, and the woman seemed to be familiar with the name. She has a distinct English accent, and said that she recollects dimly having been “on a big boat about three weeks ago.” The overseas liner Themistocles arrived from London on that date with a number of migrants aboard, and it is thought that she may have been among them.

Passenger lists are now being searched and her photograph has been published jn the Press in the hope of finding her relatives or friends.

WIFE PROTECTION.

A SLAPPING OF THE FACE.

NEW YORK, April 17.

A lady barrister defended a. hus-

band in a Supreme Court suit initiated by his wife for slapping her face foqr times. The gentle counsel pleaded that the wife had a rare temper. The husband discovered that the only way to make his wife “snap back into normal,” as the learned woman advocate expressed it, was to slap her face.

Two cases were quoted tQ. guide the Court. In a North Carolina suit, the husband who struck his wife “five licks” with “two switches about four feet long,” was fined ten dollars, despite the fact that the law of the day permitted the use of a t ‘switch’ or rod no thicker than a man’s thumb.” In a North Hampshire case, the famous lines in the “Taming of the Shrew” were quoted:—

“I will, be master of what is mine own; Sho is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my harn,

My horse, my. ox, my ass, my anything.”

The lad f attorney quoted no recent authority which would aliiw a husband to slap, his wife’s face, even for the praiseworthy object of helping her to “snap back into normalcy.” The verdict of -the Court went against the husband.