Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1935. WOMEN’S PART.

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 July 1935, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, JULY 13, 1935. WOMEN’S PART.

jyjh’. and Mr< J. A. Lyons are proving good publicity ag<*nr> for Australia, boosting the country and people to all and sundry. Mrs. Lyons' descript ion of Australia, outlined bv her to Canadian wo-

men. read like a pre-war emigration pamphlet. Iler claims would be disputed by many )jJ’" have first hand knowledge of t he ('ommonwealth. However, when on tour, it is preferable to he nil ra-pal riot ie than despondent, and if Australia is not yet a social paradise, it is a wonder fully-end owed land, peopled by a virile race, that has already made history in many directions. If they were accused of having too

good a conceit of themselves, the Australians could say in their deft nee, that in a little over a century they have accomplished much to blind them occasionally to the fact that there are others.

Mrs. Lyons dwelt on the good work performed by Australian women for their country, and here there is no room for controversy. Mrs. Lyons, herself,-is a notable example. As a wife and a mother she has nobly done her duty, and her scholastic attainments are brilliant. Not all women have her special gifts and opportunities, but most can do something to assist in community good, and this without neglecting the primary* duty of safeguarding the welfare of their homes and families. Some, without such special ties, devote their lives to general social service, and in this respect, it is opportune to recall the nagnificent work achieved by Nurse Maude of Christchurch, whose death was reported yesterday. She wrought lasting good to many who were sick, poor, or friendless, and many will be the regrets that her human career of usefulness has ended. She was known outside Canterbury, where her chief efforts were concentrated, and whether as hospital matron or district nurse, she gave of her best. She was the recipient of an 0.8. E., and other tokens of official recognition, but her greatest reward was the esteem and gratitude she won from those she worked for, and the general community. Whilst New Zealand can produce women like her, there will be little cause for misgiving about national social standards.

Not that perfection has already been attained by New Zealand women. There is published, to-day, a comment by a South African woman visitor to these shores, who asserts that New’ Zealand women smoke more than is good for them. Now that attention has been called to this blemish, there may be less fag among-the fagged. Tea and meat are also over-indulged in by New Zealanders, according to iliis critic, and women must take their fair share of the blame for this alleged excess. The question may be raised in their defence, if the Dominion’s newspapers, and

especially the City publications, which like to think they are on a level, at least, with the world’s best, do not make themselves look somewhat ridiculous by their eagerness to print opinions from visiting nonentities, using the term in an inoffensive sense. On the principle perhaps of if asking no questions, they would hear no compliments, Dominion newspapers interview 7 any visiting Tom, Dick, or Harry, or Jane, Sue, or Polly, and proclaim to an uninterested people what is thought of them and their country by these very temporary visitors, whose opinions are more individual than authoritative. No harm is done in most instances, but occasionally a disgruntled traveller may be a source of mischief-making between Empire countries.