“The Lily and the Rose."

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XI, Issue 243, 18 October 1921, Page 2 (Supplement)

“The Lily and the Rose."

NORTHCLIFFE, THE DIPLOMAT. HIS OPINION OF OUR WOMEN. WHAT HIS STAFF TELLS HIM. He who attempts to criticise women —if he be wise—approaches the most complex subject in tho world with the knowledge that however deeply he delves ho will get little closer to a final understanding: of all their moods and graces. And if he be wiser he will not attempt to delve at all, but will just accept the petticoated sex as delightful and charming companions, without any attempt at criticism. Lord Northc’iffe is the wiser man. After his trip through New Zealand and three of the States of Australia he skilfully side-stepped any suggestion that ho gave a definite opinion on our womenfolk. “How can 1 give a worthy opinion of your women when 1 didn’t meet any?” he asked. “They are very charming; and I’ll tell you what the younger members of my ]>ersonel staff assert, and that is that skirts are longer here than on the other side, in either London or Paris. Your girls are very nice, but 1 cannot compare them—it is not right to compare them. You can’s compare the rose with the lily, nor the violet with the rose. I came back to Sydney with my first impressions more firmly fixed. Tho people here are more like those in the north of England—the strain is very much more noticeable in Sydney than it is in Melbourne, which is considerably Scotch. I noticed a great number of Scottish names there.

‘Yes, Sydney is cosmopolitan—there is no question about that. Yet, in a 'way, Melbourne resembles Paris more than Sydney. The wide streets and well laid-out town remind one very much of Parisian boulevards. But you really cannot compare France and Britain any more than you can compare Australia and England. And as far as a comparison of English women and Australian women are concerned 1 have not been able to trace any wonderful difference. That difference is largely imaginary. _ In England you have a blended strain, just as you have a blend here of English, Scotch and Irish. If you woke up on a sunny day in London you might think you were in some part of Australia—you wouldn’t see any difference, except as I said before, that the skirts are longer,” At the suggestion of complexions and “makeup” Lord Northeliffe smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s much the same here as anywhere. 1 see the same number of beauty parlors—l think that's what you call them—hereabouts as anywhere else. I have never been able to get close enough to any of your charming women to see whether or how far they are made up. Alack and alas. I’ve never had a chance to test it. All my time lias been spent in museums and libraries, and meeting people who have given me valuable information about your lovely country. I have seen many pretty women; but poor mo I 1 haven’t been able to get very near any of them. I’ve never had 'a really good talk with one of them, and I’ve never played golf with them. But tho young men travelling with me say they are delightful creatures, with a 'superabundance of charm.”

At this point Mr. Prioleau, one of the young men in question, came in with an original request. “A lady downstairs wants to know if you’d bo good enough to sign this hat.” And he Handed a man’s felt hat to Lord Nortlieliffe, who put on his glasses and autographed the leather head-band. Asked tor a message to Australian women, Lord Northeliffe shot out three words briskly: “Have more babies!” he said. “Why, 1 read that one of your near neighbours has just completed seven new vessels—one of them the largest in tho world. Just as you came in 1 received a cable from England:. “Washington Conference increasingly understood here.” The Conference doesn’t affect London much, but it does vitally affect you people—and especially you women. “Do 1 believe in votes for women and women getting into Parliament? Oh, yes, women ought to have votes if they want them. . It don’t do them any harm. In France the women don’t worry about such things— they know they rule the country, anyhow, so it really doesn’t much matter. Women never get right to the top of the tree, except by their voices. Women never produce a really great writer or musician or artist —the voice is the only sphere in which she can make a supreme name for herself. Look at your great Melba.” Like the Brince. Lord Northeliffe his been particularly impressed with bur Australianisms. . “I have collected quite a little dictionary of .words which 1 am going to submit, to the people, at home,” he remarked. There is good-'oh, bonder, wowser, dinkum, jaekeroo, sundowner, southerly, and bosker. I never knew what ‘running sheep’ or ‘running cattle’ meant till 1 eame to Australia.

And at home we have an entirely different meaning for the word ‘paddock’ r iii England it means quite a small field, while hero it is an immense thing. And another new word —I have never seen ‘typisto’ spelt with an ‘e’ before. 1 shall take that back also.” Then Lord Northeliffe returned to the women problem, and particularly the domestic problem. “Conditions are different here to in England,” he said, “because there we have about two million more women than men. But the employment of women and the unemployment of men are largely associated and if, for instance, you have women in iobs, lite driving lifts, in jobs which could easily be filled by returned soldiers—l do not think it is right. “But you have no idea of the perfection of the English domestic workers. Before the war the average English servant was poorly paid, but since the war she has tripled her wages, and in many instances, I think is better paid than out here. I don’t suppose you have many cooks iii private houses here Who receive £5OO or more a year. Conditions also are very much better at home. A. parlour-maid wijl lay the most beautiful table you ever saw, and wouldn’t dream-of doing anything else. Domestic servants who emigrate are principally of the slavery type of domestic, the English drudge—the expert servants or parlourmaids are never out of woj'k. During the war many domestics went into factories and learnt the advantages of shorter hours and better money, thereby raising the status of domestic service since tho war. And as a parting benediction Lord Northeliffe smiled, “It seems to me that the Sydney people are more volatile and smiling than those : n colder climates.