SOME DISTINGUISHED WOMEN.

Matamata Record, Volume XIII, Issue 1111, 3 April 1930, Page 3

SOME DISTINGUISHED WOMEN.

NAMES THAT WILL LIVE. A discussion has lately taken place about famous women of the day, not so much with re|ard to their present position, but with regard to the future. Many people who are well known now will be forgotten perhaps a century lienee, but there are some women whose present • achievements will undoubtedly influence the generations to come. A lis; has been compiled which reflects the consensus: of opinion. It includes the ames of some dozen women whoso merit, it is believed, should be as greatly regarded a hundred years hence as now, states an English writer. lii the world of politics, for instance, Viscountess Astor, Miss Margate: Bondfield, and the Duchess of Athol! stand out clearly—Lady Astor as the first woman Cabinet Minister, and the Duchess of Atholl as a politician of distinction) whose greatest work is probably still to . come. Civil aviation has been helped forward tremendously by Lady Heath, Lady Bailey, and- the Duchess of. Bedford. These three women have helped to change the whole general attitude towards air travel. At first we were inclined to regard all air travel as only fit for military experts. Later, we became familiarised with the idea of travelling in aeroplanes under the guidance of skilled pilots. Now women quite caldily regard the possibilities of being pilots themselves. Dame Mary Scharlieb will never be forgotten in the medical world, and Vis-, countess Rhondda would be included in. any list of notable women, not only because of her work for other women, but because of her capabilities as director of many industrial concerns. She is, in fact, our only big woman industrialist. She directs her collieries-with with all the energy which she exerts as vice-chairman of the Time and Tide Publishing Company. In the artistic world, Clare Sheridan’s sculptures will very probably live, and so will the paintings of Dame Laura Knight. As for the stage, this particular list chooses Mrs Patrick Campbell and Miss Clemence Dane as the two women most likely to get posterity’s recognition. Clemence Dane has so far written only one really successful play, but her “Bill of Divorcement” ran for months when it was first produced in 1921, and it had a successful revival. All London flocked to see Mrs Patrick Campbell in “The Matriarch.” The critics say that another hundred years hence people will speak of Mrs Patrick Campbell’s interpretation of the Matriarch as people now speak of the performances by Mrs Siddons.