WOMEN’S WORLD.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 104, 2 April 1929, Page 11

WOMEN’S WORLD.

(By “GERM.

Miss 0. Harvey, of Wellington and Misses W. and A. Hare, of Khandallah, are the guests of Mr and Mrs Bagnall, Palmerston North. Mrs Black, of Auckland, and Miss Hanna, are in Palmerston North for Miss Guy’s wedding on Thursday. Mr and Sirs It. A. Fuller are spending r Easter in Napier; Mrs A. 0. Meyrick, of Aokautere, is staying iri" Feilding with her mother, Mrs Norman Gorton. Mr and Mrs G. Haggitt have" returned from a motor trip to Hawera and Mt. Egmont. 8 Mrs Watt, of Hamilton, is staying with Mr and Mrs W. Thomson, of College Street. * Mr and Mrs E. L.' Steadman, formerly of Palmerston North, and now of Auckland, are in ■ Wanganui for Easter and attended the Feilding races yesterday. Mr and Mrs T. H. Moodie, of Napier, are in Palmerston North for the golf tournament. Among the arrivals hy the Ulimaroa from Sydney yesterday was Miss Zena Jupp, the well-known elocutionist, who was the winner of the ladies’ elocutionary scholarship at the last Wellington Competitions, and was also successful in the radio sketch section of the competition organised by the Radio Broadcasting Company of New South Wales, winning first prize. Miss Jupp was adjudicator at the Boolaroo Eisteddfod last month. Miss Jupp, who' is studying elocution in Sydney under Mr Brunton Gibb, is on a flying visit to her parents, and returns to Sydney by the Maunganui next week to continue her studies.

, The death from septic pneumonia of the Dowager Marchioness of Cambridge (Queen Mary’s sister-in-law), at the age of 56, recalls the fact that the obituary list of the last few months has qontained the names of many ladies well known in English society, states an exchange. These include-. Georgina, Countess of Dudley, mother of an ex-Governor-General of Australia ; Elisabeth, Countess of Carnarvon, whose husband was at one time Colonial Secretary; the Countess of Lauderdale; the Countess Grosvenor, mother of the present Duke of Westminster, and sister-in-law of the late Dowager Marchioness of Cambridge; Viscountess Grey, the second wife of the statesman who was Foreign Secretary in Britain when the Great War began in 1914; and, Lady Lugard, wife of Lord Lugard, a distinguished Governor of Crown Colonies, and herself a journalist and writer of no mean order, who achieved fame as a member of the staff of the London Times., THE MODERN GIRL. “STRAIGHT, ATHLETIC BODY.” ‘ EASY TO POSE AS MAN. “Captain” Valerie Barker found it a comparatively simple matter to masquerade as a man and to deceive hundreds of men with whom she came in contact about the truth of her sex, statos the Sydney Sun. For the success of her ruse, however, she should allow a, share of credit to that- muchmaligned creature, the “modern girl,” with her shingled hair, her short dresses, and easy posture and walk, and her straight, athletic body. In the days before the war it would have been a much harder matter for the average woman to pose as a man. Curves were the fashion then, - and a flat-chested girl gazed with envious eyes at her plumper sisters, and even used various padding devices, so that she should seem just as delicately rounded as the more favoured members of.her sex.

“There can be no doubt,” said one Sydney doctor the other day, “that it is easier for the average woman of ' today, provided she has a deep enough voice, to imitate a man than it was for the average woman of 20 years ago. “It is true that there may be no scientific figures to bear out the theory that girls of to-day are slimmer than they were—but there is the evidence of your eyes. Go to any surfing beach, and there you will see scores of girls whom a suit of men’s clothes would fit like a glove. “Slimness for women is at present a mere fashion, and if it proves to be as fickle as some other fashions, then per- ! haps wo may not look for any enduring physiological effect race; but if_ it goes on for centuries, the. result will be that not only will women have ther present spare covering of flesh, but there may even be comparatively infinitesimal modifications in their skeletons.”

He points to four main reasons for the slimness of the Australian girl: Surfing, climate, sport, and occupations. .

“Look round' you on any surfing beach, and you will see singularly little supcrfllcus flesh,” he says. “Most of what there is belongs to men and women who are not regular daily surfers. • Except in cases where fat is inherited, or is due to faulty action of the glands, it is not going to resist for very long a daily buffeting from, the breakers” Of course, there is plenty of fine exercise for almost” every par£ of the body in surfing, but as a fat-reducer, it is” the actual battering! from the waves that accomplishes most. : “The surf was still there in 1910, but it was not the people’s sport nearly to the extent which it is to-day. Thousandsl of women in those days still regarded mixed surfing as rather an immodest procedure, and the most that some of them did was-to take off their stockings and dabble their feet in the shallowest ripples. To-day a major-ity-of Sydney’s girls are regular surfers. “That climate plays its part is shown by the fact that most fat people find that they can hold their own in the battle against adiposity in summer, but in winter increased flesh descends upon them. Stoutness is an uncomfortable condition in a hot climate, and the mere discomfort is an-incentive to make a struggle against it. Few fat white women are to be seen in - South Africa, for instance. Yet, in a cold ‘climate, a reasonable layer of-fatty tissue under the skin makes a good buffer against the cold. That I think, "is-why the average Australian woman is thinner than the average Englishwoman. • “It is useless to look'('.for drastic changes in women’s bones yet—'it will take centuries of battering by the surf before the- most fractional reduction in the width of women’s.hips.(to take one example) could occur, and it is difficult to see how- nature could propose to modify woman’s skeleton ’ without making motherhood a still more difficult business.” ~ , . Wedding- gift.. seekers should pay a visit to “Arts and Crafts”, showroom, Coleman Place (upstairs; Lewis Studio entrance). —Advt. , f ‘ •”

:AINE”)

MARRIAGE. GULBRANSEN WHITEHEAD. On March 27th the Gospel Hall, Main Street, Palmerston North, was the scene of an exceedingly pretty wedding when Stella, second daughter of Mr and Mrs Alfred E. Whitehead, became the wife of Arthur Gulbransen. The bride, who was given away by her father, was attired in a charming frock of ivory crepe, de chene and radium lace, a beautiful long shoulder train of white crepe de chene underlined with blush pink georgette, in the corner of which was a Horseshoe worked in pearls. The beautiful veil of Brussels lace was held in place by » coronet of orange blossoms and silver lace. A shower bouquet of white dahlias and pink belladonna lilies completed her toilet. Misses Olive and Fay Bishop, of Cambridge (cousins of the bride) attended her' as bridesmaid and flower girl respectively. The bridesmaid, who was daintily attired in a frock of cyclamen georgette with skirt trimmed with rose bud trimming and lace, carried a bouquet of mauve and lemon dahlias and maiden hair fern, and wore a coronet of silver lace and silver tricatine. The wee flower girl looked sweet in a model frock of shell pink georgette with rose bud trimming ana wore a bandeau of silver leaves and tulle and carried a basket of pink flowers. Little Olaf Nikolaison was page boy and wore a suit of blue velvet. The bridegroom was attended by Mr Dave Hockley as best man. A chocolate brown silk marocain frock with Oriental trimmings was worn by the bride’s mother, with a smart model hat to tone, and she carried a bouquet of red dahlias and autumn tinted leaves. Mrs Gulbransen, the bridegroom’s mother, wore a smart green frock and fawn hat. The bride and bridegroom’s presents to each other were gold wristlet watches. The bridesmaid’s present was a " fawn under-arm purse and the flower girl’s a string of pink pearls. The bride travelled in a dress of Princess Mary blue repp with fawn coat and hat. A reception was held when about 70 guests from all parts of New Zealand assembled. The presents were numerous and costly and included several cheques. Later Mr and Mrs Gulbransen left for a motor tour of the North Island. DOMESTIC SERVICE. DISCUSSION IN LONDON. “BAD OLD DAYS” NO MORE. Lady Emmott presided over a meeting, held under the ouspices of the National Council of Women, to discuss matters relative to domestic service, writes a London correspondent. The speakers included the Duchess of Atholl, M.P., Miss Grace Young (a domestic servant of many years' experience), Miss Margaret Bondfield, M.P., and Dr. W. Culiis. Lady Emmott explained that the object of the meeting was to extend the feeling of friendliness and co-operation between employer and employed, and it was hoped that an association, such as was being formed -in other industries, “blight be the outcome. The Bishop of London stated that the lack of consideration given to servants in the past partially accounted | for the dislike for domestic service current to-day. RAISING THE STATUS.

Long hours, not sufficient thought given to providing prettily decorated ued rooms, insuMcient laciiities for recreation —both indoor and outdoor, though wireless and gramophones in this oirectiou gave a measure of hope —were points made by the Duchess of Atholl. the Duchess urew attention to the report of the committee set up by the Home Office to consider fteps to improve the arrangements for helping and befriending women and girls who came to London to take up employ-, ment. The Duchess, referring to tne “vexed question of social status,” said that the trouble was made not so much by those who employed domestic work-’ ers. as by many- of the workers’ own friends. “Cine of the first ways to raise the domestic workers’ status,’ she considers “is by doing our utmost to see that every girl gets a training in the domestic arts at some time in her youth. *YVe want every girl in every school, however expensive, to make a,-study of domestic science. It is woman’s work and absolutely essential to the happiness and health of every home.” “The advantages of a sheltered life for girls--.?.t the age of fourteen or fifteen,” she remarked, “are obvious," and she made an earnest appeal to employers to shorten hours in the home, and to devote more time to planning the work with consideration. “It is up to every employer to see that bedroom accommodation is up to the standard,” she said. “I believe many girls would take an immense interest in ' seeing their bedrooms beautifully decorated. There must be more facilities for indoor recreation. There should be shelves of books and a lending library for every domestic staff. I want to see more Sunday clubs. I have ; heard much about the friendlessness i of -girls coming up to London from the country.” GIRLS FROM INSTITUTIONS.

In a passionate, plea Miss Young held that the influence of the “bad old days” was responsible for the reluctance of mothers to allow their daughters to enter; domestic service. Forty-five years ago she herself started out at a salary of £8 a year, and she had to pay 7s 6d out of her first quarter’s wages to buy a bonnet in which to go to church./ Iri addition, she had tg share a bed with another maidservant. . ,

“What has been the matter with domestic service is this—it has been a means for the inefficient to get a living. Charitable institutions have poured into service girls who are absolutely brainless. If you have any brains at all you must know that you do not always get the best brains from “It isn’t the girls’ fault. They’ve got to get a living somehow, poor things. But please don’t put the whole lot of them into domestic service! It only makes things bad for those of us who know how to work!” NEED FOR TRAINING.

Miss Bondfield said; “The question of status is the great one to overcome. I have a good daily workermyself who is a personal friend. She knows she could not do my work, and I know ’ jolly well I cannot do hers. Now that she is l ill and my pipes are all frozen and I have to do things for myself, I realise how well she does her work. It is important that we should recognise the necessity for housing transformation and labour-saving apparatus. ’• Training centres should be set up all over the country.” Dr. Winifred Culiis stated that she was working on a special branch of the National * Institute of Industrial Physiology, which was going to study the best way to run a house, the best way a house should be planned, and the form of utensils that wove to be used in the well-nm house.