TOPICS OF THE HOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17471, 15 May 1920, Page 4 (Supplement)

TOPICS OF THE HOUR.

• BT VITISW. -' The children's and adults' ' plain and' fancy dress ball, which was. to be have been held on May 19, in aid of funds, for a Residential Nursery, has unfortunately again to be postponed. Owing to the prevailing influenza it is considered unwise to expose the children to the risk of infection, and postponement has therefore been rendered necessary in the interests of all. The future date of the funcition will be notified in due course. The formation of a community club in Auckland along the line* suggested at the Victoria League meeting on Wednesday evening, should supply a need that has been long felt to exist in certain sections of the community. For young people whose homes and friends are in Auckland, clubs are in many cases unnecessary, - and for some possibly even harmful, since such institutions tend to make them dissatisfied with their own home interests and prone to depend entirely on their particular crab for their amusement. But for many lonely workers whose home* are some distance away, and for whom the evenings mean nothing but aimless rambling in the streets or cheerless hours in a boarding-house, any institution which offers bright, healthy intercourse and cheery educative entertainment cannot fait to prove a boon. For the sake of the drifting population which is to be found in every city, the lonely units, who seem to have no particular ties and no definite place in the community, it is to be hoped that the present suggestion may soon take practical shape. At the meeting of the Civic League and the Civic Circle of the Women's Club on Monday evening, the decision made by those present not to purchase certain articles for a period of six months would certainly seem to be a step in the. right direction. But. though it is at least a beginning, the movement cannot be productive of much good unless a. very large section of the community fallows' suit For time there has been flourishing in our midst a type of woman who has been described as "the drees maniac." and she it is whose thoughtless and selfish extravagance helps to maintain the present high prices. She is to be found each and every day parading the streets- in silk stockings, unserviceable shoes and frail, expensive clothes and hats, which most women cannot afford to buy, even if they would, and which many wealthy ones sensibly refuse to purchase, even though they could. For shop-assistants seem agreed that it is not in the ranks of the wealthy that the drees maniac is most prominent, but that she is chiefly to be found among girls who earn their % own living and who seem not only undisturbed oy high prices, but willing to Say anything that is asked of them, htil this type of girl learns to moderate [ her desires and to live for something else besides clothes we cannot look for much I improvement. , There is another aspect to this matter of economy in clothes which is rather an interesting development. Most women have a gift of inventiveness and ingenuity which, in pre-war days when prices were low, had in many cases been allowed to become rusty for want of use. Now, however, this dormant quality has been perforce called into active play, and many women have been surprised to find how much skill they really possess in the art of renovating and remodelling old clothes, how interesting it is to transform an old garment into a new one, and how much satisfaction they get out of using again old materials of a quality infinitely superior to any that can be pro cured now. Moreover, most women had a propensity for hoarding up an amazing collection of miscellaneous odds and ends, which they vaguely expected would "come in useful some day," but which in pre-war times merely went on accumulating indefinitely. "Some day," however, has come in good earnest now. and the long-buried and half-forgotten treasures of 1 years are being rescued from obl'vion and transformed into 'snmethinc useful, either for a member of the familv or for some needy outrider. At least the cost of liv ing has accomplished something which nothing else could effect—it has brought to light ancient dories and dusty "lumber room" relic* which in pre-war days not 1 even the vicissitudes of "moving" or of spring-cleaning could persuade the owners to relinquish With the advent of the school holidays there recurs the eternal question of how to use the viication to the best advantage for the children. In the summertime, when sunnv days are plentiful and beaches and country holiday resorts are alwavs available —or ought to be'the matter presents no difficulties, but in the winter season it becomes a very real prohlcm.' The shortage of houses and con sequent . tendency to live in flats, the scarcity of domestic heln, the hustle and unrest and fullness of life at the present dav—in short., modern conditions generally do no* conduce to home life, and as a natural consequence manv people have not only forgotten how to play with their children, but they no longer teach them how- 0 find amusement in their own home*. As » result, the occasional party to which children wed to look forward with healthy eagerness '« fast becoming a regular institution and an unfortunate practice is ranidlv developing hy which children are allowed to fill up their holidavs with unlimited parties, visits to picture theatres., and evening entertainments. The effect* are harmful, both on health and character. Late hours and a close unhealthy atmosphere are bad for children at anv time, and at a season when influenza is rampant they are ac tua'lv dangerous: while the continuous tension and unnatural excitement make them so restless and unfit for work that fhev frequently go bark to school more tired than at the end of "term-exam." Worst of all. the constant dependence on outride amusement, creates a love of sensation and a precocious tendency lo criticise that sometimes render the mod em child actnallv blase. The truth is hat manv of the vnnng people of to dav are not children nt all—thev are merely litt'e "grown-ups." Rnoh ,1 state of affairs is as alarming as it is sad : but it need not erist at all if parent* would allow the partv and the evening entertainment to fall hack into their old places in the order of their children's I'vcs. and en eouraged instead a heall.hv re.soti-ccful ness and dependence on home pleasures. The secretarv of Tl"<>cdin Pris'n Reform Association, Miss ITcpkinsnti, ; s leaving shortly for a trip to England, via America, and it was stiefrested that l>c would thus have an excellent opportunity of studying the methods employed in those countries with regard to women prisoners. Tn America, the Clinton Farms fa New Jersey State Reformatory for Women), have [.roved highly successful in their treatment of prisoners, while in England, the Riverside Colony, n reformatory founded hv Quakers in the South of Fig land, and the " Little Commonwealth." an institution which has adopted a system of self-government bv its prisoners, have both met with satisfactory results. Prom the davs of the Quaker reformer. Elizabeth Fry. famous for her ministration \r> the women prisoners in English gaols, down *<> the present time, the work of pri son reform has made a special appoil tr the women of the world. A woman's sympathy is invanaby enlisted most readily on behalf of Hose who would probably get little ronsiderat'on elsewhere. It is the half starved animal that usual,v makes the strongest appeal to her: and ot her rhildren. it is the weaklv, 01 lull, or unattractive member of the family that her love is always rushing to defend. There are many Mich women who have no home-ties of their own but who have a wealth of sympathy and feeling that only needs an object on which to expend itself. Such women, seeking an outlet for their energies an-1 their k'ndlint--s of heart, could find few more in need •<( their help than the outcasts of the worl!