TOPICS OF THE HOUR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17895, 24 September 1921, Page 4 (Supplement)

TOPICS OF THE HOUR.

Vt VIVIEN.

The much discussed and oft recurring question of providing suitable picture-films for children was once again brought forward at a recent meeting of the Auckland branch of the National Council of Women, when one of the remits received from the southern centres urged that efforts should be made to secure picture programmes specially designed for children on Saturdays at least. There can be no doubt that however carefully censored a picture programme may be, or however excellent from an adult point of view, it is very rarely wholly and entirely suitable for impressionable young minds. Many a mother knows to her cost that nothing is more fatal to sleep, nothing more dangerously harmful in its effect on her little ones than a violently exciting .romp, ot a thrillinfe story told by some kindly but injudicious elder just before bedtime. It stands to reason that the actual beholding of dramatic incidents and exciting scenes must be even more stimulating 10 active young imaginations.

Moreover, a programme designed to attract and interest an adult audience cannot in the very nature of things be at the same time equally suitable fare for young people, any more than a highly analytical though possibly excellent modern novel would prove suitable reading for a little girl, or an abstruse volume on social economics within file intelligent comprehension of a healthy-minded young schoolboy. It is all merely a matter of adjusting programmes to the mental age, the particular stage of development of those for whom they are intended. Hence, if on certain regular occasions picturised stories for young people and' representations of popular standard juvenile books were produced, in addition to the excellent educational films, scenic and humorous pictures and travelogues already frequency shown, then not only would many children be saved from the harmful effects of unsuitable pictures to ■which bhey are now taken by injudicious parents, but also juvenile audiences would be swelled by mauy little people whose mothers at present are afraid to take them at all.

In the course of an address delivered at a meeting of the Auckland Play Association on the importance of various kinds of physical exercise in relation to different parts of the body, Dr. Robertson Buckingbam laid special stress on the beneficial effects of certain games on the spinal column and on the foot, and stressed their value in helping to prevent flat-foot and spinal trouble. In this connection, therefore, it is interesting to note the recently expressed opinions of several noted English, orthopaedic specialists anent the burning question of very high-heeled shoes. One doctor pointed out that in the course of a few minutes walk along a certain London street, he had counted fourteen women all either openly lame or obviously suffering and all wearing highheeled shoes. Another significantly remarked that high heels gave him half his work. In short, opinions seem to be fairly well agreed that, while moderately high square heels are not harmful, especially in conjunction with reasonably thick soles, high heels of the runaway Louis variety are responsible for innumerable malformations in women's feet as well as for serious internal and spinal troubles, simply because they throw the whole body out of balance.

The matter of sex equality in the English Civil Service was the subject of an animated debate among members of the House in London last month, when Major Hills moved that women should be admitted to the Civil Service at Home subject to the same regulations and at the same rate of remuneration as men. The speaker, while frankly admitting that ex-service men deserved Hie most generous treatment, and ought to be considered first of all in the matter of employment, at the same time pointed out that before long, when normal conditions were fully restored, such men would all have been absorbed and women might then be given at least the same right of entrance and the same opportunities of satisfactory employment. On the other hand, he strongly protested against any suggestion to employ women merely on the grounds that they could do the same work at cheaper rates, and maintained that such a course would not only result in under-cutting but would also probably give rise to a bitter sex war.

Another speaker further contended that the chief danger to the stability of a State was the deliberate exclusion of any large section of educated people from the work of that State. Hence, to "cling to the worn-out weapon of male monopoly," by refusing women the right to compete in Civil Service examinations, or to hold responsible positions in Government Departments, was merely to tafee up what was now a ridiculous and untenable position. As a result of the debate, the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed that for the next three years the existing system should continue, but that at the end of that time the method of admission to the Civil Service should be the same for women as for men. According to the report, the decision gave general satisfaction, and an English exchange, commenting on the amended resolution, expressed the opinion that "the advocates of the women's cause had won such a substantial victory that they did not need to disturb themselves unduly over the three years' interval of special treatment."