GIRLS RUN A CITY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21159, 16 April 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

GIRLS RUN A CITY.

LEAP-YEAR DAY HONOURED. EXPERIMENT FOR 24 HOURS. Aurora, Illinois, in the United States, is the first city in the world to he ruled entirely by women. In honour of ear Day the City Fathers on February 29, gallantly abdicated in favour of 16 bachelor girls, while 100 men in executive positions as bank presidents, shop managers, hotel chiefs and newspaper sditors also gave up their chairs to women.

For 24 hours every major activity in the city of 50.0C0 was directed by women, most of them young.

Homes were deserted for offices, typists took over the roll-top desks, demure maidens wrinkled their brows over efficiency charts and pressed buzzers. Male leaders of the community who planned this chfinge said they meant it as a recognition of the privileges of the other sex. It was suggested, however, that this was an artful device to keep bachelor girls' ininds olf proposals. By drafting them into respcnsible jobs on Leap-Year Day they kept them too busy to track down victims!

Twenty girls assumed duties as traffic policemen, and berated errant motorists. The police chief retired in favour of Miss Dorothy Ward and the police magistrate gave his robes to Miss Florence Atkins. Miss Ruth Cole, a dazzling blonde of 23. a former beauty prize-winner, powdered her nose and took over the fire brigade, a dozen fire j;irls coming on duty at breakfast time.

Aurora's prison warden followed the Mayor and councillors in handing over their jobs to women.