NEWS AND VIEWS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1206, 12 April 1895, Page 11

NEWS AND VIEWS.

A NELSON JOKE.

Our good friends over in dear old "Sleepy Hollow''—and what a pretty peaceful place that same " Hollow " is—possess a humourist on their local Borough Council. At a meeting of that august; body some few days ago one Councillor stated that two of the swans in the Queen's Gardens had been fighting a good deal of late and the keeper wanted to know what he ought to do, as at present he was unable to leave the swans together. The. Gouncii.solemnly discussed the awful occurrence and finally decided that the Borough surveyor should attend to the matter. One Councillor having stated the "lady " swan was the chief aggressor, another, a Mr Akersten, remarked, "I suppose this is one of the results of female franchise." A poor enough joke, wasn't it, almost poor enough for an M.H.R. :V SILENT SUFFERING. I am sorry to hear that there is much suffering amongst the poorer classes in --Wellington just now and I am afraid the winter will be a very hard tim9 for many pooi? families. It seems strange that in • a comparatively new country like New Zealand we should find the same problems as perplex the oldest countries at the other side of the world, but the problem of how best to assist the poor seems to present itself for solution everywhere. Here in Wellington I am afraid some of the lost sufferers receive the least attention. There are many who cannot humble themselves to appear before the Benevolent Trustees and beg for public charity, and however mistaken may their pride, as some people may think, it con- ;. trasts agreeably with the noisy clamour of the lazy and thriftless, who spend their earnings with such culpable recklessness. and then when the pinch comes impudently demand rather than request public aid. The trouble is how best to find out this silent suffering to Which I have alluded, and how best to remedy the evils of poverty and distress. The churches, said the Rev. Mr Evans at the Forward Movement the other night, confine their good work too closely to the members of their own congregations, and lam afraid that this is but too true. A broader, more truly Christian sympathy, a wider and more genuinely helpful scheme of assistance to the deserving poor is needed, and I should like to see the matter taken up in earnest. It is preeminently woman's work, this of helping lihe suffering poor, and not a few who now waste their time and money on fashionable frivolities could find useful employment in acting as visicord and bringers of assistance in the hour of need.

THE WOMAN'S LABOUR BUREAU. Although I am not a great believer in the theory that the Government should do everything for us and that private enterprise should be discountenanced, the > establishment of a women's registry office by the Department of Labour has; my heartiest approval. I am continually hearing stories of how women—servants of others,, are mulcted iu heavy fees by some of the less principled of the private registry office keepers, and it is a good thing, I think, that some other means of .obtaining -employment should ha«'e been provided. Of course women must understand that toe Government office can no more find work for the lazv, the shiftless . and untidy than can any present institution, but it is a certain guarautee against .unjust and extortionate fee 3, and when -once fairly started will, I think, have a very useful career before it. Mrs Grace Neill, who i 3 in charge of the new departure, is a lady of excellent common sense, of genuine sympathy \\ith the women and her experience in positions in.the Old Country and Australia mukes her essentially the right won&an in the right place. The new departure has my best wishes for its complete Success. * V"•' HOW TO BE BEAUTIFUL. i • Erom rime to time I receive letters from correspondents who wish to know how to improve their complexion, who fr /complain of " muddy skin and black v, hands," and so on. As I have a little ■•more space available to-day than usual, let nie jot down a few practical remarks on, '- well, I will say, "How to be beautiful." X. l * Now? although one may not be ready to liaccept the dictum of. the modern esthetes that ugliness does not exist, and - that everything possesses beauty for him , -whoknows how to discern it, no one can -deny that beauty of person, like almost ,: .-everything eke, may be developed by i training. No one who has a good . complexion and a good figure, including a . graceful carriage, can be otherwise than good looking. For the first, health and cleanliness are requisite. It is a startling

assertion, but none the less true, that very few women are really clean. . The skin, seen under a powerful microscope, resembles a coarse piece of lace netting, and is simply a mass of pores. Through these pores a healthy circulation is constantly discharging effete matter, and if they are allowed to become clogged for want of cleansing, this refuse matter will inevitably find an outlet in the form of pimples, blackheads, &c. A daily sponge bath is one of the greatest beautifiers in the world. To take it, all you need is a basin of warm water, two wash rags, a soft towel for drying, and'a rough one for rubbing. Use pure unscented soap. Wet one rag and soap it well, and rub every inch of your body from head to heel, with this. Now take the other rag and wash the soap off, rubbing briskly all the time. Tneh dry with your soft towel, and finally polish off with the rough towel until you are all in a glow. This may be done either night or morning, as you prefer. If the bath is not taken at night, give yourself ten minutes dry rubbing just before going to bed.

EXERCISE AND DIET. Continuing on the subject of my last paragraph, let me say at once that I distrust and dislike cosmetics of all kinds. Some few may be harmless, hut all the powders and washes ever invented are worth nothing as compared with regular exercise and careful diet. Regular exercise in the open air is the best thing in the world to bring about a clear skin, a bright eye and that generally sound state of health by which alone a good complexion can be attained or preserved. I am afraid our colonial girls, and more especially our Wellington girls, don't take half enough walking exercise. In the Old Country the girls walk far more and there are fewer of those nasty, pasty, sallow unhealthy complexions one sees in the colonies. How many Wellington girls jump on a tram or bus when a good long walk would exercise their muscles, bring the blood to their faces and do them a world of good. I should like to see ladies'walking clubs more numerous. A good five-mile spin along the Wadestown road, or round by the Queen's Drive, would work wonders and be far better for both girls—and indirectly, in the way of saved doctors' bills to their parents— than the everlasting lazy stroll down the Quay. The diet also should be regulated. Pastry, cake, rich food of all sorts tell unfavourably upon the complexion. With regard, to the figure, the human frame is like a tree, and grows as it is bent. Stooping, pushing the head forward, weakens the lung 3. Always, in walking, lift the feet and put them down firmly but lightly. Put down the front of the foot first, not the heel, and rest your weight on the ball of your foot, so that the centre of gravity falls plumb through your hips and the muscles of your lower limbs, instead of at the end of the spine. The muscles of the hips and waist should be trained to bear their full share of the weight of the body, and so preserve the elasticity of the figure. A good exercise for this end is to sit bolt up right for half an hour at a time, reading» sowing, or doing whatever you like, only not letting yourself sink down into your hips. An excellent exercise for training young people to hold their heads properly, is the carrying a weight of some sort poised on the head. Depend'up.m it, good exercise and a simple diet are the best aids to beauty, a thousand times better than the powdeis and—well, other things—which I regret to notice are becoming more ond more used in Wellington. SHOULD WOtVIEN "POP THE QUESTION?" Mr J. Cuthbert Hadden, in his newlypublished brochure, containing papers on love, courtship, and marriage, writes:— Men are naturally more bashful than women, and the result of the present onesided arrangement is that many a man remains single because he cannot bring his courage up to the proposing point, and as a necessary consequence hundreds of girls remain husbandless. An association of girls, each pledged to propose to any man whom, she might deem a desirable

husband, would be far more practicable than, say, an anti-crinoline society. A girl instead of waiting for the husband that may never turn up, would then be able to take her courage in her hands, trip over a man, and. say with Artemus Ward's old maid-=—" You air my affinity ; clasp me to your buzzom." As matters stand at present, the only chance for the unmarried woman is to turn leap-year to account. In an old work on " Love and Matrimcnie " we read, "It now becomes a parte .of the common lawe in regard to social relations of life that as often as evevy bissextile year dost return, the ladyes have the sole privilege during the time it continueth of making love unto the men, which they do either by wordes or lookes as to them it seemeth proper; and moreover, no man will be entitled to the benefits of clergy who dothe refuse to accept the offers of a ladye, or who dothe treate her proposal with slight or contumely/' The privilege had its origin in an. Act of the Scottish Parliament passed in 1288, whereby it was " ordainit that during the reign of her maist blessit Majestie Margaret, ilk maiden ladee of baith high and low estate shall hae libertie to speak to the man she likes. If he refuses to take her to be his wyf he shall be mulct in the sum of ane hundred pundis or less as his estait may be, except and alwais if he can make it appear that he is betrothit to another woman, then he shall be free." These were hard times for bachelors, who nowadays can only be " mulct" in a dress of silk or other handsome material.

DRESS IN JAPAN. According to the Queen, the chief and only stuffs used in Japan are silk, crepe, and cotton fabrics. Silk and crepe are used by the well-to-do, cotton by the poor. There is now, however, a silk material which is prepared from the leavings of the silk threads after the best has been taken away. It is much less expensive, and looks quite as glossy and nice as the pure silk, since the vast improvements in the art of weaving. Crepe is a beautiful fine silk texture, made in the most exquisite colours. The favourites are pale greys of all shades, brawns, blues, greens, and black for any dress of cerumony. Some Of the crepes to be worn by young ladies are very pretty, being shaded from one pale colour through all the rainbow hues to white, or else from black to the palest pink or blue. The bottom part ot these dresses has little scenes—rivers, lakes, houses, people, in the material, or else flowers dotted all over and large branches at the bottom.