The Ladies Chain

NZ Truth, Issue 889, 9 December 1922, Page 14

The Ladies Chain

There is trouble m store for the Thomdon cabaret people unless a removal to a more convenient locality is decided upon.- The tooting of motor horns from midnight till the small hours renders sleep impossible. In their own interests the cabaret people should shift :

In the fashions for next season there is every indication that the cloak is again to have the preference. The stronghold of the cloak is >the dress to match, to&etheE>with the voguo for dainty trimmings. The coat is not as convenient as the hanging cloak which can accommodate the wide sleeves, which are thought so essential these days. The cloak is really part of the dress itself, and adds to the charm of the double skirt effect, without the necessity for the double skirt itself. Various styles m large collars are worn, which add smartness,, and produce the effect of a complete>costume. Grey is to be very popular again for the cloak and dress. This color has many advantages m that almost any colored trimming will tone with it.

The education of children these days is very different to that of the days when their parents went to school. Now long walks are indulged m during school hours, when the teacher takes the opportunity of instructing the children on the beauties of nature, and various visits are also paid, to local Industries. Last week the children of a Wellington suburban school were taken to visit an aerated' water factory.; The children were shown all over the building and everything was carefully explained to them. The part that delighted the heart of the boys was the generosity of thesfirra m allowing them to consume? as much ginger pop as they were able. One youth boasted of settling 8 bottles of emonade and the next one six bottlesof raspberry. It was a different "tale by evening, when* their little maries began to revolt. These two boys have now signed off these drinks .for life. ■ . Lady Jellicoe is now m residence at Auckland, but she is expected at Woodville at this woek-endrto see her racehorse perform. From 1 there she will go on to Hastings for the purpose of bringing her children home from school for the holidays. ' } IV J? «» Amateur athletics are trie \ latest vogue — unkind critics call it crazefamongst the athletically-inclined, girls of Wellington. Many girls are taking on running with a zest that promises fast times and keen competition on the Basin when they get going to-day. Two races are set down for decision to-day. Opinions differ as to the ady visability of allowing girls to race, but there are girls and girls, and some have many manly attributes. For instance, one aspiring sprinter "Mary" knows, can wield. a bat with the best of the boys, • flourish a hockey stick better than most and, though probably they would now strenuously deny it, there are two or three young men who m their, younger days received the full force of her right that didn't fail. However, "Mary" much prefers to see girls expending their surplus energies m hopping off the mark (if thats a running expression), to kicking a Rugby football round and practising collaring low. :: '•: »•■ . . What do j'ou think of the up-to date brides, who, instead of doing as, the monastic ones who renounce the flesh, and the devil, have done away with the preliminaries to married bliss? The example was set by a London .actress who, with jio romantic notions about a wedding tour, calmly returned, to the grease paints after the knot-tying. Not that I don't agree with them myself. One loses a lot by a lengthy absence from the social whirlpool and ah that, and the job of swotting up the scandal, as it were, is rather a strain m such circumstances. t: :: '. «» • Every now and again one hears of an agitated person discoursing on the old theme of "Eugenics" with great animation. I had 'no idea the matter, was bo pressing; but if one can believe tho reports, things are m a frightful fix. Of course, opinions vary as to who and what are the feeblo-minded. (Mv ideas would land me m "unpleasant places if published.) So how is the question to be settled? The whys and wherefores will always provide or- excuso for the existence of debating societies, and afford G. K. Chesterton and Bernard Shaw an opportunity for tilting m their best and most knightly manner. :: • s s !' A lady left a parcel m a railway carriage m the "winterless north" the other week. A male cast his optics on it and thinking It looked lonely, hiked off with it. Discovering its contents to be a pair of silk stockIngs and a pair of corsets, he, with admirable tact, presented the formor to his light o' love and the latter, being of ample proportions, to his landlady. The Johnnops got a clue and when they asked pertinent questions about intimate articles o£ attire, the ladies thought they were impertinent. Complications and explanations followod, and tho north contains a young man who has decided to make no more presentations unless he buyß them. Also he has made a firm resolve that unless elusive parcels happen to hold a Bilk shirt and a pair of braces, he will leave them for some one else to pick up. ' : : : : : : The political campaign which has just ended was notable for the enthusiastic manner m which their wives lifted a portion of the load off tho shoulders of candidates and helped them along by taking a very iive interest. In the campaign. Thero was the case of Mrs. Statham, who attended tho meetings of her husband's opponent down m Dunedln and challenged some of his statements when Mr. Statham could not be present to "Befend himself. Quite as effectively, but m an entirely different manner, Mrs. Wilford held the fort at tho Hutt whilst tho Leader -of tho Opposition was going about helping lame Liberal over the Btlles m other electorates. Mrs. Wilford, indeod, has done yeoman service for Liberalism and for Tom "Wllford. M.I 1 ., all down tho many years he has been m Parliament. lie was 22 and she was 19 when ho llrst stood for the House. It Is doubt-

ful whether he would have been there so long and so often returned had it hot been for the tremendous Interest of his better half, who is a fighter from her small feet up. She has also gone abroad to help other candidates. She even went as far as the Oroua electorate to put m the good word for Mr. Cobbe against Dave Guthrie,. and her address m Feilding was • appreciated. As the daughter of the late Sir George Mcl+ean, M.Ii.C, a Scotch lassie frae Uunedin, Mrs. Wilford knows more about the political game than any other woman m the land, not even excepting Mrs. R. J. Seddon. ' Another very active worker on behalf of her husband was Mrs. Dick Cobbe. She djrove "her man" from one end of the Oroua electorate to the other, and criss-cross, sat on the stage wila him at the back country meetings, and confesses that not one© did she get tired of hearing her candidate speak — which is not only a tribute to her good palship, but to the infinite variety of his speeches, not one of which waa cut and dried. Then there was Lady Luke who was a tower of strength to her John. The 'popularity of the lastnamed lady is a byword, m Wellington and but for her Sir John would have been consigned to the discards long ago. •

Mrs Felton, who is eighty-seven years of age, is the first woman to occupy a seat In the American Seuute. Wearers of fur will get a shock to learn thafc m England lately there have been several cases of severe inflammation on the face and neck said to be traced to -fur. As long ago as 1913 Professor Blaschko, of Berlin, warned the fur trade that, there is danger m using paraphenylendlamln, a substance used for converting rabbit's fur into "brown beaver." When .this fur is wetted it is said that its oxydisation product is a violent skin irr'tant. There is- little known about this form of poisoning, but. thero appears to be good medical evidence that there Is a danger m the use of this particular dye ' ,\ An In America now the authorities are imprisoning motorists who break the speed limit and another punishment is the impounding pf the cars. Why not something of the same style here? One thing the women motorists can be proud of is that they rarely become speed cranks. They may be fast m other ways, but not as motorists. :: :: :» The' short skirt ultimatum from American clubwomen has already had Its repercussion m Rue de la Paix, where the dressmakers have admitted that America's refusal to wear the long skirt spells the doom of the effort to re-introduce the ground length gown. "We have been aware for some months that the long-skirt campaign would not succeed," said a famous droSsmaker and one of the season's style makers. "With the exception of a few evening gowns, all my winter models clear the ground by at least six inches. American buyers refuse to purchase ankle-length models, with the exception of elaborately 1 draped evening dresses, which must be long or the effect is lost."