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Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14044, 29 April 1920, Page 6

iauio«fing.iss|jns&rf tHah-'fi. .year'alteV th& "Armistice, Js still on the upward-eurve>_it w good-to see iJhafc the suggestions of wxnuen are being sought. " - ;\ *"'----•• . Some interesting remedies for high prices, were made in the Daily Chronicle by well-biown women. Behind them stand rank upon rank of women who are not sufficiently well-known to get their names into the papers, but are having to grapple with the problem daily, instead of in an occasional speech or article. They are doing some very hard thinking just now. And if, by "some hard blow of fate, I were a politician, I should bear in mind that they now have votes. This voting business is going to be a •v ery sticky problem now that the fran- * chise is enjoyed by the very people whom high prices immediately concern. For remember, it is the women who ■ spend the money. That'is not a cheap sneer; it is just a hard fact. Ask the people who are concerned with selling orAnary household goods—not Paris hate and frocks, but the very necessities of life —food of the plainest kind, and the essentials of clothing for women and children, who outnumber the adult males in most homes.

The advertiser of such articles' does not care a twopenny damn (one of the few things that has not gone up) whether you "and I, mere pipe-smoking creatures in trousers, read his advertisements, so long as, our wives and mothers and sisters and aunts do.

If you think for a moment, you will see why. Take an ordinary small home in the suburbs, where the income ranges from £BOO to £4OO a year. Deduct from that amount the lump sums that go out tor lent, rates, and taxes, and you will certainly find that the woman of the home has the spending of the greater part of what is left. Tin's being so, note the changes that are being effectedjn our homes —a mild revolution, or at any rate, a swingback to some old-fashioned ideas and ideals.

Hiding modestly behind my paper m a railway compartment full of these Spenders of the Money the other day, I heard some very instructive gossip. Here were five women—the general maagers and cashiers of five such suburban homes as I have suggestedabove. And all of them were undertaking work at home which at one time they paid others to, do. The first home, whether up a tree, > or in a hole in the. ground, or in a ready-for-service cave, was a self-con-tained and self-reliant unit. The man and woman who lived together there made their own _ furniture, and did their own decorations and alterations —(the fact that they had no furniture, no decorations, and simply chose another tree or cave when they wanted alterations, does not, I am happy to say, affect my argument). They procured their own food, and made their own clothes, after some hard bargaining with any animals which sought tu profiteer in meat and skins. This sort of thing went on for a very long time, so that even your grand-, mother's early days were probably spent in a home where many things were made which you have been accustomed to buy—jam, pickles, bread, physic And your grandmother probably knew people who spun and wove the materials from which they made their clothing. > Come hack now to the ladies whom we left gossiping 'in the tram. One of them has never tried y her hand at making jam before, but is putting her name down for some sugar, and is goin<* to have a shot at it (or .whatever is" the technical phrase for jammakihg). She expects either to save monev for other pressing needs, or to <ret more jam than she can at present afford for her children. . " Anothier one, fared 'oi paying ocl apiece for new-laid eggs, is embarking with enthusiasm on the high adventure of keeping six hens at the end of the warden; and another—this was the real heroine, and she made the hen Fan"ier look like an "objector ' beside a war veteran—is thinking of keeping a goat, now that milk is climbing into the champagne standard. And then, of course, we got to spring cleaning, for the .nnnnal epidemic- is nearlv due. Landlords. I overheard, are a bit sticky about painting mid paperhanging and whitewashing, arguing that in these hard times no nous---wants re-paperina which it will still hold together without. So there was much comparing of notes, on how to do one's own painting and papering and whitewashing. And if, through stress of circumstances—such as coming out of the Armvand finding yourself homeless, with no houses to let, only a tenter sale—vou are now a house-owner, vou have 'learned that an estimate for hecessarv repairs and decorations is ant to look like a pessimist's view of the National Debt. • So the amateur painter, paperhanger and whitewasher is coming into his and even more into her—own. bhons that deal in such things report a big increase in the sale of paint, distemper, whitewash, and brushes. So it is that in countless homes strong men are growing pale with emotion wash as thev stand on the Kitchen table and daub the ceiling, from which a steady stream of . liquid drips into their open mouths. Books on. amateur carpentry, home repairs, and "odd jobs" are enjoying a boom. It is all a. part of the movement which is working a revolution in our homes —this revival of little arts and crafts which give us a new interest in our homes, and protect us, to some extent, from the high prices of the day.