"BLESSED FREEDOM FROM HUMBUG."

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 586, 27 December 1915, Page 4

"BLESSED FREEDOM FROM HUMBUG."

WAS INFLUENCE IN ENGLAND.

A student of social custom has been searching for compensation arising from the war, and has found one in a new, but'' blessed freedom from humbug. "We are told that 15 months ago there were circles in which the woman who said, "I can't afford it" was stared at. Only bad manners or stinginess could explain the phrase. To-day, everybody is poor, and is.ready to aumit it, with a "jolly shamelesßiiess," which is in (Juaint con- ' trast with the manners of pre-war days (writes a London correspondent). The | new freedom from social humbug is 1 seeu in entertaining. Ten or twelve course dinners are things of the past. Who could afford them? If we could, they would be a crime against the State in times when economy is ( a national duty. But what is more, most people don't want to afford them. We are ashamed of meals provided by unfortunate acquaintances, "who could not afford to give elaborate dinners, and would not give simple ones." Instead, the custom of taking pot-luck is coming back. Four guests, not fourteen, now make up a dinner party, with the consequence that conversation is easy and vivid. Lastly, the war has led to a great reduction of the pernicious custom of "calling." What with Red Cross work, the visiting of convalescents, and the making of comforts for the men in the trenches, there is little time lor calling, and one can only hope and trust that the habit will not be revived when peace once more returns.

Curiously enough, these remarks regarding '' hardupedness " refer entirely to the middle and upper classes. The poorer classes of Englishwomen are faring sumptuously upon their separation allowances, the proceeds of overtime, and the general demand for manual labour. Drinking among women is becoming a positive social evil. The vendors of such luxuries as gramophones and cheap pianos are having a great time. By taxation and legislation the Government lias been trying to cope with the problem of excessive spending among the lower classes; but with little success. In particular, an effort has been made to discourage the drinking by both men and women, which is the worst result of the war-prosperity. One step was to ordain that "no treating" be allowed in the London area. So drastic I was the order that a husband is even forbidden to pay for his wife's alcoholic refreshment in his own club. To mid-dle-class folk this does not seem to be a serious disability. We are not accustomed to go to our husband's clubs and require alcoholic refreshment. But it is otherwise among large sections of the British working classes. They resent the rigours of the anti-treating law. The working men 's clubs in London are actually altering their constitutions, and making the wives of members honorary members, so that the women may be able to pay for their own refreshments without infringing the club rules.