THRIFT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 857, 8 November 1916, Page 6

THRIFT.

Is a woman more thrifty than a man ? A reply to such a leading question is not to" be attempted off-hand; there are so many degrees and shades of thrift, and both men and women are so full of inconsistencies, particularly in the matter of this very virtue. Economy and personal retrenchment are being preached anil urgently advocated by those who realise just what this monstrous war means; by those who even faintly grasp the vast iinancial burdens to he borne; by those who have the least understanding of the relative values of plus and minus, of expenditure and income. Legislation is busy with various tax schemes, of course, to till out. the lean national purse into some sort of rotundity. Ways and means are being devised to "raise the wind" and maintain the revenue. There has been some talk, some vague discoursings also, suggesting personal economy on the part of the individual; and some small attempts at retrenchment in Government expenditure, let. it not be forgotten! But as for a scheme or definite plan of retrenchment, the individual is left to his own conscience, his own inspiration in the. matter.

Those who are making money easily and more plentifully than ever before are, many of them, indulging in perfect orgies of spending, utterly ignoring the possibility of their present prosperity ceasing, closing their eyes to the prospect of loan years ahead. Now legislation is in the hands of men, and for most, of the ordinary national needs it is best so. But in the matter of economy are men as competent stewards and managers as women would be? Departmental heads issue commands about writing on two sides of Government paper, of retrenching in this and that branch of service, and the cutting down of expenditure upon such-and-such public works. But do they, being men, understand anything of the principles of thrift? Can a telescope be asked to do the work of a microscope? Consider housekeeping, for instance. Has a man ever been known to housekeep with thrift and ingenuity equal to that of a humble little suburban wife? He would map out schemes of saving, he would evolve elaborate, plans for retrenchment, and thoroughly enjoy the excitement of a revolution in domestic ways, feeling himself a prophet with a new theory. But would he have the patience and the practical ability to carry on with cheeseparing details, as the feminine housewife, without once stopping to systematise or admit a consciousness of thrift, continues to do year in and year out?. i Gilbert K. Chesterton points out that thrift is essentially a feminine characteristic. "It is the aim of the good woman to use the by-products, or, in other words, to rummage in the dustbin," he asserts. "A man can only fully comprehend it if ho thinks of some sudden joke or expedient got up with such materials as may be found in a private house on a rainy day. A man's definite daily work is generally run with such rigid conveniences of modern science that thrift, the picking up of potential helps here and there, has almost become unmeaning to him. ... A hearthrug will just do for a fur coat, or a tea-cosy for a cocked hat. . . . This is the man's occasional glimpse of the pleasing parody of thrift. But many a good housekeeper plays the same [game every day with ends of cheese and scraps of silk, not because she is mean, but, on the contrary, because she is magnanimous, because she wishes her creative mercy to be over all her works, that

not one saidino should be destroyed or cast as rubbish to tlic void." Thrift is instinctive in woman. G.K.C. explains how it is part of her nature, just as it is not naturally a part of man's nature. '' We men have so much encouraged each other in throwing money right and left that there lias come at last a sort, of chivalrous and poetical air about losing sixpence." lie declares that, thrift, moreover, is not a small or timid or provincial thing. "It is part of that great ideal of the woman watching on all sides out of all the windows of the soul and being answerable for everything." Surely, then, it would be to the public advantage if women —as specialists in thrift—were set to organise some scheme for public economy and private retrenchment. Why should there not be a scheme, with women experts on an advisory board, mapping out broad lines of national thrift! Australians as a ! whole are an exceptionally thriftless people, and some tuition in the virtue, would be of value for all time, as well as during the stress of war. Why not organise a campaign led by French housewives, whose thrift amounts to genius, and Scotswomen, who are. not far behind them?

"For in the average human house there is one way by which money comes in and a hundred by which it goes out; man has to do with the one way, woman with the hundred."