MISS NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1930, Page 7

MISS NEW ZEALAND

“NINETEEN. THIRTY MODEL.” NOT WANTED AS HOUSEKEEPER. A man is entitled to state what sort of housekeeper he wants, and a recent advertiser has done so in no uncertain terms. He wants a plain cook, a person who can '-control children and is clean and sensible, and to make his meaning clear -beyond all shadow of doubt, he added: ‘‘No cigarette-sucking, shorthaired, marcelled, half-dressed 1930 models need apply.” But who after all, asks the New Zealand Herald, is "Miss 1930? She does not always smoke, she is not always short-haired; or if she has been, is now showing signs of recovering from the habit, and in the matter of <}ress, well, skirts are now often trailing on the floor in a most untidy fashion and that would not be a suitable uniform for a housekeeper who must cook, and rule a number of children.

One sought out what,might be called a “1930 model.” Really, she is a motherly soul at heart notwithstanding her ■ comparatively recent on this planet. “I know what he feels,” she said. “Poor man, he’s been through it. But. he mustn’t advertise like that.” She tossed her attenuated locks after the manner of a blood filly and said with serious deliberation: “He really wants a woman with • the capacity of a modern girl, the. training of a- school teacher or a sergeant major, dr a butler, masquerading as a Victorian frump. This man strikes me as being typical of our stern critics. The majority of the young mothers of to-day are ‘shorthaired, marcelled, half-dressed 1930 models,’ and very many of them smoke.' Is it suggested that they are not usually good mothers, good cooks and good mates ? Our critics are influenced so much by externals. Another thing. The ideal housekeeper for a man with children is rare. It is a hard task. Usually the only children a woman finds ‘lovely’ are her own —that isf’if she has to take charge of them for any length of time and even the best of wives occasionally get on their husband’d nerves, so how much more so the paid housekeeper! But I know what he means. I imagine I know what he has been through.” With that she, proceeded with her typing and didn’t she make the keys sprint. It is by no means the first occasion a man has indicated in an advertisement what sort of trouble he has had. A London newspaper had an advertisement for a stenographer, quite a lengthy document, to this effect: “Stenographer wanted. A girl with nous. If in dictating a letter I make a mistake in grammar I expect her to correct it without any question. She must have commonsense and the kind of initiative that will help me and the firm, and she must not expect to have the unquestioned right to go dashing away from the office when her private affairs call her.”’ There you have it. The man wft«s really looking for the girl who usually is caught young, trained in the ways of the business house, and carefully guarded from envious competitors. Perhaps, however, one should not elaborate the point any more. Miss 1930 might not like it.

To change the subject, what about the theatrical manager who simply advertised, “Wanted, a stunning girl who can dance.” It is understood that he was besieged by applicants and finally selected a sweet lissom thing with roguish eyes who was the mother of a family. Child of the stage, of course.