The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1902.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 11875, 30 September 1902, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1902.

Every now And then the newspaper-reading public of London experience what is called a "" silly season," when some more or less academic subject is discussed with considerable vivacity in the correspondence of the daily Press. The topics discussed are usually such as permit of wide differ-

ences of opinion, and probably the newspaper discussion does not alter the opinion of one reader in a thousand. Such controversies iriuy", however, do good" by stiffening opinions already held and by leading to the formation of opinions in the minds of people who previously had none, and the attention drawn to them mav eventually assist in the development of new views on the subject, leading to practical issues. ,As an instance of this kind of thing we may" jnention a most animated discussion which spread from the Press to the pulpit, and from the niefrupnli.s to the provinces, on the question "Is Christianity played out." It is almost needless to say that tb'tr last phase of

I a lengthened correspbftdenfe oa this subject resembled the fir:*,, in its contrast of affirmation and denial: : bat if W£ remember aright an- intelligent, jnry, ireatinff the contents' of the innumerabl* letters as evidence, would hare had no difficulty in finding a verdict that the answer to" the question should be in the .negative. When the mail wiich arrived last jroek left London a brisk correspondence wt'-s beiDg carried on in the London " Daily Chronicle" j on a question which at first sight appeared ; to be much more- debateable than the one ■ just referred to. This was the question "Should Women WorkT The conespondenco was commenced by a writer whosa treatment of the sublet marks him j a medical man. He- denounced the employment of women as clerks. typists, shorthand writers, barmaids, aad so forth,'

as making thc-m " weary-eyed- ard ansemic." as tending to reduce the marktei value of men's labour; and as,, for both' '.hese reasons, bad for the race. He admits that he cannot see how the evil is to- lie avoided under present social condition.!, but amidst his desjiondency over the general question, he waxes angry over the- iiilure • of the Women's Rights party to claim what, should be "the working woman's charter," the implicit concession- of. so many days off eacli year, those day.*, that i% when a woman's physical condition: demands that she should have a holiday. Among the sheaves of letters which tiiis questi-jii elici.ed were many fiom women I workers in the occupations particular!*-. } referred to. and, as might be expected"!i they contradicted one another flatlv. re- ! gardmg the alleged distastcfulness and mi. healthiness of office woik for women. Other writers treated the question from various points of Yiew. Some argued that women must woik. and if they make a better living at office work than in other employments, of course they should take office work if they can get it. Xaturally, comparisons were not wanting hatween the life of the female office employee and the female factory hand, whoso life, the vital statistics of factory towns

amply prove, is bad for the race, llio struggle for existence in their case biivg a powerful eliminating agent, not only of tho absolutely unfit, but of the fit avoidably made unfit. One of the economic arguments for a negative reply to tho" question was certainly ingenious. "When a man obtains reliable employment ha wsually marries, so that the employing of him means providing support for two; but when a woman takes his place sha ia only thinking of supporting herself, and as she is content to accept employ, ment at a lower wage, the nest woman who : .pplifs for work is more likelv to I

get it than the next num. and the result is a decrease in the marriage rate, and for those who do marry the necessity for both man and wife to work." The affirmative side found strong defender.*. Among them one of the class in question claimed that, the effect of business life on a woman's mental and moral welfare is entirely hesiclicial: she jcls a broader view pi life, and a discipline in self-cntrol, self-reliance, patience and industry which must l>c invaluable to her should she subsequently marry. A cuii<ms commentary i'U this discussion was supplied by a news telegram from Berlin to the effect that tho Government of Saxony was warning heads of departments of Government offices to be more chary in employing lady clerks. They are obliged to issue tL:s warning, they say, owing to increasing sickness among the women employees brought on by attention to their duties. The telephone girls are suffering in large numbers from nerve diseases in the head, hysteria and antcmia. The condition of the typewriter girls is little better. In one office all the typewriters had to be granted leAve of absence on account of illness. Xot

only are these evil consequences visible in girls of delicate constitution, but in girls also who joined the Government service in perfect health. Apart from the economic aspect of the matter, which appears to be impossible of amendment, even if an alteration were desirable, and apart fr<*m the sentimental aspect, the question "Should women work?'' in the cla.vs of callings referred to appears to be chiefly a question of health, and certain special conditions of feminine health. The remedy, therefore, would seem to be very much in the women's own hands, if they were properly instructed' in the conditions on which they can retain sound health whilst employed in sedentary occupations. The principal of these conditions undoubtedly is a sufficiency of suitable physical exercise and that periodic rest which the originator of this discussion and a number of others who took part in it emphatically demanded. As a large number of the women of New Zealand, especially of young women, are earning their own living a? some kind or other of sedentary occupation, it cannot be unprofitable to draw attention to the important subject of the effect of such occupations upon feminine health, and. to indicate that there are hygienic errors to be corrected by, probably, a majority of the women so employed, and also by those who employ ' them. , Well instructed common-sense should' be sufficient to overcome evils of this kind, bnt it is certain that the first thing to be done is to recognise that such evils exist.