THRIFTLESS HOMES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12784, 30 October 1919, Page 6

THRIFTLESS HOMES.

THE ART OF ECONO&9Y. With the"exception of the Americans, we are, I Suppose, the most extravagant people in the world (writes Roy Devereux in “The Daily Chronicle”). The habit of spending money freely is not only characteristic of .our individual standards of life, it is' also evident in our commercial organisation and in our national finance. Thrift, the capacity to save, is not in our blood as it is in the blood of the Latin races. Take France, for instance, where the habit of saving 1 is abnost universal; The average Frenchman, be he rich or poor, seldom spends more than two-thirds of his income. The remaining third is carefully set aside either to provide a dowry for his daughter, a competence for old age, or some such definite object. ’ In this country our daughters go empty-handed to the alter, and our wives are as a rule quite prepared to take the risk of a penniless widowhood as of other financial misfortunes. Occasionally an Englishman has the forethought to protect those who are dependent on Ips exertions by means of an insurance policy. To pay a premium is the easiest though the most ex, pensive of saving. But in comparison with the population the insured are the exceptions to the rule of spending every penny earned in the present and letting the future take care of itself. Of course, this general improvidence is but the defect of that quality of high and adventurous courage out of which the prosperity of the British Empire has been built. Colonics cannot be developed nor a vast oversea trade created without the man who will take the risk. Money must be poured into nebulous projects on the chance that it will be found again and multiplied after-many days. That is why the extravagant Englishman is the best coloniser in the world. Those who are acquainted 'with French colonies will agree with me that where they have failed the failure has been due more to French thrift than to any other cause. But if the history of British , com-merce-is a romance, there is another side to our national extravagance which has in it the seeds of tragedy. The habit of living on un economic precipice engenders waste, especially in women. To confound cheapness with economy is, mne times out of ten, to waste, for one expensive and durable article is almost invariably more economical; than two or three cheap and fragihle things. And after all, the art of economy is simply the art .of getting good value for money.Why, then, is it that though the running expenses of home life are generally in the hands of the house-mother the art of economy is so rarely included in the training of girls? It- is true iba-t of late years l classes where domestic science is taught form part of 'the curriculum in several colleges for women. But these courses are usually much inore scientific, than practical, and they are in any case, only available to daughters of well-to-do parents. . We need Schools of Homecraft quite as much. as Schools of Mothercraft, where the woman who will never have; much to sepnd can leant how to lay \ out. her modest resources to the very • best advantage—schools which should I provide a free,' or nearly free, preparation for married life.