WOMENFOLK

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17035, 8 May 1923, Page 4

WOMENFOLK

By STELLA

A CHRONICLE OF SOCIAL I EVENTS

Mrs Selby Palmer, of Hawke's Bay, , visiting Christchurch. t Mrs T>. Wallace, of Dunedin, and er son. Mr N. Wallace, are staving at \ Varner's. Mr and Mrs J. A. Park, and Mis* *ark. of Dunedin, arrived from tlio orth this morning. Mrs H. O. Martin, of Culver den, is f a town for a few days. Mr and Mrs Percy L Halsted and • tiss J. Halsted arrived from Dunedin t esterday. , i Mrs H. C. Pringle, of Dunedin, is a Christchurch for a few days. \ Mvs Keuwick, Cashmere Hills, has \ et 11 rned from an extended visit to Vellinaton. Mrs Arthur Rhodes. “The Cliffs. ‘ imam, motored back from Christ 1 hurch on Sunday. r Frequent changing adds more to the mg life of a stocking than most folk ■ould credit. Wear your stockings a 1 lay and then change them : they will net- three or four times as long as ] hose worn for a week. The reason is j cientific. In the wash-tub the 1 thin t riesh becomes matted so that the wear onies on to the re-matted fibres intend of on to the thin mesh. The members of St Margaret’s Col?ge Old Girls’ Association held their j initial dance in Dixieland last evening, n spite of the inclement weather, a «ery large number of dancers attended. * 'lie decorations were carried out in the lub’s colours, the lights in the balloon! being shaded in blue and red. rhile the supper tables were gay until rimson poppies, geraniums and roses, n the lounge huge bowls of white and jolden yellow chrysanthemums were 1 rtistically arranged. Great credit is lue to the committee, who were punr- j ilious in their attention to the welfare '■ i •1' their guests. ; Yesterday afternoon, in Ballantync’s iivate reception room. Madame Gower inrviß entertained a number of Christ--1 urch •musicians, to enable them to ' i.eet Mr Andre Skalski. the talented •olish pianist/. The hostess wore a 'harming gown of pearl grey satin, \ith silver braiding, a wide grey hat ‘U circled with osprevs. ami a handteme wrap of furs. Mr Skalski ; hanked those present for the warmth f their welcome. He had had the • Measure of hearing the Christchurch Vlusical Society’s Orchestra ami was dad to see that the mature musicians >f the city were making such excellent n ogress. He had enjoyed every voment of his stay in Christchurch tnd would leave it with the pleasantest nemories of the southern city and its reople. Though education is compulsory foas well as boys in Japan, the education of girls is generally inferior lo hat of hoys, and in the secondary schools the curricula for them ar ■» ranged on -a lower scale. The Govern ment shows itself reluctant to spend fnoney on the advanced education ot girls. Still, porgress is being made. The marriage age for girls isf also ail vnneing from sixteen to the early twenties. and public sentiment is growing in favour of greater freedom in marriage. So far. marriages are usually arranged by parents with -the help of a middle man. Usually the young people are allowed to sec each other once b» fore the betrothal, but sometimes they do not meet till the marriage cereAt one time ihe finest ostrich feather.> reached as high a figure as £B2 a pound. Tiie price is now only about a Hfth of what it was then, still ostrich feathers are a very profitable erbp to grow. The ostrich is not plucked : the feathers are cut off some little distance from the body, and the stump left .* afterwards moulted naturally. The first * * shearing ” of an ostrich chick .s of no great value, but at two years the feathers are in good condition, ami thereafter they are cut three tirm3very two years. The wing plumes of the male bird are the most valuable These will amount to a weight of about 60z.. and the rest of the body will yieid about 1 Jib ot smaller feathers. *t takes eight of the biggest ostrich plumes to iveigh a pound. A homily on church manners was cle livered to his congregation by the R«-v James Weatherhead. a well-known Scottish divine, at St Paul’s United Free Church, Dundee, recently. Com ing into church late, he said, was one of,the worst and most annoying of fences. Naturally enough, the office bearers in the vestibule talked to laic comers, and this resulted in a babble throughout the church. The person who coughed was also an offender. He had no objection to a judicious cough ; there might be occasions when it was neco» sary to clear one’s throat. It made no difference to him whether people coughed or riot, but to young worshippers, taught to respect the quiet rover ence of a service, the cough was dis turbing. Mr IVeatherhead added that he hoped his remarks would not have the effect of keeping people who had a slight cold away from church. The King lias conferred upon Mrs Harry B. Vogel the Order of the League of Mercy, and she was one of a number of ladies who received the decoration from the hands of the Prince of Wales. In 1917. Mrs Vogel was asked by the late. Duchess of Albany, wlu; then was president of the Epsom ami Eslier district, to organise and reform the connections and donations to the league in the East and West Moseley section, and all through, up to the time oT her death, the Duchess was personally very helpful to her. Mrs Vogel, who is a vice-president for this particular area, with the assistance of many friends, has been able to raise the annual subscription to the cause to £IOO a year. It is a good many years since Mrs Vogel left New Zealand. but she is hoping in about three years’ time to terminate that long absence. because she is intending to bring out to the Dominion ‘ two of her sons, who are desirous of settling here. \Y he a that time conies she hopes to continue her League of Mercy work, feeling sure that there are many generous people in New Zealand who will be glad of the opportunity to contribute to the London hospitals.

Mrs Miroms. Timaru. is visiting Christchurch. Miss Aimers, Timaru. left for Wellington on Saturday. Miss Devenish-Meares returned to Timaru from Christchurch yesterday. Mr and Mrs Langford, Chri&tchurcn, are at the Hydro Grand. Miss Ridley. England, returned on Sunday from a short visit to Mrs Arthur Kl worthy. ‘Holme Station,” and is at this Hydro Gland Mrs Wilfred Rutherford. Auckland, who is the guest of Mrs J. S. Rutherford. “ Opawa. ' Afburv. is expected hi Timaru to-day to stay with Miss M'Lean, ‘ Ardgour.” Mr and Mrs Hugh Corbett, having let their house on Wai-iti Road to Mr and Mrs J. Waddell, are staying at the Hydro, Timaru. prior to leaving for the North Island and later on a two years’ tour abroad. At a meeting of the Phillipstown Kindergarten Parents’ Committee hold last Thursday evening it was reported that great progress had been made with the “Dolly’s Corner,” and it was decided to hold a word competition to choose a suitable name for it. It was also decided to hold a euchre party in the kindergarten. The Bachelors’\ Ta*z Club held another successful dance on 8a tin-day evening in “ Joy land Theatre, New Brighton. The music for dancing was supplied by Miss Til ley.short's Orches tra. The hall was tastefully decorated in the club’s colours, black and gold. The supper room also looked very prettv, being decorated with autumnal tints and black and gold streamers. The members of the tennis section ot‘ the Beltast Sports Club held their first annual ball on Wednesday evening, in the Town Hall. As it is intended to make this function an annual affair, no effort was spared to make it a sue cess. This section is lucky in having Mr G. Brown for its secretary and Mr C. Barnes chairman of committee, and, with Messrs A. Clarke and V. Todd as M.C.’s, the- success of the evening was assured. The lady members had taken great pains to see that the decorations were worthy of the occasion, and their efforts were fully rewarded by the appearance of the ballroom. The supper arrangements were also in the hands ol the lady members, and were very capably managed. For those not wish ing to dance, a euchre tournament was provided in a room set apart for that purpose. Mrs G. Lang gained the Indies' prize and Mr W. Guthrie the men's. A splendid musical programme for the dancing was supplied by Mi Wells’s band. The Technical College Cricket Club held their annual dance in the College Hall on Friday evening. The hall was

prettily decorated in the club’s colours, gi een and gold, while huge bells hung from the ceiling at frequent intervals. Although the night was wet it did not have any effect upon the attendance. Over eighty couples enjoyed the dance music of Miss E. Til ley shoot's Jazz. Orchestra. Amongst those present were >i esc! a riies Smith, Misses R. Strothers, D. Howarth. C. and G Ciark. G. Stuart. 1. and L. Pirrie. M. Hatoliard. A. Hill. R. Cragg. B. Ward. Brookes, X. MuHiolland. A. Ford. T. R< we. K. Andersons (2>, M. Yeomau. 1. Taylor. P. Gordon. G. Jacobs. G. G. Harvey, A. Clark. R. Swanston. Hill and G. Taylor. Messrs -I. Hitchens and A. Howarth, B. Brown. R. Tal loon. R. Austin, R. and D. Collins. R. Henderson. H. Busk. H. Chet win. C. Fletcher. G. Morris. R. Willett. T. Barnes. V. Hahn. R. Matthews. F. Pootli. Beagley, F Horsnell. K. Nankvvell. L. Large. E. Brighbling. -L Hill. CL Tipler and D. Smith (secretary). The fashion for “paper-balls” or carnivals seems to be rather general, for they are heard of in a number of directions. A recent woman's magazine shows some delightful frocks which were worn at a ball in London. A good many of these were flowers, the rose lending itself particularly well to the paper form. A pink one is described, and is shown in an illustration as being made with a petal skirt, fairly long, with green shoes and stockings. The tight-fitting bodice was of brown satin with rose petals turned down. A cap like a rosebud completed a dainty scheme. The fuchsia was another pretty costume, and others shown were the water-lily, violet, tulip, forget-me-not, chrysanthemum, and arum lily. In other costumes a Red Indian dress for a man was most effective, ajiother being Henry the Eighth, who, however, looked as though he must, like, Agag. “ tread delicately.” The women's sections of the Farmers’ Union have set people talking over their attack on present-day fashions, and their advocacy of payment for wives, writes a Melbourne correscpondent of “ The Leader.” As far ns the payment of wives goes, it always seems to me that marriage is a confessed failure when the husband and wife do not agree to share both profits and losses together. The woman who is a good manager and helps her husband over the initial battle of “ getting on his feet” is obviously entitled to share in the reward. 1 believe the day will come when it will be a common thing for husband and wife to operate on the same bank account, but that day will be when women arc educated to understand finance, and when marriage is truly recognised to be a partnership. When we hear sordid stories of selfish husbands exploiting their wives and children and refusing to re cognise their obligations in the way of giving them necessaries and comforts, it seems of if the only remedy is a legal enactment that a certain minimum of payment is the least they can receive. But where a couple are working together t-o establish a home and rear a family it is obviously absurd to demand that the wife shall hare wages like a hired helpe when the husband does not know how to pay for common necessaries for the household. As many men find themaelve* in financial di Abilities through their wives’ extra van gance or incompetence. as there are women suffering from their husband’s niggardliness, one (ran imagine the woman’s rights cry thai •would arise if. because some men are constantly in trouble through their wires’ extravagance, laws were passed restraining all women from the free use of their husbands’ earnings. One woman told tales out of school by saying that she believed all farmers’ wives got the profit from the poultry and other recognized perquisites, although they didn’t aav much about it. Many struggling town women will envy them, for there, a-ro no such pick--1 ing* to be had in the city.