LATE CORRESPONDENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20539, 14 February 1935, Page 11

LATE CORRESPONDENCE.

“ Their Legs Wobble.” Dear Sir, —In view of the discussion on women’s dress, perhaps the following from the Melbourne “ Herald ” of February 4 will interest at least some of your readers. Miss Idris Ri is a 22-year-old theological student from Korea, and on a visit to Melbourne she was interviewed on various subiects. The “ Herald ” account proceeds: Miss Idris Ri is a modern girl in Korea, but that is not the same thing as a modern girl in Australia. She would shudder at the thought. On some of our “ modern ” institutions, Miss Ri is decided. “ Your women are so shameless,” she said in excited Korean. “ They show so much of the body—far too much. It is immodest and ugly. And the girls wear such tight dresses—they look unseemly and ugly, like human worms. It is disgusting.” Women’s hats in Melbourne are hideous to Miss Ri, too. “So ugly,” she exclaimed. " I can’t see the use of such silly little things, and the affectation of them, sitting up on the side of the head like a bird ready to fly away!” And as for our dresses . . . “ I have never seen such extravagance,” said Miss Ri. All just to look different. We like to look alike in Korea.” In fact, the only dress Miss Ri has reall-' admired hers is a nightdress she saw in a shop window. And then our shoes. tt Those high heels,” she exclaimed. How insecure, and how the legs wobble. But perhaps that is Western grace. I could never walk on those tall pegs. “ You Western women must have a lot of money to spend. You buy all those clothes, jfll those shoes, and you pay so much to have your hair altered all to look different.” —I am, etc., TRAVELLER. W.E.A. and Politics. Dear Sir—“Be Loyal’s” idea of the focus of W E.A. education is all wrong. Probably he only attended an economics class, where feudalism, capitalism, socialism, and, perhaps, communism were being discussed in their various aspects. Every intelligent student is bound to be a close adherent of a pet ” ism ” and is, in this free country, quite entitled to retain his point of view without being regarded as disloyal. Some of the finest soldiers in the N.Z.E.F. were Socialists, and it is an insult to suggest that they were not loyal citizens. My experience is that W.E.A. classes are attended by people of all shades of political opinion with an inquiring mind. They may range from self-confessed Communists to rank Tories. The classes themselves, if “Be Loyal ” has any discernment, are entirely non-political. The only Socialist trend in the W.E.A. movement is in the social events where the students act as friendly human beings and help one and all to enjoy themselves, paying special attention to visitors and their guests. As far as lam aware, no subsidy is received from the Government since it was stopped in 1930. In England, the National Government’s grant for 1933-34 for adult education was £71,988. Unlike “Be Loyal,” the British Parliament is of the opinion that W.E.A. education is cheaper than ignorance,—I am, etc., EX-STUDENT.