Echoes of the North

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 5, Issue 5, 1 November 1926, Page 7

Echoes of the North

There is one consolation. It might have been worse. What ? The weather, of course. Three weeks of moist, steamy days, when Auckland lifted a face of mute appeal to the leaden sky. There was neither justice nor mercy in the sky’s answering frown, and the rain came down in sharp showers, just like raps on the knuckles. It reminded one of Somerset Maugham’s play, "Rain,” in which a group of tourists are marooned on a South Sea island during the wet season. The everlasting rain plays havoc with their nerves, and makes them do all sorts of dreadful things which they would never dream of doing in a sensible climate. There seems to he a run of "weather" plays at the moment. "Damp Rot" was the cause of all the unpleasant behaviour and monotonous shouting in "White Cargo.” Certainly if this weather continues in Auckland, we may expect a local outburst of indignation in some form or other. However, it seems to suit the. complexions of the oak trees admirably, and adds freshness to their bloom. The Domain and Government House grounds have never looked so beautiful. 1 wonder who planted all those oaks? They bear the dignity and tidiness of age, for all their youthful Spring colour. What finer monument could anyone have? .Government House, in fresh white paint, peeps out between the branches, as if determined to rival its gay "white sister,” the. University. Chaperones are said to he out of date, but not in Auckland. Wc admitted reluctantly that it might be wise to have searchlights directed on Albert Bark. (Even Hyde Park has its women police). Now all the. streets in the vicinity of the Park have these watchful chaperones. Several times lately ! have run to the window to look at what appeared to he dazzling white moonlight, only to find Mrs. Grundy in a new form, peering in. The poor old moon will soon he out of bin,mess in Auckland. Poets will no longer make rhymes about the pale moonbeams, nor will the moon he able to cast its silver we!) of romance about a workaday world.

' j wo interesting- women travellers visited Auckland this month. One hailed from London's Street of Adventure, Fleet Street, where she was on the staff of The Daily Telegraph. New Zealand delighted her, and she said that it was the one place that would call her. hack. It reminded her of England, although she thought that everything seemed more vivid and more definite, the colours sharper, and the people certainly more British. (Enlrc nous, she found the men "holder”—hut perhaps that was why she wanted to come hack!) For the last few years, most of her time has been spent in the occupied territory in Germany. She v. as full of indignation at the treatment of German women by the French Senegalese troops. One day she was mistaken for a German housewife, and spat upon by one of these black soldiers. Of French cleanliness she had a very poor opinion, and said that wherever the French troops had been quartered the buildings had to he fumigated. Needless to say, this measure was unnecessary in connection with British troops. I took her to the top of Mount Eden one evening, and she was charmed with the lights of Auckland, and said that it reminded her of Bud a Pestlt, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. The shores of our harbour, beaded with lights. looked like the Danube, with Buda on one side and Pesth on the other. One of the objects of her visit was to get facts about the film business in New Zealand for the Daily ’Telegraph. At last England realises the urgent need of British pictures in the Dominions. TV /Tadame Huda Weersma, from Java, was the other interesting visitor. She is a tall blonde, with small, round features, and speaks volubly in broken English. Her object in travelling is to encourage the interchange of ideas and to improve the women’s status in Java. From her accounts, there is need of improvement. Javanese girls marry at the age of 13, or thereabouts, and are toothless and scraggy at 25. It

L a country bereft of flappers, and however much we frown at their cigarettes and deplore their giggles, we do admit that the flapper adds to the gaiety of life. The men seem to have it their own way in Java. They even guard against being turned down when they propose by using a go-between. The most popular wives in Java are those who present their husbands with numerous sons. In this way, the men expect to get cheap labour, and be provided for in their old age. A better state of affairs prevails hi Sumatra among the Malays, where matriarchy is the form of government. The mother of the family rules the roost, and property descends through the female line. To prevent girls marrying merely for a home, they are provided for by settlements of money. Apparently, Sumatra is the bachelor girl’s Paradise. ' i 'he League of Xew Zealand Pen- -*■ women, which entertained Madame Weersma, is a growing and active body. In addition to talks and lectures from its own members, distinguished visit, ns are entertained and invited to give informal talks. All this takes place in the Unity Hall, which belongs to the Sunday School Union, and is the temporary club room of the League. 1 often wonder how a certain text which hangs on its walls strikes the visitors. It is printed elaborately in gold, and a map of Xew Zealand is set in the middle. The text is an old favourite, but has been altered slightly, perhaps to give it local point. I reads like this: "(rod so loved’ (the, map of Xew Zealand fits in here nicely) "that He gave His only begotten Song," and so on. It n- just another way of calling X\ w Zealand "Hod's Own Country." ' j 'he Duke and Duchess of 'T ork. * before leaving lor Xk w Zealand, paid their final visit to Glands t astle. This belongs to Lord and Lady Strathmore, the parents of the Duchess of York. All sorts of romantic legends and mysterious ghost stories hang round this Old Castle. There is a haunted wing in which it is generally believed that a strange

monster lives. Ihe eldest son of the 1a mi is told the truth about it on Ins twenty-first hn-rhday. Of course, he never smiles again! A short time ago a couple of mischievous girls staying at the Castle determined to find out the truth about this strange ghost. It was during the shooting" season, and one (lay, when the men were on the moors and the ladies had left in the gigs to take them lunch, the two girls put their plan into action. They explored every room in the haunted wing, and hung a-towel from everv window. 'I hey then went outside to count them. They discovered that there were five windows without towels. This, of course, meant that part of the wing was walled in, and seemed to hear out the popular belie! that it housed a mysterious creature that is half-man and halfanimal. I 'he Auckland Savages were in their most frolicsome mood, at the annual ladies’ night, last Saturday week'. Well-known Aucklanders and local events furnished good material lor their jests. The Beauty Competition had the lion’s share, however. One Savage could not understand wily so many ladies had paid the entrance fee. Another suggested the probable basis of judging the winners, which ran like this: Beauty of Feature 1 H Beauty of 1 Ira A Of Beauty o I Complexion i real ) ... . AH Beauty of Complexion (applied, because it was more difficult ) 1 H Beauty of Figure 1 ff Fnlrance Fee %/ he final item on the programme was a school scene, produced In Mr. Scott Colville, who acted as schoolmaster. His class was made up of particularly jovial and wellfed “boys" and “girls." supposedly between the ages of 12 and 14. Among the most promising pupils were Fthel M. Dell, Elinor Glyn, Xellie Melville, and Suzane Lenglen. Original compositions were read by certain pupils, and songs rendered in a way peculiar to Savages. At

the end of the "physical jerks" lesson, which presented overwhelming difficulties to certain corpulent lawyers and well-known business men. the curtain went down amid deafening applause. ' AX/ - anted —Girls as Shepherdesses was the heading of a paragraph which appeared in the New ) ork itcraUl-Tribune. This call for help has been broadcasted throughout Great Britain by the New Zealand and Australian Govraiments. To prevent applications from chorus girls who might imagine that the costume would suit them, it was made clear that shepherdesses of the Dresden type, with heribhoiied crooks, were not wanted. The word “shepherdess" conjures up a vision which neither fits in with the average English factory girl immigrant, nor a New Zealand sheep station. The young women who apply for the job will undergo a preliminary training in farm work, and must he prepared to do hard manual labour. On arrival, "the shepherdesses” will be placed on various sheep farms which arc short of help. It is likely that a New Zealand version of “Little 80-Peep’” will run something like this :

Why Shepherdesses Go Home. belle lio-T’cep has lost tier sheep, Aik! cares not a rap who finds them, She s packed and yum home, swears never to roam, Though their tails lie studded with diamonds. XX/hat an important month ()cto- * her has been for Turkish women! After midnight on October 3, no lurk could hvorcc Iris old wives and marry new ones. Divorces and marriages (even polygamous ones) under the old law are still valid, but the new code colliers equal divorce rights, punishes bigamy, and substitutes IS for Has women’s marriageable age. Turkish women (and men) have to thank Mustapha Kernel Pasha, Turkey’s dictator, for this.

lie is a remarkable man m many ways, and has broken down more harm ml Turkish customs than any other man. In appearance he is distinctly European, with close-cropped lair hair and moustache, and steady blue-grey eyes. He has only one wife, l.atitee Hanum, daughter of the richest merchant in Syria. She is the leader ol the Turkish women’s movement, and goes about unveiled. People who have lived in Turkey speak favourably of the Turk and remark on his courtesy to women. It is the Greek who is avoided and distrusted. Tl was really very enterprising of A that Dunedin medical student to dress up as a girl and enter the

1 Scanty Competition. Although these contests have been held all over the world, no other male has ever been known to do it. It recalls the old story of (he banquet given by Michael Angelo. He .nvited all his male friends, and in tin shiny of the day told each to bring his "crow." (Had he been a modern American, he would have said “Sweetie!") Cellini, who was one of Ins pupils at that time, was too engrossed in his art to spend time in the society oi ladies, Consequently, oil the night ot the banquet he found himself "crow-less." In desperation, he persuaded a hoy friend to dress up as a girl. W ith make-up and feminine attire, this boy proved such an attraction that, to save an awkward situation, he had to disclose his identity. Instead of being angry, as Cellini feared, Michael Angelo thought it was a great joke, Old chronicles tell us that Mary Queen of Scots and her ladies-in-waiting used to delight in dressing up as hoys at the masquerade halls As the high-spir-ited Queen remarked, it was easily to understand why ladies liked to pretend to be men. but whoever heard of a man wanting to appear as a woman ?