CUPID AT CANBERRA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 123, 14 February 1940, Page 2

CUPID AT CANBERRA

WORKS OVERTIME Mr Dan Cupicl, M.H.R., lias been working overtime at Canberra lately and following wholesale marriages of public service typists the authorities are threatened with a shortage of girl labour. No other member of The House in recent times has achieved such sensational results as Mr Cupid who sticks through tihick and thin to his gospel of confidence in the future. His eloquent advocacy of the theory that the only practical form of New Deal is matrimony has heav My speeded up the marriage rate among his devoted constituents, and the rate Looks like even I more rapidly.

Since December,, more than 30 couples have announced their engagements —which means more than an engagement a (lay—and threatened engagements grow more numerous every day. "We'll have to advertise for some old battleaxes who are over 100 and look every day of their age." This was the comment of a worried officer whose staff lias suffered by matrimony. "The office doesn't stand a chance witih a pretty girl—there's too much competition from lonely young men far from home," he said. The Commonwealth is finding that its policy of encouraging officers to make their homes in Canberra has a two-edged effect. As well as finding girls to replace those married it must also find homes for the newly-weds. There is already a shortage of houses and flats in Canberra. Witlh so many seeking homes, the position will grow worse. As it is, the Capital has one of the highest Birth-rates of any city rin the Commonwealth.