WHAT WOMEN ARE DOING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 8, 4 October 1907, Page 3

WHAT WOMEN ARE DOING.

The question of. the extension of the municipal vote to women is being seriously considered in Italy. The followingcirciilar has been issued by the : Minister of the Interior to.thb_ prefects of -the country: The committee appointed to investigate •' the 'extension of the municipal suffrage to.'women has expressed a desire 'to - know, .at least approximately, the number, of wonion belonging .to the following' groups: (1) ! women-members of charity clubs and. philaiithfopical institutions; (2) women belonging to private charity boards or recreation clubs for school children,', ctc'.; (3) professional women having an avocation of a sanitary naturo , (physicians, midlives, sick nurses,; etc.);. (4) the number. of women taxpayers in each municipal district; (5.) the number of women who'indirectly vote by proxy in municipal elections according, to.the existing law. A statue erected in honour of a woman is an unusual sight. The city of Paris is about to erect a statue in moinory of two women who were notable philanthropists —Mme. Hirsch and Mmc. Boucic'aut. T' « cost will be de-. frayed by a legacy left for the purpose by Mr. Osiris. A long-felt need is being,supplied in Paris by the founding of restaurants for women only,in various parts of the city. AVomen travelling alone, women njid girls employed in the city, liavo ;«tjj!|frto..ofton-oxperieiicod.difficulty in'. a satisfactory meal at a ,! price, and a place where a Ixmld lunch alone. The re-' •''.fl'W restaurants, which in-. <10.?;i''!'.V"tho Faubourg- Saintj i -. ' .'.-/ other .in the Rue du "j?,:':'. ' • . meals, which, 'tic -. . ; f(, wo " cooked, ample very moderate in COSt. ; Miss Wyatt, who has been in charge of the Wellington St. Helen's Hospital ever since its establishment in May, 1901, has resignod, and Miss Brbwn, at present subornation, has been appointed in her place.. Miss Brown was trained at the Southlaml Hospital, and was ono of the firßt pupils in New Zoaland to gain her midwifery certificate.

Miss Sybil Bevan, a former student of the Melbourne University, has taken the diplomas Edinburgh, and L.R.C.S., Glasgow, and .has als6 been through a spocinl course at tho.London hospitals. The Age says that 'Miss Bevan/ who is -the youngest daughter of the Rev. Dr. J3evan, has returned to Melbourne, and has beon. appointed doctor in tho Queen Victoria Hospital. ' It is not generally known (says a writer in the ".Liverpool Tost") that with advancing yoars' the Queen suffers much from depression. She has never been able to fill the gap left m her maternal heart by tho death of her elder son. • Moreover, the uncertain health of her two. older daughters is a source of much trouble. Also sho confessed to a very old'friend not long ago that since she became Queen she felt 'sho was less needed. The King fills the foromost; place on the European stage,' and his friends, both malo • and female, havo. different and more lively mental standpoints. than the wife to whom ho invariably shows such marked respect . ; The only ovoman in England in charge of a'lighthouse is about to retire, aftor 35 years' service. She is Mrs. Williams, keeper[ of Leasowe Lighthouse, Wirral Peninsula. For tweuty years sho ■ and her husband had. charge of the lighthouse on the ■ Great Orme's Head. They removed to Leasowe, where Mr. Williams died. The Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, recognising the wife's services, gave her full charge of tho.Leasowe. Light. For tho past fourteen-years Mrs. liams has held, this position, being assisted .lately by her daughter.; . In a recent numbor of a Chinese woman's paper the editress, Mrs. ■ Chang, whites as follows: "If, China wishes to resist,- successfully, foreign invaders sho must have healthy, sound children.' It is necessary, therefoie, that tho mothers bo equally healthy and sound. Tho custom of binding the feet must be abolished, and tho teaching :of liygieno, and- physical culture should ibe encouraged. Further, in order that the. men of- China may be equal to .those ff other nations, their; education should begin evon in their homes.' This will not do accomplished until-'women arid young girls have, , like the men, their own schools and colleges." 'The paper, which jwas > started in 1905, is read largely •by ' Chinese women, and contains news of all kinds onsubjects of, interest to women'. ' Litorature, .history, the ■ sciences, news from Pekin arid from, ■the provinces, and-hews of the progress in women's affairs all over tho : world find Itheir, place in this interesting.publication. ' ; Another signal honour has been paid to : a woman in France. ■ ■': Mine. Daniel Lesueur, has been elected a 'mcmbor of tho .committee of La Societe Francaisedes Gens de Lottres. Tho late George Sand is tho only other, woman who has received this honour. : China, indeed, is interesting ilt'elf • greatly, at tho piesent time in the woman question. Amongst' the latest' laws , passed has been one forbidding the buying and' selling of women and ; children. : It reads as follows(1) - Chinese owning • wives and '.children ■ who 'havq been bought most immediately burn or destroy all contracts of purchase which, they have in their pos-. « (2)' Chinese who henceforth i buy women, or .'children 1 will be severely' punished. (3) Poor women and children may be omploycd as servants,' but' 1 they must be free.' (4) It is forbidden in future to Mandarin Tartars to buy . men' l for slaves. . (5) Chinese having .bought 'slaves must givo them their 'liberty. (6) Marriage is absolutely free., Tho Chinese can marry with the : Tartars; the rich 1 with .the poor, tlie nobles with people of lower rank. REFORMING LODGING HOUSES. The women ,of the Now York 'Health Association are,"to make a tour of : tho lodging houses of Manhattan to inspect sanitary conditions, j At a meeting held by the-Association to consider tho hew Health Boaxl laws, the 1 members were addressed l.y Dr.; Orlando . F.. Lewis, of the Joint Application Bureau of the Charity Organisation-Society and tho Society ' for Improving the Condition of the Poor. Referring to the new laws the sp.oaker' said that they would ■ oblige the lodging house keepers to give clean beds,. and -, allow .for each .'.bed; many more 'cubic feet of air .than lias beon- given heretofore, . which, ,of course, will mean fewer beds to a roof. 'It will also.-oblige • . them' to give thorough ventilation, ; night' and day, which will in many -places ...compel the ; installation ol'' artificial ventilation, and'prevent the .same beds - being used both, night arid. day.' .-These laws' will necessitaco plenty' of water • on; each floor, for bathing' "purposes, and- their 'effect will be to raise the price of accommodation, iwhicb would not be an undesirablo result, as it would, ten.l to aiscoiirage' .the .".tarrying" in New York of the largo numbers of ne'er-do-wells. : ' INTREPID LADY EXPLORERS. By her intrepid journey of exploration across the alniost untrodden, wilds of Labrador, Mrs. Leonid 13 Hubbard,'a Canadian lady, who has receritly come to London, has once , more demonstrated, the courage with' which ■ a ■ fragile, gently-nurtured woman can brave hardships arid dangers which might well daunt any 'man. For twclvo years Miss Constance Gordon-Cumiriing wander ;d over the earth from the "granite crags of California" to the "firefountains of Hawaii," climbing in the Himalayas and . penetrating into tho heart of China and Tibet. Miss H. M. ICii'igsley explored tho Cameroon regions, and made herself quite at home among fierce gorillas and 'fiercer cannibals. Lady Baker, ■who was tho first European to sig it Albort Nyanza, thought nothing of walking into' tho tent of an Arab slaver and fetching out tho captives ; while Miss Jane Moir, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs: Marshall, and others also occupy honoured places as oxplorers.— . "Westminster .Qazette."