ENGLISH WOMEN AS COLONIST

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1338, 16 January 1912, Page 9

ENGLISH WOMEN AS COLONIST

.Mrs. Mary Gauul, the Australian novelist, has been expressing her opinion mi Englishwomen in colonisation. .AI a lecture before the Royal Colonial Institute, she compared tlio work of Germany and England in their 'West African colonies, and from her intimato knowledge of the colonies sho arrived at tho conclusion that there was n crying need for more Englishwomen in tho English colonies. In nearly every case German and French officials are accompanied by wives or sisters, ljut with very few exceptions the Englishmen go alone, and, said Mrs. Gaunt, if the West African dependencies aro to be a success, more Englishwomen must settle there. For the English official, with his heart in the Old Country, looks upon West Africa as a "dog's hole, a poisonous on the calendar, his one object to seo the on the calendar, hi eone object to see the days pass till his release cumes. And tho man who looks upon the laud of his adoption, or at least of his paid services, as a. place to bo abhorred, is noi. so likely to do his best for that country as the man who has inado it his home, and who has his interests centred there. The German official • takes a deep and active interest in his province—its inhabitants, its condition, and its future—and the reason, apart from training and tomperauioiif, is, according to Mrs. Gaunt, simply becauso ho has his wife with him. And those- Englishwomen who 'do accompany their husbands do not seem to bo as fitted for tho work of colonising as their French'and German sisters. Mrs. Gaunt attributes this to the luxurious way in which the modern Englishwoman is brought up. The German woman, with her domestic training, throws lieiwlf heart and soul into the managenieiit of her house, thereby saving herself from boredom and keeping her health,' while her English sister, who abstains t'roni household work aud interests, speedily becomes subject, first to ennui, next to lassitude, and then to that ill-health which drives her from the country. . . .

The Englishwoman, accustomed to luxury, misses her usual siiiToiiiidiii?s far more than the French or German woman. For her there are no tea-parties, no social gatheriußs, no riding, no gossip, nothing but tho eternal hot sameness from morning till night. Sho soon falls sick, aud is sent home—not because of the climate, as she and her friends imagine, but because of tho conditions of life. In every case where Mrs. Gaunt stayed at a French or German official's house she found the same thing—the cupable, healthy, .happy, cm; tented housewife; she found, too, children, born in the country; and the happiness of the home life of the German Official was re-llee-ted in the success of his public work. Mrs. Gaunt insists that tho climate of. West Africa has been much maligned, and it is not the dreadful thing -it is painted. Of course, it is tropical, but it possesses the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the tropics. Admitting that it is damp and enervating during the rainy season, for the other nino month*! of the year it is quite pleasant, and officials generally have three months' leave every vear, and cai. escape tho wet time. Moreover, Mrs. Gaunt found Hint by 'not closing doors and windows in the rains, but by admitting as much air as possible, she lost' the feeling of lassitude nt onco, and woke every mornins bright and refreshed. Indeed, in her opinion, tho fault lies more in the habits of t;he residents than in the climate, and if the former were more hygienic there would be less complaint of the latter. .