A WRITER ON AUSTRALIA.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1912, 21 November 1913, Page 2

A WRITER ON AUSTRALIA.

MISS AOJKERMANN. . Many books havo been written about Australia, in which criticism has not been spared, but it has remained for Miss Jossio Ackprma.nn to giro us a volume from a woman's point of view, writes a reviower in the Sydney "Telegraph." She shows a great grip of tho Australian situation, and although at times her comment is soverci yet it can never bo said that her criticism is vicious. Tho author is a woman who sees clearly, and docs not hesitate to ■put her 'finger upon the s&re spot. In a chapter npon mother and the birthrate, alio says:—"We may sum up the shortcoming of the women of Atis- . tralia in regard to their 'citizenship, : point out thoir weaknesses as a whole, run up ..against thoir points and angles with evidences of the collision, but it must bo said that they are royal mb- ■; thers. Mothers of all classes aro over- ■: worked, and this is one'situation which I cannot ho overcome by the possession -of money. It all resolves round the cruel lack of domestic help." The result of - overworked mothers is, it is pointed out, not always bad, as it makes for the independence of tho children. Managing Their Husbands. As husbands, and fathers, Miss Aok.crmann lays on to tho Australian with unsparing hand. Slio cites cases of - selfishness and neglect, that one can i only hope are very : exceptional, and ' sbo holds tip tlio bettor ty'pe : of'working man as, a.model of how a wife should be treated as 'regar'ds the handling of the family wealth :'—• When, a sober, wo'rk'iliiau, arid there are thousands of them among the working classes; has drawn his wages 1)6 usually turns it over to, his wife, retaining a,reserve tobacco fund, for hjs pipe is his -pocket god. . . . The result of how tho wives aro ablo to bring tho ends together may bo gathered from tho' faot . that in 1910 tho amount of thoir accumulated. savings was. £53,117,498, to which was.added during tho ~ycar £'48,780,. This gives an aver-.. 1 age of £35 16s. per. depositor, or ■£12 6s. 3d. per head of. the:eiiti.ro population of fho. Commonwealth. . On./fho other' ha-ndj, Miss- Ackcrmahii. finds that wives have t-ji-.ken to "mailaging their husbaudSj" aided aiid abe 4 ted by their "daughters, and in the fact I that many women admit that they have ' Drought this to a fine art, she sees' a . growing evil: "The whblo effect is per* nicious, the .whole, system degrading, and certainly out of keeping with tho'. otherwise delightful relationship of husbands,, wives, and daughters." State Fostered Gambling. . Tile gambling, ovil is another matter that is dealt with, , Everyone, it is nK icged,, from the school boy : betting o.h a spider, to the women of society and the wo'f'kingman's wife, is laid under a' ban of an excessive love of excitement,, and dosi.ro of the spirit of chance. In New South Wales, sho says, -with scarcely veiled seorn, v In New South Wales the guardians of the morals urged a State lottery as a productive resource in State revenue. Tho chief function of government is to protect . tho weak against the strong. . . . To see a vice which has' reached the magnitude of a national curse, flourish at noonday, producing only evil effects wherever it lifts its brazen head, and then entrench it behind-tlw mighty fortifications of legislation, brands a set of law- , makers as unworthy guardians of ' tho home and tho young. Australian democracy, aft reason, finds much . favour in her eyes. She. applauds the spirit which allows mistress and'maid to rink side by side, and at tho same price. Oil the, subject of women and the franchise, she says ;•— "Tho women of Australia are so delightful,; so full of common senso in ' most things, that one never ceases to admire, them. Bat a knowledge of their supreme selfishness in their political- relation to the- interests of' women and children, who. do need sonifathingj. almost discounts their many virtues and goad qualities." Women and the Law, As a further, indictment in "laws relating to women and children," she declares:' "In Australia a man may outrage every sons.© of decency by impr-o-pei- advances and proposals to a woman in tliO; street, and unless he is in a state of intoxication, she has no redress." And again: "Women would beTiorrified if oiic baldly declared that m mother in the Commonwealth, really, owned her 'children. The only chj-1* { dren whose ownership is vested in the \ mother, is the 0110 horn out of wed- f lock. . v. . A.'child who cannot le- 1 gaily sell J-ior doll, may sell Iter virtue, 6 yet in regard to material 'possessions, \ the law argues that until she i§ twenty- j one, she is not'sufficiently balanced to 1 enable her to safely possess houses or f land." I