SHOULD AUSTRALIAN GIRLS READ NPVELS?

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 652, 18 March 1914, Page 6

SHOULD AUSTRALIAN GIRLS READ NPVELS?

Next to AmericH, the Australian public as a whole workers, middleclass, and wll-to-do consumes a greattr quantity of reading matter per year than any other people under the sun. So aayß a writer in the March issue of "Everylady's Journal." further, the writer states that the Australian girl, compared with the English dster, has a remarkably wide knowledge, if not of literature, at least of hooka. And it is on the quality of these books, and the question of whether or not the quantity should be limited, that this article turns. The question was put to a number of leading public men, and these are, in effect some of, the replies received: — The Hon. P. M. Glynn, Minister for External Affairs, thinks that the young girl should he kept away'from books that obtrude, in a fetching garb, the seamy side of life, but that literature like that of Scott, where a healthy mind reflects itslef on every page, is the stimulant required for the developing mind. Sir Joßiah Symon, K.C., thinks that girls should be allowed the free use of libraries, and no restrictions should be placed on their readiiigs. "Let them reed where and what they will," he says. "Ban a book, and you shroud it in mystery ind arouse curiosity." Sir Langdon Bonython, of Adelaide, would rather give a girl the free run of libraries than a boy. Girls, as a rule, do not look for barm, and read things without comprehending or applying them. Mr Frank Tate, Director of Education, and Mr Paris Nesbitt K.C. also give their opinions and the symposium is given adcied value by the lists of books for girls that are suggested. It ia an article that every parent should read