LADIES LOOK ON

NZ Truth, Issue 1191, 27 September 1928, Page 6

LADIES LOOK ON

HighUpbThe Gallery Wasn't it A. S. Hutchirison who wrote what he believed to be a book describing the eighth wonder of the world, which he. took to ; be:; the fact that a girl could fall m love with a man? Well, ;• here m : Wellington occurs the ninth— a mystery beyond the solving capac- ' ity of an Edgar Wallace. WHY, night after night, afternoon ■ after afternoon, do women of all shapes and sizes flock to the Laclies' gallery m our House of Parliament? VTisn't as if they attended only when some city-shaking measure, , such as that humorous Licensing : Bill, hovers m the weighted -balance of members' minds. Those who know stite with conviction that if the SergeantratArms didn't forcibly prevent them, a good percentage of Wellington women would eat breakfast m the Gallery — and like it. There are types and types, of course: First the old stager, rather loveable m comparison with the rest, a perfect example sits clothed as to headgear m the better part of an ostrich, and as to shoulders, m a shawl of old lace. Has known most of the . members when they were babies: Seen photographs, of. them taken, lying on rugs m abbreviated singlets: Kissed them all when m rompers: Refuses to forget it. ~ :'■■' : But she is a dear, rather, our old lady, l and the Gallery wouldn't seem the same without her. She has seen the House grow -up, and known the - traditionally good old days of Ballance and Seddon, and remembers Mr. Buddo and -Mr. Horn when they were ambitious, young sparks always m trouble with bygone Speakers. Probably, if. she could be ensnared into a quiet corner she would prove a goldmine of House wit and House tradition. Number 2. Another regular 'attendant. Just now, fast locked m the arms of indiscrimihating; Morpheus. She is what one might call a billowy lady— chins and things here and there —and is precariously confined m a purple dress. Reason for attendance: Supper. . • , Number 3. Entered by accident. Pretty and young, with the soft lines of youth. ','■■' • ■ Her expression is a combination of boredom and awedom. She wants to, go, but isn't well enough versed- iri House rules to know that she won't be slain and quietly bilried by a messenger, if she tiptoes out m the middle of Sir Somebody's discourse. ;-Number 4. A very queer phenomenom: A woman of youngish-middle-aged aspect, she comes^: night after night, an d listens intently to .the speeches. Obviously, we have here a feminine aspirant . after political honors, who is now taking a private course of lessons m how not to make speeches. ■ The lady wears mannish clothes, as if trying to make herself the very next thing to a male candidate. It would be interesting for psycho-ana-lysts, .or somebody equally deplorable, to find out why women m politics are either very thin, or else of "the square, solid type of stoutness that can't be given so yielding a name as fat. Problem before the committee: Is it strictly necessary for ladies m public life to look like either greyhounds or bulldogs? Next 'm the row sits a tall, dark, severe lady with cynical lines down .the side of her nose. Obviously the wife of something official. Equally obvious, -• from ' the hatpins-for-two-and-coffe.e-for-one look m her eye, she is there to keep an eye on some wavering wee husband. '.•■"; • A lady with red hair and intelligent eyes sits further along, viewing with mild amusement the acrobatic contortions of a speaker who is trying to look emphatic. She is there for reasons known only to herself and her maker, unless, perhaps, she is a visitor from somei far, country; where only the merest rumors of House matters have reached her. ■ Of course, members' wives are always with us. And on, days when the House is discussing mental defectives or matrimonial misfits, some school mistress will have a wild outburst of civic spirit and bring along her little flock. What members think must remain a mystery, but unless they be men of granite, the constant click of knitting needles from the Ladies' Gallery must rather put them off their game, being somewhat reminiscent of the /"One! Two!" with which knitting women, m the days of jthe French Revolution used to count the guillotined heads as they popped into the basket. Be it understood, you are strictly forbidden to read, but to do your duty by the family mending is quite m order. • '