FLAPPERS IN FLATS

NZ Truth, Issue 1205, 3 January 1929, Page 4

FLAPPERS IN FLATS

They Like The Bohemian Life, but Is It Good For Them ? ALL-NIGHT POKER PARTIES Whether it is a gesture towards throwing- off parental discipline, or because the girls are tired of boarding-houses, is hard to say, but there seems to be a decided increase m girl tenants of flats m the larger New Zealand cities.

MONEY is tight, times are hard and owners must obtain some return on their flats, so they take chances. There are many strange happenings m flats advertised as "exclusive." « One landlady who had many of her flats empty for many months, was approached by a little theatrical artiste to rent her a flat. She looked such a nice little lady, and. she quite, agreed with Mrs. Landlady, that many theatricals led quite irregular lives, and were, a trial as" tenants both to the other tenants and the owners of the flats, but she was the exception that proved the rule. Her sole reason for taking a flat was to be quiet and to have a little home life. She also had. a big part to study for a future production; moreover she was going to live alone. It would be so nice to slip home after the show and go straight to bed where she could study to her heart's content. Mrs. Landlady was impressed „':with her manner, also. She was ..harassed with the problems of paying her way, and the flat had been idle for a long period. She capitulated, and Miss Near Star took the flat. For two days there was absolutely no cause for complaint, and a lonely little figure used to let herself into her castle, taking absolutely no notice of anybody m the building. But it must have been too lonely, for on the third day she allowed two other , girls to share the flat. The trio did not believe m study quietude, or bowing to the regulations m the matter of noise, nor did they believe m exerting themselves on any flat's behalf. . Why toy with carpet sweepers arid mops, or race downstairs -witlh the garbage receptacles when by the simple plan of ignoring, them they had a lot more leisure? In a night or two the building— but never before midnight, mark you!— resounded to hectic gaiety. Nor were the quiet little artistes backward m speaking .their minds when the tenants gently or wildly protested. . One maid had a habit of tossing a beer bottle into space to settle the argument, and once this trick split the head of a passer-by. It was no uncommon occurrence for a full jazz band to be practising m the flat at 2 a.m., and a peppy chorus and ballet to be thundering their choruses and steps >above the ceiling beneath which tired business men essayed to lie m the arms of Morpheus. Although the sticky-beaks never to7be associated with genteel tenements, saw many consignments of spirituous liquor going into the fiat, they never saw any empties being taken out. It was inconceivable that the;- gay

Hectic Gaiety

parties left the flat all armed with an. empty, and so the caretaker was not at all surprised when the girl tenants passed on to another city, to find pyramids of the bottles m every corner of the flat. The garbage of the whole term 7 of tenancy seemed 'to be hoarded behind the gas stove, under curtains, behind the beds, m the drawers, and m discarded hat. boxes. Never had broom courted carpet, or dishcloth wooed saucepans since the. pretty maidens arrived. It was hard to believe that pretty ; girls could leave so much rubbish and unpleasant parcels m their wake. Arid it is also rumored that m addition to the costly clean-up necessitated by the habits of the tenants, Mrs. Landlady was left much m arrears m rent. Two business girls paid a month m advance for another flat m the city, and the owner of the flat was completely taken m as they brought along a relation to share the flat with them. The relation was a good sort, who evidently shut his eyes to everything the girls did, and the. rowdy parties, with shrieks of laughter and screams .-■•'■■ of mock terror,' not 1 . only roused the house, but the whole neighbor* hood.! . . Once when a protracted screeching and smashing of bottles was taking place, the police were sent for, but we ' are not aware that they ever came. The incredible filth m which some of the girl tenants of flats keep their diggings is- appalling. Once a week only is any semblance of cleaning done by two girls who have a flat m a rather swagger building, and once a week only do they seem to wash the dishes, judging by the swarms of flies hovering round their apartment. In one flat occupied by two charming ladies, some of the most hectic drinking parties New Zealand has ever experienced happened, and the girls i were m it, too. . Poker, parties were • a nightly occurrence. To square the scrublady who used to give an eye to ; the fiats, they used to "get the dear old • lady shot every night." Some other girls m flatsstage all-night poker parties, and the. size of their play would stagger their bosses or parents. We haye no desire to pose as alarmists, but jiipthers, if your daughters '. show a craving to flat with a girl friend, nip it m the bud. Flat life is ] bad for any girl under thirty-rfive. Even if she does not give her boy friends carte blanche to visit her any old time and bring anybody, and any liquor he likes, there is a great incen-' tive to extwavagance m flatting. Boarding-houses are bad enough, but the dear old ladies m them wno mind everybody's business but their own, are, after all, a great safeguard toyoung girls. Flat life is too Bohemian.