WORLD IN WORLD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 622, 29 August 1933, Page 2

WORLD IN WORLD

SYDNEY MEN BLAME ATTACHED t-D ^OMEN FOR E^DURtNG THEM. "candid visit'or: If the meri of Sydney are the worst-mannered men ip the . world— . " arid I think they are— then the women : P.f ^ydpey are. -to blame., says a visitor ; to Sydney infthp "Sunday Sun." If 4. woirian does iiot demand good ; paanners of. .the men with ,whpjn ph'e associates, tli'eri she is exUeiriely uh.likely to get good manners. • .....By.the meh', I mean, the business : men, clerk.s, sales.men. "They went to schools with good reputatiqps and they are young men about town in the oixiinarily accepted sense of the ; term. They have goods hearts and good' looks, but their mariners are terrible. Here are .so.me of the things •they do consisteritly : — Walk on the wrorig side of the girl | thpy are escprting; light jtheir owri ; eigarettes first; lift their hats with , pipes or eigarettes in their mouths; f stand and grin when they haven't . a hat to lift, instead. of bowing j. jostle • women in the street; crush past them through doorways; talk with eigarettes hangihg. frprii them niouths.; criticise tHe dress of a woman theY scarcely know to, her face. "Arid some of the things they dori't • do : — At A G.P.S. Match. Move aside for .a woman when there is room only. for one on the pavement; stand up for elderly women in trams; raise their hats a polite distance from the head, stand, instead«of lounging, when speaking to a woman. On the. other hand, they "paw" their women friends rinnecessarily when walking along with them, and are somewhat too vulgarly demonstrativ.e. .. ... ... I said "schools with good reputations," and I will now give an instance. After attending public sciiool sports, footjball and cricket matches in most parts of the world; iricluding England, South.Africa and New Zeaiand, I found the conduct of the boys at the Shore-St. Joseph's match a week or two a'go .amazing, Hordes of boys crowded into the stand at the Shore grounds and sat there, while women stood in all directions. The boys sat solidly through the second and first grade matches, and women who sat on the steps leading to the stand were trodden on and crushed as other boys poured up and down past them. I have never seen that happen before. The boys wer'e from both schools. In An Hotel. , /\yhen I arrived in Sydney I wqs inr troduced to a man in the lounge of the Hotel Australia. He was sprawled in a chair, sitti.ng practically on the back of his neck. . He said "H'are you?" and — did not move. That -yvas a bad impression to get of Sydney men. He was an insurance manager. Although since then I have met men with good manners, easy and naturally gracious, that impression has never been corrected. The men of Sydney talk too loudly, laugh too loudly, and are too complacent, and this complacency may hide •the secret of their bad manners. If the women don't jolt them out of it they will continue to get wors'e. A Man About Town. Manners have nothing to do with the equality — or inequality — of the sexes. A mari sitting in a tram while elderly women, or women laden with parce.ls, are standing, still looks, and always yrill look, a miserable creature. Recently I stood by one who riotonly, sat lumpily in his seat, . but brusked cigarette ash off against my dress. He was a "young man about town," an amateur actor, and escort of many "bright young things." And if the B.Y.T.'s will put up with him he will probably continue to be as bad mannered. I sometimes wond'er, in my .five years here, whether the women of Sydriey have lost sight of, a standard of manners". The men. do not actuknow how badly they. a(re behaving. I don't think they have ever been told.