WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 239, 14 February 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). A PROBLEM. At a meeting of tlie Petone woollen mill employees on Tuesday night a letter was received from ''Woman Worker," asking if the new union were likely to help tke employees in the hosiery department at the loeal mill. .Slie pointed out that some girls m that department were at present reeciving only is 'fid per week. Cithers were put on piecework before they luid an opportunity of learning the trade, and were only able to earn two or three shillings a week. Loud cries of "Shame!" greeted the reading of the letter. On the same evening a i'elone house-mistress called at the Chronicle oilice and asked if anyone could ten her where she could get a general servant for a household of four. She was prepared to pay £1 a week to a girl who would do the ordinary household duties, with Sunday and ail nights on; or, if the girl were willing to do the washing besides, she would pay her £1 2s Gd a week. Will somebody please explain why young women prefer to work at a woollen mill for two, three, or four shillings a week and find themselves, when they can earn £1 and week and fed at household service in a comfortable home, with all nights and Sun- , days off? We pause for a reply.—Petone Chronicle.

MAN'S INHUMANITY. j Mr. J. T. M. Ilornsby, the Wairarapa | Coroner, had some severe remarks to make at t(ie inquest on the young woman who died .suddenly at the Masterton railway station last week. Referring to Bentley's admission that he had takeni advantage of the girl under the promise of marriage, the Coroner said: "This was one of those painful cases that happened in communities, and he was sorry that it had happened in a comparatively small place like Masterton. Those who had viewed the remains could not help being struck with the fact that deceased was mentally weak—a poor, unfortunate woman." He had no words to characterise the conduct of the person, Charles Bently, who was without doubt cruel, inconsiderate and unmanly. "It is a dreadful thing," he continued, "that a man, in possession of all his faculties and able to work, should take advantage of a poor unfortunate girl whom he knew, I suppose, had been in trouble previously. Of course, the law has no hold on a thing of this kind, so far as 1 am aware, but society has. Society is able to protect itself. It is one of those painful cases which shows that some men who walk about are not far removed from brutes." The jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, adding as a rider that the evidence of the witness, Charles Bcntley, was not to be believed when he said he would marry deceased. DOMESTIC SCIENCE

A chair of Domestic Science at Otago University, considering the size of the community, may be an experiment, but there is no great reason to regard it as over-daring in this respect, or unlikely to prove a desirable and successful educational step forward (writes the Otago Daily Times). Much depends, as we have suggested, on the extent to which students now avail themselves of the opportunities which the University Council lias been at pains to place within their reach, and the response in this direction in the way of the enrolment of those intending to take the Domestic Science course has already proved encouraging. Miss Boys-Smith's* observations are calculated to remove false impressions and give the public a correct conception of the aims and possibilities of this course of study for women, and we hope that ere many months! have passed personal observation of the practical operation of classes in domestic science at Otago University will go far to convince the sceptical that their want of faith in their establishment has been uncalled for. With the hearty co-operation she will receive from the University authorities and those associated with other practical brancaes of women's educational work, Miss Boys-Smith, who, in colloquial language, evidently knows her business, is rio more than reasonably confident, we believe, that the chair of Domestic Science win fully justify its establishment in the near future.

REVOLT OF SWISS WIVES. A large manufacturing firm at Zurich recently introduced the English custom of granting their men employees a halfholiday on Saturday, this being an unknown custom in Switzerland. The firm thought they were acting in the interests of the families of the workmen. It appears, however, from the feminine point of view, they have made a great blunder, for all the wives and fiancees of the men have signed a petition asking that the Saturday half-holiday should be withdrawn, on'the ground that the men spend their liberty and money away from home, with disastrous results to family life and to the family exchequer. The petition points out that Sunday has always been a holiday in Switzerland, and asks why a useless half-holiday in the week should be added. To under-1 j stand this it should be stated that by the Federal laws there is no compulsory closing of shops, cafes places of amusement, etc., on the Sabbath, but that each canton is free to do as it pleases. In the Catholic cantons the cafes are obliged to De closed during divine service, but this is not the rule in the other cantons, while in the chief towns shops and cafes can remain open at the will of their proprietors. As a general rule, the Swiss people go to church on Sunday mornings, and afterwards tend their gardens and orchards, go to a matinee in the theatre, and play at football or tennis. For these reasons the English half-holiday in the week is bound to be a failure in Switzerland. The Zurich firm is much perplexed concerning the women's petition, and is inclined to grant it, ior it feels itself in the wrong. TOO MANY WOMEN IN GERMANY According to official figures of the census return taken on December 1, the population of Greater Berlin now numbers 3.712,554 inhabitants. The predominating feature of the results of the census is the revelation of .

| the growing preponderance of females over males in (iennany. The complete I results of the census have not yet been i ascertained, but so far as the returns go they show an alarming increase of the I disproportion between males and females.

The growing majority of females is exercising the minds not only of the Go-| vernment, but also ot all politicians and social reformers in a growing degree, 'lucre is a deep-rooted idea in Germany, which, as is well known, is .shared by the Kaiser, and the ruling element, that woman's sphere is the home, and thiit it is the destiny of the female to seek a mate and find her happiness in the upbringing of her children. The increasing preponderance of the female part of the population is forcing < lennany further and further away from this ideal, and is making the position more and more difficult for those who still oppose the entrance of women into all sorts of occupations and professions.

WHAT HINDU WOMEN THINK OF AMERICANS. She has spoken at last, has the Hindu woman. For years the object of pity on the "irt of her Western sisters; pictured as >'• ir- re slave of a sensual husband; the :!i n.e of countless missionary addn v,.-. which luive dwelt upon her unhappy condition in her home and her degraded position in society —the woman oi the Orient has ' come back" at the woman of the Occident, and, truth to tell, has uttered some criticisms which American womankind will, perhaps, find it not a little difficult to answer, i These criticisms are presented to Ame--1 rican readers by the Baba Bahrati in his magazine, formerly known, as the "Light of India," and now appealing under its | new title "East and West'." The critics are two Indian ladies, of .whom one is a I queen, the Maharani of Baroda, wife of I the Gaekwar of that State, and the other j the Princess I'rativa, a daughter of the Maharaja of Koocli Behar and granddaughter of the renowned Kcshtub Chunder Sen. The Maharani of Baroda has twice visited the I'nited States. On the last visit, a few months ago, being pressed by the newspaper men, she did say something. Her Highness' remarks are reported to have been as follows: "The women of your big, vast, young • country, I confess, disappointed me. I had heard so much of them; that they equalled the French women in their two most striking qualities of chic and vivacity; that they dressed far better than the English women; were as coquettish, though in franker way, as the Spanish; that they were, in short, as fascinating as the most fascinating women in the world—the Russian. "Well, they are not. They are less chic than tne French women, because their clothes are more exaggerated, less becoming, and not always appropriate to the occasion. . . . "They dress better than the English women. More conspicuous, perhaps, but their clothing is not so durable, suggests nothing Df the solid qualities of modesty and station, as do the tweeds and broadcloms worn by the English. Their coquetry is not attractive, for it possesses no subtlety. The manner of the American woman who wishes to attract a man is mat of the boy who wants to play golf with him—as frank, as devoid -of poetry. "I understand that some American women make the proposals of marriage. That I do not doubt after -watching them make themselves agreeable' to a man at dinner. lam not surprised that American men do not make love well. The women save them the trouble. As for the fascinations of the Russian women— No! No! The Russian women are soft and feminine. The American women are masculine. The only softness about them is in the stuffs with which they drape themselves—not in their souls."

The Princess Prativa, who was interviewed in London, had this to say concerning her Western sisters:— "The women of the rest of the world are so unhappy. We of India alone know the art of happiness. We judge a nation by the Btatus of its women, and the status of the American women is eternal unrest. One woman once said to me: 'I have nothing but money, and I'm tired of that!' They lack that calm centre of philosophy without which life is a whirlpool and the world is in a vast turmoil. They talk loudly, they try to be sprightly, and only succeed in making ugly faces. They are not enough alone They do not read enough. They chattel too much and think too little." "