WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 224, 10 February 1913, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

NEW SOUTH WALES CONJUGAL CONDITIONS Tin- Ollicial Year J Sunk of New South Willi's c<mlui sonic interesting figures relative to tin' conjugal conditions in 1911 of tin 1 residents of that State, as .shown by tlic census collection. Out of a total population of 1,040,734. no fewer than 1,023,053 were unmarried. Of the unwed, the males outnumbered the females by 550.350 to 407,603. The married folk numbered 551,044. the number of wives (270.210) being slightly greater than that of the husbands (275.425). The large excess of the 43,571 widows over the "22,887 widowers is ascribed to two causes —the greater mortality among men, anil the fact that _ widowers remarry more often than widows. Among the divorced the men (1230) outnumber the women (1100). Another set of figures shows that the proportion of the unmarried of each sex increased <it every census up to the 'year 1881, when the pioportion of unmarried among the males was 70.04 and among the females 03.52. Since that time it has decreased, the declension being most marked between 1001 and 1011. In the latter year, the percentage of males stood at 05.0fi. and among females 50.30. Naturally, the percentage of married folk increased during those thirty years. The proportion of widowers has been fairly constant, ranging from 2.42 in 1881 to 2.78 ten years later, and dropping to 2.07 last year. That of widows has increased from 3.77 in 1861 to 5.52 in 1011. The ages of the married contain some rather startling surprises, In 1911 there were in New South Wales two husbands under 15 years of age, and six wives. There were no fewer than 398 husbands between the years of 15 and 19. and 3333 wives. The greatest number of married males was at the age period 30.34 years, when it amounted to 39,083, and the greatest number of married females in the previous quinquennial perioil, 25-20 years, when it stood at 43,113. Up to' the age of 40 the wives outnumber the husbands, hut thereafter the husbands have easily the best of it, A JAPANESE AUTHOR S IDEAS OF A WIFE Mi-. Ichiba. a well-known Japanese author, lias just concluded an amazing marriage. 11 is first wife died in April last, and the mourning spouse set about finding another partner. He commissioned all his friends to keep their eyes open, and gave a standing order to the various matrimonial agencies in the capital to report immediately any likely candidate fir the honor of being the second Mrs. ichiba. . He laid down six primary conditions. which the successful candidate would have to fulfil. They were:

1. The lady must have passed through all the various conditions of life and the various phases of society from A to 7,. as only by ripe experience ean perfection be attained. 2. Except the clothes she should stand up in she should have no worldly possessions whatever. 3. She must be severed from her family entirely.

4. She must contract to keep the kitchen and bathroom absolutely spick and span, and ready for instant use. 5. Her style of hairdressing must be ala mode Japanese—no foreign pads, switches or tonpets to be permitted. 0. She must stand f>ft high in her tabi and her limbs and body /lie "of a proper plumpness" —as to face, features and other points, these were not to matter.

ill-. Tehiba looked over 47 candidates before being satisfied with a young lady of 28 years of age, whose experience of life appears to have been such as to meet with his approval. The wedding ceremony was equally peculiar. The bridegroom stole out and bought two pints of sake, with which the wedding cups were filled and the ceremony celebrated. Thereafter he appeared at bis door and announced to those outside that there : v. as no need to wait further, as he did not propose to spoil his wedding day by a reception!

NOTES Miss Miriam Hubbard, da lighter of "Fra Klburtus" Hubbard, the philosopher and humorist", is the most perfect girl physically over to enter the University of Michigan (the express says). The physical director of the girls' gymnasium has made the announcement. The description is as follows: —Tall and slender, without very groat curves; weight. 131.5 lbs: height. Cli.Tin: lung capacity, 218; strength test. 18101b; lung and heart in pu-fect condition. She is modest and gracious, with a low, sweet voice andwavy hair. "Long ago 1 learned that one cannot keep well unless one works in the fields, and gains health from sunshine." she said. In her father's school she did exactly the work the boys did. 'T have always taken all my exercise consistent with my years and my. strength." Five thousand young men in the Philippines. making £4OO a year or more, are in need of wives (says the Now York Hera Id I. One of them has written to Dr. W. I'. Cutler. State Food and Dairy Commissioner of Missouri, asking him if ho can he of any assistance in telling Missouri girls of tin' opportunity open to tliem. The writer says: "There are aI- least 5000 young men over here employed by the Government in the Customs and Internal Revenue Service and other branches, and all of us are getting salaries not less than £4OO a year. Now, the trouble is that most American women over here are married. I do not want niv name published, but you may give it. to any of the young women who desire to correspond with a view to : matrimony. I enclose you a few views of the country, and you can send theni io whom yon choose, and they can see f»r themselves what kind of a place it is." In Mr. Itams.-.r Mac-Donald's touching memoirs of hU wife, it is stated ihat one Sunday evening, after having been at church, she wrote: "1 wonder whether I shall meet him in this world. T mean my him. my sir, my knight. 1 believe that each of ns will meet her him or his her in some world. If love lasts on to

another wor]il for those whose souls are married here, can we believe that God leaves some souls always unmarried?

. . . . Oil, God, Thou liast not given rn ■ Tliy best gift'. Oh, let me make no in itake about it, and if I should use it fi .' myself and him, instead of for Thee a 1 Thy other children, keep it from me t ! T am ready to have it. however far " "■ay that time may be." By and by vr day eame. The term of endearment she used most frequently to her lover was: "My dearest sir." The President of the British Hoard of Trade (the Hon. Sydney Buxton) has placed .C2DOO in the hands of representative trustees for the purpose of commemorating his connection with the Parliamentary representation of the constituency of Poplar (London) for upwards of J a quarter of a century; and at the right lion, gentleman's suggestion the money is to be utilised in establishing a school for the better education of mothers in ? the rearing of their children.