WOMEN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 266, 2 April 1913, Page 6

WOMEN'S WORLD

(Conducted by ''Eileen.") A LADY CANDIDATE FOR MUNICIPAL HONOR*. A STRONG CASE FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN. Auckland, March 2S. Miss Melville, solicitor (who is seeking election to the Citv Council), in a statement regarding her candidature, saicl she would pledge herself to 110 par.tv or union wha I soever. She was not standing because she considered tlu't th" present members of the Council had not done their best for the City, lmt because she considered that the best government and the best citizenship required the co-operation of men and women of all classes. It was essential for the public good that men and women should work together. -Men and women had different qualifications, and it was important that all available talent and experience should l)e utilised in the service of the people. Tlie City, continued the speaker, is "simply an aggregation of homes and families. Individual homes are conducted bv men and women 011 a partnership basis, in which the woman has a share of responsibility and unwer, particularly in the direction of th" administration of the finances and the guidance and control of children. What is good for the home is good for the City full of homes. Miss Melville concluded by quoting Burke's description of the ln'oad base of personal service in the cause of good government 011 which tiie State rests—a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection, a partnership not only between those who are living but those who are dead and those who are to he born. It was not possible, she held, to leave women out of a partnership such as this, and the ideal it put before them was oiie that should rouse the aspirations of every woman to contribute in such measure as she. could to the progress and welfare of humanity. RICH WOMEN'S HUSBANDS (By One of Them). I married for money, and now I wish I hadn't. I was a bank-clerk, when a wealthy customer—a widow —took a fancy to me. She invited me to various social functions at her house, and before ! long I knew that I had only to proposa to be accepted. I didn't hesitate. While I was not in the least bit in love with Mrs. I liked lier, and foresaw a pleasant existence as the master of some thousands a year, a cosy home in town, and a nice place in the country. ■' At least, I fancied I was going to be the mastei of all these good things; but that was where I made the mistake. Naturally, I resigned from the bankindeed,'my ftancec insisted 011 my doinf so—and this seemed a favorable oppor tunity .for hinting that I should requin • some money for my own personal use The aijswer was satisfactory in a way Didn't I know that all she had was mine? That sounded all right, but, alas her lawyers took precious good care tha not a , single penny of her money di<. really become mine! Thei'e may be cases of rich womei marrying poo'r'lnen, and making them in dependjent for life by handing them ove a lump, but I can o.ijly gay that I havi yet toj hear-of ;an authentic instance As it is, I receive an allowance of £3Ol a year' but it is absolutely at my wife' pleasure. Well; you may say, £3OO - a yea ' pocket;money, the "rurv.of my teeth" in 1 comfortable, even r. luxnrious home, mo tor carfe, hunters, what have I to grumbl at? Hut I am no longer, a bank clerl on £IBO a year. ,1 jravp developed ex ■ pensive! tastes. lam thrown with mei who spend £300 : -,.v}'Qar fPd.niore oi their c otlies. True, my wife pays tailors' an< other 1 ills,-.and makes me handsome pre sents irom time, toi time.' /Practically however, I am harder up than ever I wa, as a bank clerk. : •• 1 • We lo not get oii at t ;all badly, nr wife and I, but there are< times whei .my position is almost intolerable, and ! wish I were'back at my desk; a frei man, n >t ashamed to face other men. If w i hit ■it off • pretty well together occasional tiffs are inevitable, and it ii then tljat my wife is, apt to remind mi that it as she who holds ttye purse-strings And, oiie way or another, tarn ahvay: being- reminded of this ,disagreeable fact If a man wants, to sell me a horse, ! cannot'say "Yes," until I have asked b; wife. !If we subscribe to anything, tin subscription - appears, in: her . jkme 0 , jointly jwitli mine. The servants treat me with veiled in solencej for they know my true positioi as welllas I do.. ,t. .. . - . - In a| recent law suit between a riel wife and a poor husband it wai shown that she kept, the keys o the wine cellar, and every time her "lori and makter" wanted a bottle of wine, hi had toiask his wife for the keys. M; wife dfjes not put such an indignity 01 me as that; but still we are not king am queen, |>ut queen and prince-consort, and in the end, practically everything con * nected with the house Jhasj,o be_ referred to herJ v I luu e met a good manx other rich wc men's lusbands, arid I'don't lcfiow 011 who is really happy. Often they tak to drir k to drown their -feelings of sell eontem pt. §o.ip.e.t,im£Sj v ..kept. phor.t . c ready' 1 aoney, f they ! 'it % forging'thei wives' "names to bills and cheques. I an talking,' of eoir'rsH' of' like myself, are absolutely-dependent 0 their wives. I don't' say that Trich w< men snouhl only mafry rich men* bu unless a man can maintain himself indi pendent of liis wife, (hen fits position : at best invidious, while it is often littl short j)f intolerable. -