WOMAN’S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1921, Page 6

WOMAN’S WORLD

PERSONALS.

Mrs. Johns, senr., has returned from a trip to Nelson and Wanganui. Miss Elma Carthew leaves for Canada next month and will spend some months with her aunt, Mrs. Ashcroft, of Vernon. Mrs. Stewart and Miss Brewer (Wanganui) are the Quests of Mrs. A. A. Alexander. Miss Moore is visiting her sister, Mrs. G. Hobbs, at Hawera. Miss C. Heppell is on a visit to Wanganui. Miss Hubbard and Miss Irene Hirst (Havelock North) arrive to-night to stay with Mrs. Hugh Fraser. Mrs. Dodgshun, who has been spending several months visiting her relations in various parts of the North Island, has returned to New Plymouth for a short while before leaving to take up her residence in Hamilton. # * * • Mrs. A. A. McKinnon is spending a few days with her parents, Archdeacon and Mrs. Evans, before leaving for her home in Oamaru.

Mrs. R. Lusk, of Auckland, is the guest of her brother, Mrs. W. D. Webster. Mrs. E. Perry, who has been spending a holiday in Christchurch anti Wellington, returned last night. Miss Hempton has returned from a visit to Auckland. Miss Horner (Patea) is the guest of Mrs. J. E. Wilson. Mrs. Hamerton has returned to Inglewood. Miss B. Bayly left on Tuesday for a visit to Auckland. Miss McKellar returns from Khandallah next week. # * • * Mrs. Horner (Patea) is staying with Mrs. Cannell. • • 4 • Mrs. J. Warnock has returned from a visit to Nelson. Miss Alice Brewster is the guest of Mrs. F. Mac Lean (Hawera). Mrs. R*J. Snelling, of New Plymouth, left this week for Wellington to join the Tainui on a trip to England. Mrs. Snelling will probably be absent for about twelve months. Amongst the visitors from New Plymouth at the Hawera races this -week were Mrs. and Miss St. John Smith, Miss 0. Shaw, Miss V. Johns, Mrs. and Miss B. Barthnrpe, Mrs. T. P. Anderson, Mrs. Graham. Mrs. L. Nolan. Mrs. C. 11. Weston. Mrs. E. A. Walker. Miss Brewster. Mrs. N. King, Mrs. Kirkby, Mrs. Lash. Miss Goldwater. FIRST DANCE OF SEASON. Practically the first dance of the season took place last Thursday night at the East End pavilion, being given by the New Plymouth High School Old Giris Hockey Club. There were about fifty couples present, and as the night was extremely cold, dancing was thoroughly enjoyed. The supper tables were beautifully decorated with chrysanthemums and autumn leaves. VISITORS TO TOWN. Visitors at the White Hart this week include Mrs. H. Webster, Mrs. A. Olarke, Mrs. Sullivan, Mrs. Thomas (Wellington), Mrs. Steel, Mrs. Thomson, Mrs. Rowe (Palmerston Northi, Mrs. Kingston (Wanganui), Mrs. Eyre-Kenny (Singapore), Mrs. Rhodes, Mrs. Reed, Miss Sladden, Mrs. Orr Walker (Auckland), Miss Rickys (Dunedin), Mrs. Platts, Mrs. and Miss Whitaker (Blenheim!, Miss Grace (Waipukurau). Visitors at the Criterion include Mrs. Coleman (Stratford), Mr, and Mrs. Petrie. Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Joneg (Wanganui). Mrs. Williams, Mrs. Davis (Ranwick. N.S.W.), Mr. and Mrs. Hoskins, Mr. and Mrs. Robertson (Wellington). Mrs. Emanuel, Mrs. Goodwin (Auckland).

THE Y.W.C.A. CAMPAIGN.

Mrs. A. E. Walker is asking all captains to send in their Itames and of their teams with addresses and telephone numbers, where possible, by Wednesday, May 18. Miss Birch, Dominion field organiser, will arrive in New Plymouth oh tlie 19th inst., and will complete the arrangements in connection with the campaign for raising the £2OOO necessary to purchase and establish a girls’ hostelry for the town.

VICTORIA LEAGUE

Mr. W. J. Penn will give a short address on his recent travels through America and Canada at the Victoria League room on Monday, the 16th inst., at 7.30 p.m. It will be followed by an open discussion on “Should women sit on juries?” Last Monday evening, at the Victoria League rooms, a social gathering for young people was held, Mrs. Johns (the organiser) being ably assisted by Mesdames Barthorne, S. Burgess, H. Fraser, Nicholl, and Misses Shaw, Picken and Esse. Mrs. Barthorpe kindly provided the prizes for the three competitions. The celebrity competition was won by Miss M. Sladden, the song titles by Mrs. Dawson, and the drawing by Miss Griffin. Musical items were rendered by Mrs. Dawson and the Misses Shaw, Gibcon and V. Johns t At the Victoria League rooms on Empire Day, May 24, at 7.15 p.m., a social evening for the junior associates will be held, when there will be games and competitions.

DIVORCE IN NEW ZEALAND.

SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURE,

RAPID DEALING AVITH CASES,

Getting a divorce in New Zealand is becoming a much simpler matter than it used to be. It is also apparently still increasing in popularity. Mr. Justice Adams at Auckland on Wednesday dissolved 15 marriages in an aggregated hearing-time of four hours, an average of one fc dejsee everr sixteen min*

utes. Some of the<cases took a much lesser time than this to dispose of. One barrister, for instance, inquired of the Judge at the end of the day, “Will Your Honor hear two more petitions which I have ready? They will rMy take a few minutes’” It was three or four actions in which that bug-bear of barristers, “corroborative evidence,” was the trouble that lengthened the average. The amendments made to the Divorce Act last year are already having an effect. The number of decrees granted yesterday was probably a record for Auckland, and possibly it will not be long before we attain the Sydney rate of seven and a half minutes for each divorce, and the facility with which five Law Courts in London recently untied 92 matrimonial knots in an hour and a quarter.

SYDNEY’S MAN-WOMAN.

MASQUERADER DISCOVERED.

“I DID IT FOR FUN.”

Sydney May 3. Sydney appears to have more than her fair share of strange and erratic people. Newspaper readers are always being confronted with some queer or sordid disclosure. The latest is the discovery of a man who masqueraded as a woman. We have many cases of women passing themselves off as‘men; but it is much more difficult for a man to pose as a woman.

It appears that the detectives had been watching this man—George Augustus Rocake, 5® years of age—for a long time. They found that he had worked as a jobbing motor mechanic during the day, and was employed casually by various firms. He was then in male attire, and there was nothing extraordinary about his behavior. But frequently in the evenings he completely disguised himself in female attire. It would have taken an expert to detect the disguise. Rocake spent much time and money, apparently, on the make-up. He was then dressed, with meticulous care as to details, as a middle-aged woman. The black hat was a fashionable bit of millinery, the stockings were silk, there were earrings and plenty of powder, there was a wig, and the gloved hands were encased in a muff.

Thus disguised, Rocake frequently went out walking at nights with various women. The detectives’ suspicions were aroused because on these excursions Rocake—-who was known as Winifred Wilson—always sought dark and unfrequented places. They watched for a long time, and finally they arrested “Winifred” and charged him with offensive behavior. They raided the room he had occupied in Rushcutters Bay for a year, and took away a cartload of female clothing, paints and powders. Rocoke told the magistrate that there was “no ulterior motive whatever behind his prank.” “Are you sane?” asked the magistrate.

“Yes, quite sane,” answered the manwoman, who stood in the dock in female attire. “I did it once a fortnight—sometimes once a week. It was more a matter of making fun.”

The man-woman was fined £2. A curious, highly amused, and by no means silent crowd followed “her” as “she” the Court.

CHINESE BRIDES.

SLAVES OF MA-IN-LAW.

She presented her card, inscribed with quaint Chinese characters, and then translated:—“Miss Annie Jones, C.M.S., West China.

Miss Jones, who has been away from Sydney for five and a-half years, at a day and boarding-school for girls, at Mienchow, Szechow, West China —2000 miles inland—returned home during the week, says a recent Sunday Sun. Her work was distinctly educational, but she gives a vivid picture of women and girls in the China away from the coast, which is practically the only portion of China showing any signs of a modern awakening. “Inland China is in a very disturbed condition at present,” said Miss Jones. “So much so that parents any distance from the school are rather afraid to their daughters on long journeys by chair or boat. Brigands are always making raids, and the women become very panicky. With good reason or no reason, I had an Vxciting experience myself on the way home. We travelled by seven different' boats from Mienchow to the coast, and one night we tied up at a small village which was attacked by brigands at midnight.

PRICE OF SAFETY.

“Our military escort ran as soon as they saw the intruders, and a number of the brigands came on board and demanded money. They asked 1000 dol. for our safety, but as I had only 25 dol. they accepted that rather than accept my proposition that they should come for the lump sum to the next big city. But 30 of the men settled themselves on our boat with rifles and a considerable quantity of loot, and sailed down the river with us at 2 a.m. until they felt disposed to land.”

The position of women in China is not at all in keeping with the advanced ideas of their Western sisters. “The bulk of the women cannot read or write,” said Miss Jones. “Their world is bounded by the city in which they live, and a journey to another village is piite an event. They have no news except gossip, and a group of them—tired of the monotony of things—will get together and gossip half the night about excitements which might happen, until they are so frightened with the creations of their own imaginations that they come to the school for protection.

POWER OF MOTHER-IN-LAW.

“Girls in China are lifelong drudges in almost every sphere of life—they slave in their own homes till they marry, then they continue their work in the home of the mother-in-law. Once a girl is engaged—and all marriages are arranged through a middleman—she belongs to the mother-in-law, who can compel her to obedience. The dhief solace of a -married woman is the hope that one day her sons will grow up and marry, then she will be able to get a little of her own back.

“Sons always side with the mothers, even against the wife, and the wife has no redress if she is brutally used. The sons always bring their wives home to their mothers’ residence, and on one occasion an old duenna had six daughters-in-law to do her imperious bidding.” The intelligence of the girls at school is very dull, and tradition is a great handicap to the assimilation of knowledge. At the Church Missionary Society’s High School no science or languages are taught, and education is practically confined to the three R’s. The girls, however, wre given a good domestic training—with a view to improving the homes—and do their own cooking and washing