WOMAN’S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 July 1922, Page 6

WOMAN’S WORLD.

PERSONALS. Miss E. Richmond, who has been staying with Mrs. R. McAlley, has returned to Palmerston North. Mrs. K. G. Smith is on a short visit to Christchurch. Mrs. E. J. Carthew was hostess at a most enjoyable fox-trot party this week. Miss L. R. Baker has returned from Wellington. Miss Good has returned to Hawera. • • • • Mrs. D. Cook, who has been the guest of Mrs. W. H. Moyes, returned to Auckland on Wednesday. Miss Hilda Rollo returns to-night from a long holiday visiting friends in Blenheim, Wellington. Feilding and Palmerston. A number of young people arranged a very jolly surprise party to Mrs. H. Greig last night, and a gay time was spent in jazzing, etc. Mrs. Cyril Williams, who has been spending a. few days with her mother, Mrs. M. Fraser, returned to Auckland last night. Mrs. Brodhurst Hill, who has been the guest of Mrs. E. C. Griffiths, left on Thursday for Wellington. • • • • Mrs. A. L. Moore returned this week from Australia, where she has been spending several months. Mrs. E. B. Kingdon has returned from a lengthy visit to Mangaweka. Miss Myra Livingstone arrives from i Hawera to-night. * * Miss Flo Winfield has returned from a short visit to Wanganui. Mrs. L. A. Nolan has returned from Wellington.

WINTER CLUB DANCE. The Workers’ Social Hall presented a very gay appearance on the occasion of the Winter Club’s pierrot and and mask and domino dance to celebrate the half season. The hall was gaily decorated with multi colored paper streamers and the supper tables were bright with narcissi. violets and maidenhair fern. Amongst the masked dancers, the most fascinating of the harlequinettes were: Mrs. Archer and Miss Devore (Auckland) in black with red ruffles; Mrs. A. Bewley, red and black; Mrs. S. Burgess, blue and black; Mrs. L. Rea, black and white; Miss Curtis, black and white; Miss Greig, black and scarlet. The pierrettes were very dainty, the most striking being Miss E. Fookes, black and white; Miss V. Johns, yellow and black; Miss P. Greig, pale blue and mauve; Miss A. Wilson, pink and black; Miss G. Stephenson, blue; Mrs. Duff, scarlet; Miss N. Corkill, scarlet; Miss Saxton, black and white; Miss Whitton, purple; Miss R. Whitton, pale blue; Miss Esse, green; Miss Perry, pale blue; Mrs. MacDiarmid. black. The most mystifying of the dominoes were Miss Barthorp, scarlet; Miss Mcßae (Palmerston), tangerine; Miss Carthew, green; Miss Shaw, green: Mrs. Perry, pale blue; Mrs. MaeBarthorp, black'; Mrs. Blundell, black. Miss Haybittie danced a fascinating toe dance, “The Joy of Spring.” In the balloon dance, where each lady had a small balloon tied to her ankle, Miss Stephenson was awarded the prize, as she was clever enough to keep her balloon intact longer than any other lady. Altogether, very great credit is due to the committee for the splendid way in which every detail was carried out.

WICKEDNESS OF THESE DAYS. INDICTMENT BY ARCHBISHOP JULIUS. Archbishop in an address at the annual meeting of the Wellington Women s branch of the Social Hygiene Society, made a speech attacking the sins of society and modern wickedness. He began by drawing attention to the fact that clergy and doctors were on the platform, and said that not many years ago it would have been an unusual sight. The two classes, instead of working apart, as formerly, with some jealousy, now were combining to find a remedy for a shocking social disease, a plague that was devastating the country. He hoped that the politicians also would come into line, and take advice from those who were studying the problem from every point. It was clear also, that unless the women went into the work whole-heartedly, the movement would fail utterly. “The tendency in the past,’’ the Archbishop said, “was to put the fact of the disease out of sight, and to try to forget it, although it was there all the time. Nasty or not nasty, it has to be dealt with now, to be looked in the face, and, with the grace of God, to be overcome. The Church takes up the attitude that men must restrain their natural instincts. Men could do so; if they can’t, they should be restrained. “DAMN POLITICAL ECONOMY.” “I known that things are changing. People these days must have decent homes to live in. If it is said that what 1 urge is bad political economy, then I say, ‘damn political economy.’ Tt is not a-s bad in Christchurch as in cities of older countries. Even before the war there was a great deal of self-indulgence, amongst all the people, from one end of' the population to the other, in every single class of society. You only have to look at the birth-rate. You know quite well what it means amongst wealthy and fashionable women. Tt means that people don’t want to spend money on children. It means the use of an instrument that has become so terribly common that it is increasing immorality to a very great degree indeed. Then there are late marriages. I am told a man should not marry until he ran afford it. I don’t believe a word of it: a man snould marry whenjie reaches tO marry. ~ It should

not be said that a man must wait until he is fairly well on in life. INSTRUCT THE CHILDREN. ‘ Ignorance is another point. I have heard it discussed for forty years. It is a very knotty and difficult question, and we’re told that sexual subjects must be buried out of sight. I say they should not be. . On the othei* hand, I don’t be’lieve at all in that instruction being given by indifferent or foolish or illtrained people, to their own children or to any other children. Parents must not say: ‘Because the thing’s nasty, because I don’t like to talk about it, because I haven’t broken from the false shame that hedged the thing—which is as pure afid innocent as anything God has made —I shall not talk of it to my children.’ The trouble is that somebody else will. The children will learn it in the schools. They will learn all the evil of it, all the vile, wrong, and beastly side of it, not the pure, the good, the chaste, and the holy side. It s our bounden duty to see that they learn it in a wholesome and healthy fashion. “I wish to make a suggestion: It may be a narrow one, as it’s about our own community’. Y 7 ears ago, when I was curate I arranged with a doctor, a Christian man, to give a lesson to my children. They are wise, men in this city—thank God we have them—who can do the same thing here. “One other word. In modern religion we have dropped hell out of count. It’s not mentioned in polite society now. I think our children need a little of the hell that follows the misuse of the powers God gives. It might help them in the struggle for jjurity and truth. It is a disgrace to parents if they allowed their children to go out to face apalling dangers without one word of warning. RISKS OF LEGISLATION. “Another point is a delicate one. It is legislation. We don’t knew what will come of legislation. They call me a Prohibitionist, and I suppose I am one; but what’s to come of Prohibition ? Prohibition might, for all I know, be something worse than liquor. I don’t know. Legislation means uncertainty. I was never born to be a legislator, but I know that legislation can’t go very far ahead* of public opinion, and public opinion has to be trained, and that’s why this society is doing big work and is working to' the right end. I want legislators to co-operate with the medical men and with all those who are seeking to help the people. “I’m not quite prepared to say what the age of consent should be, but as long as you have that ‘reasonable belief’ clause in the Crimes Act you may as well chuck the age of consent. Can you imagine a boy saying ‘I didn’t know she was under sixteen?’ A great deal that might be done by legislation has not been touched. INCITEMENT TO IMPURITY. “There’s so much incitement to impurity amongst us! Can any boy or girl walk the streets of Christchurch without meeting infinite suggestions of impurity and evil? I saw a great placard; I won’t say exactly where. It was about as disgusting and beastly a picture as I have seen on the walls of any city. If that kind of thing is to be controlled by authorities in Wellington, the sooner we get local control and keep our streets clean, the better for us. “I don’t know what about the movies. I can t imagine children being taken by their parents to some of the pictures we have, without those parents realising that the children are imbibing lessons and ideas which are bound to sink deeply into their minds. As long as you feed the imagination with such impurity, so surely you will reap the consequences. I feel it all the more as the movies might be the most healthful, instructive, encouraging things that science has ever given us.” The Archbishop concluded by saying that sympathy should be shown to others, but it should be accompanied by a measure of severity. “Legislation,” he said, “should go hand in hand with that principle. While we should love the sinner we should hate the sin, and try to cast it out of our country.”