NEW ZEALAND WRITING
Sir,-On reading New Zealand New Writing I was struck by the thought that New Zealand writing more than that of any other country was matriarchal. Whether this is due to the fact that in New Zealand more mothers in their early middle age write, or whether mothers form the bulk of the reading public I do not know, but many of the stories in New Writing could as easily have been written by that class-as by young men. I do not wish to be misunderstood. I admire and respect’ these women, and sometimes think that mothers of halfgrown families are the only sane and intelligent people in the country and the only ones entitled to a vote. But I_am not sure that they are the best for art. Instead they should have the budgeting of the country. No matter what income a mother has control of, and no matter how bad a manager she is, she always distributes food, clothing, and pleasure, not perhaps equally but efficiently, and the children are given all the time and opportunity in her power to develop their talents. It seems to me that, if Parliament carried out the will of mothers, the mothers would be so busy putting their ideas into action instead of on paper that artists would spring up like daisies and New . Zealand literature would be saved from sinking into an early middle-aged spread.
OCTAGENARIAN
(Dunedin),
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19431126.2.9.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 231, 26 November 1943, Page 3
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238NEW ZEALAND WRITING New Zealand Listener, Volume 9, Issue 231, 26 November 1943, Page 3
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