WHAT WE WOMEN THINK

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 11, 26 September 1930, Page 32

WHAT WE WOMEN THINK

-, ‘A S the wife of a dairyfarmer I listen- , ed with interest to the talk by the Hon. Mr. Perrelle on New Zealand goods last week. Mr. Perrelle asked us all to buy New Zealahd goods, clothing, etc., and to stop New Zealand unemployment. To a certain point his argument may be sound, but I cannot go all the way with him. I remember that we dairyfarmers have to send the .great bulk of our produce to Britain, as our farm lands produce far more than New Zealand can consume. If we don’t buy from Britain through making here all the. stuff that we require, how is the poor British workman going to get the money with which to buy our dairy produce-our wool, our meat, our leather and so on? It seems to me that we cannot have it all our own way. I don’t pretend

to know very much about economics, but I have been told that trade depends upon the exchange of commodities, and if Britain manufactures at lower prices, and depends upon the sale of those manufactures for money with which to buy our foodstuffs, then it seems to me that we cannot make all our own goods without running some

danger of reducing Britain’s capacity to buy our primary produce. What do other women think?-Mrs. B. MID much talk of the ousting of legitimate drama by sound film, it was refreshing to find so large and rapt an audience assemble to witness the plays put on last week at Wellington by the National Repertory Theatre Society, and one felt encouraged to predict a recrudescence of flesh and blood protagonists on "the boards" before so very many centuries pass. The society showed commendable catholicity of judgment in its choice of the three plays presented, written By Mr. Galsworthy, Barrie, the wellbeloved, and that ingenious _ satirist Mr. Gribble, respectively. In the fantastic fragment "Shall We Join the Ladies," although it could not be said that in point of acting Iclipse was

first and the rest nowhere, because each individual member of the cast played up delightfully, including. butler and sweet-voiced maid, yet the palm must be given to Mr. Gillespie as the genial and terror-inspiring host. He looked, spoke, acted just as we felt that wily and imperturbable person would do, and his petrifying knowledge of facts others would willingly gloss over, the impertinent suavity with which he flashed his unwelcome attention upon those of his harassed guests whom he put under the screw of suspicion, were sheer delight. A mere female like myself could not but admire the noticeably charming dressing of this playlet, right up to the minute as it was, and attractively a la mode, especially in the length of skirt and decolletage. Long, graceful, sombre draperies worn by Miss Statham made effective contrast with the lovely gown of rose-colour worn by the agitated lady who, so to speak, sat cheek

Se by jowl with her; and admirable were effective floral decorations, the whole arresting performance being carried out with meticulous attention to de+' a In the third play gorgeous splashes of colour hung on screen and wall, and formed striking background for languid leading lady, who, clad in kaleidoscopic colour, looked so much more exotic than lethargic tempera~ ment warranted. Her very earthly husband was acted in natural and extremely diverting fashion by Mr. Burns, who scored a distinct success, while Mr. Bown sweetly wilted as the inadequate lover. The verve and spontaneity of the exhortations of Mr. Morris Dunkley as the dramatist utterly failed to affect these dullards, and one hardly wondered at his spectacular suicide, in this travesty) of those temperamental dark doings depicted and suggested by Continental writers of the pessimistic variety. — I may as well confess I was disappointed in Mr. Wauchop in "The First and the Last," remembering him as I do in‘a former Galsworthy play as the French vagabond Ferrand, a part that fitted him like a skin. As the eminent, villainous K.C., however, he was not happily cast. The work of Mr. Byrne and Miss Cooley was poignant and beautiful. An over-

stressed situation, touch of rant, some false indication of sentiment, would have ruined Mr. Galsworthy’s tragedy of circumstance and environment; but there was nothing meretricious about the presentation, and the audience followed with tense attention poor Larry’s ravings as he pictured the poor little rat of a man, wandering up and down, up and down, looking for food or plunder, and now suffering, in his stead. In self-abnegation writes his confession, and he and ‘his poor Wanda, that soiled white lily of a girl who loved him, go hand-in-hand on their last long journey, saying farewell to the life and sunshine that had seemed within their grasp. Truly to these poor driven derelicts Mr. Galsworthy opens the door of our hearts; and the acting of Mr. Byrne, in artistic restraint aided by a voice of great charm, and of Miss Mary Cooley, in delicate pathos and appeal, were worthy of the dramatist.--The Minstrel.