THE LADIES’ WORLD

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2427, 16 February 1909, Page 7

THE LADIES’ WORLD

DRESS IN! CHINA. LIFE ON THE YANGTSE. In England it is generally admitted that an the matter of dress women are more extravagant than men, but in Central China the reverse is the ease, according to Mr. 11. A. Little,, British Consul at Ichang, in whose last report are furnished many interesting glimp- . of social conditions and customs Hi the Yangtse Valley. One thing over which the Chinese woman spares neither pains nor money is her trousseau. On marriage a woman of the upper class spends several thousand taels (a teal being worth 2s 6d) on her wardrobe, but subsequently only a small amount every year. The jewellery worn at one time may be worth £250 to £375. A single dress may -cost from £25 to_ £37 for furs, to from £3 15s to £5 for silk or satin, while the price for a good everyday dress is from £1 5s to £2 10s. Mr. Little does not support his statement as to male extravagance with figures, but mentions that the price of a suit of summer clothes for a laboring man is 2s 4d to 3s, and that two ai'e required in a year. Madded clothes cost 4s Sd to 6s 2d, and will last two or three years. The lower class mostly go bare-footed; the ordinary shoes, which are generally soled with cotton cloths, cost about Is 6d per pair. As a rule the Chinese are poorly housed. In the towns the buildings are mostly of brick, with tiled roofs, but many are constructed of wood. There is practically no attempt at internal decoration. Windows aro papered, although glass is coming into use among the well-to-do. The laboring classes live .in mud or wattle huts, died, thatched, or roofed with matting. These can be erected from 30s to 525. Dwellings, occupied by people of the shopkeeping class cost from £77 to £231 to build. A rich man, however, may spend as much as W £2300 on his house.’ Native houses are usually very bare, and in general mid. dle-class people do' not spend more than about £SO on furnishings. But taste is growing for foreign articles of furniture, especially beds, and the wealthy sometimes spend as much as £IOOO or £1250. COST OF FOOD.

Except to foreigners, the cost of living iis low, and earnings are correspondingly small. The workingclass spend on food from 2s 4d to 3s Id per head per month, the middle-class 6s 2d to 7s Bd, and the well-to-do £1 3s to £l,los Bd. This extremely moderate scale of expenditure appears to be sufficient to maintain health and strength. As might be supposed, very few things eaten by Europeans enter the native diet. Bice, vegetables, condiments, fish and pork, are the staple articles of food, but the two last are usually taken by laborers only twice a month. The consumption of wheat, flour, millet, Indian corn, vermicelli, barley, poultry beef and mutton', is comparatively small. Milk, butter, and bread are not eaten at all. Game, though ►-abundant in places, is not much in demand. Generally only two meals a day are taken, but laborers and boatmen take three or four when they , Ahe doing bard work. THE SERVANT QUESTION. Domestic servants are both plentiful and cheap, but apparently not very efficient. Mr. Little asserts that tinoe Chinese male servants are equal to one female in Europe. Including perquisites and food, the pay ranges from 6s 2d to 14s per month. Foreigners pay much more and receive much less in return. No Chinese household _ with an income of £2B a year and upwards is without a servant. In regard to wages in other occupations, the most skilf ul artisans, such as cai - penters, masons, and metal workers, receive 54d per dav and their food, which costs about’2d per day; less skilled workers earn less in proportion to their .abilities. Workmen label from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with intervals of a half an hour each for two meals and three or four of fifteen minutes each for a rest and .a smoke. ON BUSINESS LINES. “Oh! I shall soon pick it up after I’m married! Anyone can keep house,” said the engaged girl, scornSo they can, after a fashion. But it takes a woman with brains to keep house well, to plan out meals so that they shall be nourishing and varied, and yet economical ; to keep just within her allowance each week, and ye give as good value as possible for the money; to always have the bouoo looking spick and span, Ayithout ever ap- ► pearing to fuss OA T er it. Don t ever fanev that it is beneath youi dignity to tfv to learn to keep* bouse. It ’must be maddening to a man to know that, after lie has worked hard to earn the money, ins wife win fritter it arvay, getting only half its A'alue, mcroN because she has nevoi taken the trouble to learn bow to be •a good, economical manager. A FRENCH WOM AN ON LOVE. Writing in the Christmas number of “The World .and His Wife,” Mme. tie Perrot, a distinguished FrenchAVoman, observes: — , . , „ Early engagements have broken more hearts and Avreeked more hves than anything, else in .the Avorlcl, witn the single exception of early marriages. Naturally, like you and evoiy other person, I know girls who weie engaged and married before they AVeie out of their teens, and Avho have liA r ed very happily ever since; but these are the exceptions that prove the rule. An early engagement and marriage not only" give a girl no chance o obtaining a good, sound education, but often unfits her for the battle of life, and convert her into a helpless being. It is true, and not strange, that Avhen a girl does get married at a tender age, it- is invariably to a rich man, and old enough to be her father. The young man of to-day has no opportunity of marrying much before the age of twenty-five. These marriages for money—for that is .all that they can be said to amount to —are greatly to be deplored. Hoav fathers and mothers can sanction them is a problem too deep for mo to grapple with. The souls of these parents must be absolutely de\ r oid of any love for their children. - HINTS FOR, GIRL TRAVELLERS. A trip to England,, and if possible to the Continent as well, is the heart’s desire of many a Noav Zealand girl, and it is a desire that many of them

manage-to fulfil cA r cn though they are not possessed of any Avealtli. There are the happy ones whose relations or friends take them home, free of all Avorry about money, and there are those, perhaps the happier'ones, whose trip comes at the end of years, as the result of their oavii energy and theft. “It Avas by counting my little expenses and by going Avitbout many an afternoon tea that I should have liked to get in toAvn, that I saved my passage money,” said one girl, “and it. was by little economies like that, combined Avitli Avhat I am able to earn, that I secured two delightful years in England. It was aycll Avortli AAdiilc. Try it,” Avas her .advice. It is girls like that Avho probably enjoy their travels best, and they are keen about making the very most of their opportunity. Numbers of them are noAV preparing to go Homo ; and “Dominica,” of the- “Dominion,” has asked one Wellington girl, AA'ho has travelled Avitli her eyes ivido open, and avlio got the very best possible value for her money, to give some hints as to lioav she managed, where slie went, and Avlicre she stayed. She lias given some Aviso hints AA r ith regard to travel on the Continent - and in England.