THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2597, 3 September 1909, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

A GREAT WOMEN’S COLLEGE.

There? is at this moment (says a London paper) an opportunity for English woman to- do a fine piece of work;. A great women’s' college has pressing need of a sum of money to enable it, not only to go forward with the va.unkle work it has /done, :in the part, but also, in response to the demand made upon it, -enormously to increase .its scope and vigor in the future. Bedford 'College, London, founded in 1849, is the oldest University College for Women, it was the first college to offer scholarships for women, c-ho first (in 1860) to put practical science teaching within the reach of all women, and the first to start a scientific training course lor women undertaking public work. - It was the first and still is the only • women’s college to receive a Parliamentary grant as a university college, the amount now allotted t 6 it by the Treasury being £4OOO a year, with a further grant this year of £7OO. The history of tho growth and development of the college is the history in little of 'the growth and development of women’s education. There are now fifty lectures a- day", the college turns-out yearly a large number of graduates in

arts and science (.175 students arc this yell' taking degree courses), and, in addition to the regular university degree work, it provides a course of scientific instruction in hygiene, a professional training for secondary .teachers, facilities for research and post graduate work, and an art school. It also provides twenty-five places for degree courses fpr London County Council scholars in return for a grant of £BOO a year. It is one of the four colleges which make up the Teaching University of London, and it has a large staff of men and women who. are recognised teachers of that universtiy. The value of the work done by. the scentific hygiene training course can scarcely be overrated. Years ago the Council recognised that special openings in public service for which women were peculiarly adapted were those in the Department of Public Health, and the college performs a unique function in providing this course for women which, as it was the first, still remains tho best and most complete obtainable, being comparable with tho course given to men lor the diploma of public health. Here women are trained, practically anti theoretically, who are about to undertake public duties such as those of factory and sanitary inspectors or health visitors; and students who have obtained tho college diploma are in instant demand for these and tffher kindred Jjosts. This is a now and very important development of women’s work.

In addition, moreover, to-the.profes-sional many women are here trained-as philanthropic workers of the new type, the type that will be brought into existence yet more largely whenever the changes are accomplished that are foreshadowed in the Poor Law reports, both' majority and minority. For if real good is to be done in working among the poor, it is imperative that the work be regarded as scientific in the . best sense, and as demanding at least a year’s thorough training such as Bedford College is prepared to supply. The college is overcrowded, its activities are cramped, but the present Council have the lease of a Crown property in Regent’s Park, consisting of eight and a half acres of beautiful gardens, with sloping lawns, shrubberies, fine old trees, tennis grounds, and a •private boat-house on the lake, forming altogether the most ideal site conceivable for a great residential woman’s college in London, It is proposed to build here a beautiful college for 400 students (100 dential). All that is’needed is a sum of money to enable the building to go forvarVL / The Queen has promised £*loo, Lady Tate has promised £IO,OOO for a library, the late Mr. James Turle bequeathed to it £12.000, past students have contributed £3OOO, and the Education Committee of-the. London County Council has recommended a grant of £SOOO a year for four years. Still, a sum of £BO.OOO is needed in -order to make the college of the future what it should be. ,

ABOLISHING HOUSEWIVES’ DRUDGERY. An age which will have no need for domestic servants is foreshadowed in the Hardware Exhibition, which opened recently in the Agricultural Hall, Islington, London. Housewives will find themselves confronted (remarks a visitor) at every turn by substitutes for housemaids, made of steel,- iron, and wood, and automatic cookers which cook the.dinner without any human, assistance, and, incidentally, without ’'WageS:'. . - oil the drudgery .of Avatshing' floors, scrubbing stairs, and wliitdning doorsteps is done away with by a c/ever invention, to which the ordinary floor cloth, a scrubbing-brush, or a piece of hearthstone for step-cleaning is fixed. Even the floor cloth is wrung automatically. For the kitchen where space is limited a mangle which can be converted into- a presentable kitchen table offers obvious advantages. A “cooker” which roasts, boils, stews and bakes simultaneously without the slightest supervision, and performs these wonders for a family of eight people at a cost of 2sd, the value of the patent fuel which supplies the heat, is one of the latest inventions. • A coffee machine which whistles when the coffee is ready for use, a flatiron heater which, placed over an oil stove or a gas ring, heats four irons., and boils a kettle in fifteen) minutes a toaster which toasts four slices at the same time .to an even brownness and a little contrivance which can be converted at will into a toaster, an iron-heater, a. plate warmer, .a gridiron, ora meat stand, and other newly discovered time and labor savers for the housewife. There are folding. kitchen tables, which can he packed flat against the wall when cooking time is over, and ingenious steps 'arid a tray on the top shelf for the of elusory hammer which is always disappearng. Windows can be cleaned in a matter of seconds with a substance which makes /the glass shine like crystal. Tarnished 'silver or plate can be re-silvered in a few minutes by , a new ‘ plate-powder. And after a -hard morning’s work there is the “Siesta” chair, which makes into a hammock, a lounge, an upright chair,.or a tea table.