THE LADIES’ WORLD.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2619, 29 September 1909, Page 3

THE LADIES’ WORLD.

A NOVEL BEQUEST. Application is being made in Sydney for. probate in the will of the late Dr Philip Edward Muskett, to be sworn at about £15.000.

The deceased bequeaths to his sister, Miss Alice Muskett, such articles of furniture and effects as she cares to select. He leaves the whole of his property to his trustees, the Perpetual Trustee Company, upon the usual trust as to realisation, and tho income derived therefrom is to go to Miss Alice Muskett for her life. The trustees are directed that after Miss Muskett’s death £IOOO annually are to be distributed among the charities and institufollowing, the first seven to receive £IOO and the last-mentioned six coO: —Sydney Hospital, Fresh Air League (Sydney), Melbourne Hospital and the following hospitals for sick children:—Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Western Australia, Hobart, Launceston, Auckland, Wellington (N.Z.), Christchurch and Dunedin.

The trustees arc also given certain directions in regard to the investment of the residue of the estate for the establishment of the “Philip Muskett Biennial Bequest.” The bequest is to be competed for in the form of an essay in every second year after the death of Miss Muskett, and such competition is to be open to any person of Australasian birth, or any person who has resided in Australia for half his or her life. The object of the bequest, which will be worth at tho outset about £7OO and later £IOOO, is to popularise and promote the principles which the testator always advocated in his published works, writings and lectures, namely, the education of mothers, to prevent the deaths of so many Australian infants, the improvement of Australian national food habits, and the extension of teaching technical education in the State schools. The Biennial Bequest is to be administered by the committee for the time being of tho Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts, it is laid down that the essays must reach the secretary on or before March 31st in each year in which the bequest is ojxm for competition. The award of the committee is to he made before Juno 30th next following, and the winner of the prize will be required to read the essay in the hall of the institution on September 30th.

Provision is made for advertising the bequest by £IOOO being set aside as a notification fund. The income to be derived from the investment of the notification fund is to be increased until it reaches £IOO per annum, and the advertisements are to bo inserted in newspaper s in the Commonwealth and New Zealand. GIRLS’ ITAIR.

Dr William Butler, medical officer of health to the Willesden Education Committee, has thrown a bombshell into many London homes. He is of opinion that a girl’s hair should be cut as short as her brother’s. He has bad the courage to embody bis views in an official report which ha s been issued to the mothers of Willesden. This is how Dr Butler argues the case: “Many parents desirous of keeping their children’s heads clean find it almost impossible to do so in the case of girls on account of the fact that they near long hair. There is absolutely no need for girls to wear their hair long, and if the cleanly parents will set tho example of having their girls' hair cut short while at school, much more hygienic conditions will be established in our public schools. On the eve of the holidays I venture to make this appeal to parents to send all children to school with short hair.”

One indignant parent immediately waited upon the Willesden educational authorities with an open Bible. By quotation from Holy Writ, she was able to prove that the medical officer’s advice wa s entirely contrary to BibUcnl teaching, “But if a woman have long hair, it % is a glory to her; for her hair is .given to her tor a covering”—as St. Paul has it.

Oddly enough, Dr Butler’s counsel comes at a very opportune moment. There is a serious crisis, at present, in the human hair market. The ultimate cause seem s to be the picture-hat of present fashion. A large hat must of necessity he set ujion a solid foundation. Those who ate scantily supplied h.y nature have had to fall back upon “borrowed plumage.” Prices have risen by leaps and bounds. But it seems that the enhanced price is in part due to a second cause. Not only* has the demand increased, but the supply has decreased. It appears that the peasant girls of Brittany have been the chief vendors in times past. They willingly parted with their tresses, as they wore caps. Now the fair maids of Brittany are gradually putting aside their national costume, and arc taking to wearing skirts and blouses after the Parisian fashion. Saddest fact of all, they are wearing hats, and, consequently, want their hair for their own use. Can it be that tho suggestion of Dr Butler will solve the difficulty ? If so, a girl in tho flapper stage will sacrifice her locks for tiie sake of her elder sister, who requires a substantial foundation for her picture-hat.

BALL-ROOM REFORM. “Deliberate horseplay at Ranees has now reached such a stage that it is keeping people who like dancing for dancing’s sake entirely away from tho ball-room,” declared Mr. 8. Bischop, president of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing, recently. It is under the aegis of the association that a conference is to be held. “We have, according.y, decided that a definite step must be taken to do away with this rowdyism,” he added. ‘The romping that goes on—and it is often worse than romping—occurs chiefly during the Lancers. The third figure—known as the ‘basket’ figure —is by far the worst. In fashionable ballrooms T have myself frequently seen tho women whirled right off their feet in this figure, aiicl swung round and round in a most disgraceful way “This has become, indeed, the customary thing. The men get excited and work up the romping until _ the third figure comes. Then there is a rush and a lot of violent horseplay. Many ladies I have spoken to are now refusing to let their daughters go to dances'at all owing to this rowdyism. The result will bo. unless a check is put upon is, that dancing, as an amusement for ordinary people, will be doomed. “We have now decided to strike a blow right at the root of the evil by proposing -at our conference the total abolition of this third figure of the lancers, and the substitution of one in which foolish horseplay will he impossible.”