1938-05-03 — Page 2

Page

"What

Recently, in Melbourne, the Vic- torian Minister for Health (Sir John Harris) declared that, women were smoking and drinking too much. "What the young women are coming to I do not know," he add-

ed

The New South Wales Minister

THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 3, 1938..

Are They Coming To?"

Women Who Smoke

And Drink

for Health, a leading Sydney doc-jectionable manner, but in that tor, a padre, an actress, and several case the manner rather than the young women expressed the opin-practice is to be condemned.”

ion, broadly, that women had every right to smoke and drink. They agreed that few women smoked or drank to excess.

"From time immemorial," said the Minister for Health (Mr. Fitz- Simons), "it has been the custom of older people to criticise the manners, habits, and practices of the younger generation. In my opinion the, present generation of women is not one bit worse in its manner of living than the last. Women smoke, it is true, even in public places. But I have no ob- jection to women smoking any more than men. As for women drinking to | excess, I think this is a mere figure of speech, and greatly exaggerates -the true position. The modern young woman is not only healthy, athletic, and clean living, but both interesting and attractive."

Á PADRE'S VIEWS

"I see no reason why women should not smoke and drink in mo- deration," a war-time padre said. "If men object. to women smoking and drinking, they should abstain themselves. But any excess is to be condemned. Drinking in excess can be a most destructive habit, especially for women."

According to Miss Helen Lauder, of the Pickwick Club, who is in daily contact with large numbers of modern women, Sir John Harris is

mental outlook

expecting women to be old fashioned in a modern world.

"Nowadays," she said, "when women have taken over many of the jobs which once belonged to men, when. their has broadened, and they are forced to take part in, the rush and strain CONTINENTAL WOMEN of progress, surely they have earn- Lady Milbanke, had definite views. ed the privilege of stimulating "Do you think," she was asked, themselves as they please. But, in "that women smoke and drink to any case, the girl who smokes and excess?"

drinks excessively is rare. Doctors Most of the women one meets tell us that the modern woman is drink a little, but rarely to excess.healthier than her grandmother, so I see no reason why they should it seems that smoking and drinking not drink and smoke," she said. have done her no harm.

"Smoking in restaurants is so universal both here and abroad and is so harmless, really, that I think the protests of non-smokers will meet with little response. Some women smoke in public in an ob-

attractively

to the feminine mind. Smoking be-

"The modern girl is so terribly fore a meal also tends to interfere with the appetite, but a cigarette health conscious that she rarely with coffee at the end of the meal ever indulges in smoking or drink- is both stimulating and refreshing.ing," Miss Lyle said. "And, she's

"Woman, I think, has earned the far too sensible. right to do what she pleases, and has proved that she knows just as well as the older generations how to take care of herself."

"Smoking in public dining places is far too universal, I think, for the wishes of a few non-smokers to be

considered.”.

Miss Nancye Stewart, the A.B.C. A NON-SMOKER

dramatic radio star, smokes her- Miss Sheelah Lyle does not self, and believes that although the smoke, but she believes that smok-habit does very little good, there ing is a companionable habit. are no grounds for discouraging it. "Sir John has generalised un- "It can be vastly attractive, too. "I believe, though," she said, duly. But his sweeping statement The woman who smokes well uses "that some women smoke in an un- that smoking is objectionable is her hands, mouth, and eyes. She pleasant manner. I think, too, that not without some segment of truth.makes an extravagant and attrac-it is rude to smoke at the meal After all, nicotined fingers and tive gesture of a simple habit, and table in the company of people who stained teeth are rather distasteful I think men like women to smoke

(Continued on Page 3)

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