The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 6

6 THE GUARDIAN Monday February 28 1966 ABOUT BOATS mainly for women FIONA MocCARTHY talking flfeout women artists hard, solitary work. "Where" they ask, do we find space and time and silence? How do we get household worries off our minds Novelists do better. But novelists are different Professor Weight and Sir William Coldstream were unanimous on that, both arguing that novelists need much less room io breathe, "Look at Jane Austen" (quite separately) they said. Look at Jane Austen. Well, Jane Austen was single.

But look at other writers, watch them marrying. They marry unpredictably; they do not make for writers. This is surely their advantage over artists and designers who regularly live with other artists and designers. Artists are naturallv egotistical, and husbands are a force, direct or indirect, which keep quite a lot of women artists from their work Of course, there are exceptions, very notable exceptions like Jean and John Bratby, Lucienne and Robin Day. But many artist husbands (in reaction to first art school?) make not the slightest effort to help on their wives' careers.

How much do wives complain I talked to several dozen, and heard a few small grumbles: threefourfive six children, a far flung village cottage, a large Victorian house. do much more work if I could" several said But on the whole, they put up with these handicaps serenely, teaching a little, doing some painting, designing a range of textiles now and then, seeming enviably content with cosy bourgeoisie. Is this resignation, this yen for basic life, this homing pigeon instinct, really representative Statistics in the art world appear to bear it out Have these wives just made the best of financial necessity, or with children do artists' creative instincts stop Are vicarious careers satisfactory, and if so, are women worth an art training The wives I cross-examined had a short, firm answer how else would they cope with their husbands, after all around London, almost leaves women out only five were chosen to face Lord Snowdon's camera. Last week, the London galleries were still less feminine except for 82-year-old Miss Ailen's patchwork pictures, Sandra Blow was exhibiting in solitary state. Why Just why One has to ask twice.

Designers' and artists' reasons slightly dmer. Designers are up against industrial prejudice employers avoid women if they can get a man. Artists, though obviously much more self-sufficient, still have anti-feminism in their way: anti-female galleries, anti-female buyers. Overcoming outside prejudices But with effort, outside prejudices can be overcome, as the few really influential women prove. The basic deterrent Js, of course, much nearer home husband and children and dealing with the house.

This is why the Tanias, the Maureens and Elaines. last year's student members of the Society of Industrial Artists, left the society as soon as they left college, bringing the total artistic female strength, 32 per cent of student membership, right down to 12 per cent of membership in practice, settling for marriage instead of a career. Married artists have the problems other married women have: how to dovetail work and domestic routine, how to reconcile work with a husband and children. These are basic problems everv working wife sorts out. Married artists seem less able or less willing to surmount them.

A third of the women in Britain work; but far less than a third of trained artists and designers are, taking the public view of them, productive. Are artists' domestic problems worse than other women's Or are artists simply not so much inclined to fight Often organisation defeats artistic women. Painting and designing is ART SCHOOLS, at first sight, seem a bit like convents. Everywhere you look, there are girls, small girls with short skirts ana very long hair. Eventually you notice a few boys in the background.

But earliest art training is mainly feminine. In the later stages, when boys assert themselves and the frailest of the girls have drifted away, the sexes in art schools balance fairly well. National diploma classes are roughly fifty-fifty; the Slade and the Royal College of Art are training one-third girls. Right to the end of art school, girls show enormous promise. "If anything," says Carel weight, RCA Professor of Painting, "young girl students are more gifted than men." Then an odd thing happens women stop dead.

How many women designers are well-known Some fashion designers, of course Mary Quant, Sally Tuffin and Marion Foale, Jean Muir. Some textile designers, Lucienne Day, Shirley Craven; jewellers like Gerda Flockinger and Gillan Packard. Susie Cooper has left her mark on china, and at Denby, Gillian Pember-ton enlivens mass-made pottery. But women's contribution Is, on the whole, minute, as Council of Industrial Design committees know ten dozen Design Awards have now been given out, but only eleven women ever won them. Out of forty-eight Royal Designers for Industry, female Royal Designers account for only four.

At the opposite end of the world from Mary Quant, In the purer areas of unindustrial art, do reputable women add up to any more Even a bonus of ten from Barbara Hepworth cannot hide, the fact that there are really very few. Bridget Riley, Prunella Clough, Sandra Blow, Jean Bratby an authoritative portrait painter, Olwen Bowey. Lucie Rie, the potter; and two strong sculptresses, Elizabeth Frink and Astrid Zydower. "Private View," inside story of the Art Rush NEW LINES by Peta Fordham TODAY PARIS releases its fashion pictures for the coming season. And try as you will it is difficult to pinpoint a typical mood for spring.

Baby doll, midshipman, baseball player, Italian Renaissance, Russian peasant, Mexican vamp The signposts are confusing. Yet certain common denominators emerge. The ultra-short skirl, i slightly wider shoulder line, short narrow boxy jackets, squared necklines, yokes and yoke effects, ring collars, little cupped half sleeves, or skinny sleeves to the wrist, straight skirts for day, halter-ncck sacks for after dark, w.nstlessncss, small polished heads, low-heclcd glossy shoes-little girl gloves, tiny hats that cradle the head. Flat fabrics, bright colours. Above.

Lanvin's eggshell wool gabardine two-picce with, square box shoulders. volume in the ne.ir future So inquire before investing too much I you are looking for a present for yourself or anyone else, think of the new set of pans made by Judge, called the "Penthouse." Three nesting pans are sold as a set for 5 15s and a frying pan comes on its own for 2 2s. The range is made in steel covered with vitreous enamel, either blue or terra-cotta, with removable stainless steel grip handles and every virtue that enamel can bestow. This does not include foolproof behaviour: treat a set as beautiful as this with intelligence. Shape and depth, incidentally, make this set versatile enough for almost every cooking need and a small refinement winch appeals to me is the handle uhu.li alto lifts off the lids I have burnt my fingers on this job more times than I care to remember.

For future reference I am now trying out the Kim dishwasher, which looks, on first encounter, a welcome addition to the home which is "too small to need one" We shall see. course, it looks nicer when it is scarred appears to stand up with spirit to the Iron Maiden employed by ail airlines. The main point about It is that it does the job that leather used to do, without the weight. And it is made in an enormous number of shapes and sizes, soft and hard-top. I have also been using Revelation Starflitc, Samsonite Silhouette and some of the Antler range over the past two years.

As regards the first two if you carry clothes that roll, you will probably find these strong, rigid cases excellent I myself find that the sloping shape throws out my calculations. But there is no denying the value of this strong, comparatively long-life luggage Antler, always knowledgeable, have just brought out a Travelgnu in strong plastic, with a Double Decker model which will hold papers, laundered shirts or anything else flat I iike this very much roomy and light to carrv, with a new easy handle, and only about 6 to buy. Note, please if you are the luggage market, take heed that the airlines are very likely to vary weight for A queue of interested neighbours is reported by the tester who now keeps a royal blue coal-bunker outside her door, standing on legs. (This causes the coalman to blaspheme while filling, but its elderly user to rejoice as she bends no more.) The bunker is made of strong metal the desired amount of coal, which must be small enough to flow, drops down into a bucket, so the bunker is ideal for Rayburn-type fuel. There is great admiration locally and talk of further sales, though the bunker is expensive, about 23.

It is made with Northern solidity, by Robert Moms, King Street, Farnworth, Lanes. Ask for a leaflet and have a look at it, because it is clearly a boon in the right place. Now luggage. Being a believer in quality, where suitcases are concerned, I have been using, for a number of hard journeys, the Victor lightweight leather and found it ideal for air, rail, and sea. It is not at all cheap on the contrary but it has the strength of leather, takes its immediate punishment with elegance (in fact, of READERS with good memories have been reminding me that appraisals of certain products are due.

Here they are please bear In mind that these are not scientific tests, but impressions gained over a period of household use. First the Stokvis small deep-freeze, costing under 40. A very similar one, with some different parts and a few body variations, is made by Philips and costs a few pounds more.) This has been subjected to really trying conditions, being kept in an outside wooden hut where the temperature sinks below freezing at times something that frequently upsets thermostats in commercial cabinets. But the Stokvis has behaved with complete equanimity. I have had trouble with condensation though.

This is probably caused by a slight failure in the insulation, which is the pumped-in type it could be troublesome in a kitchen. But it appears to be an uncommon fault, and I am about to try another sample. So far, my verdict on the Stokvis deep-freeze is a very useful addition to amenities. In Finnish waters by Arthur Beiser FAMTSNAS is a Finnish hamlet near -hovisa, a day's sail east of Helsinki. My friend Johan, who is a Finn by birth but has lived in America for thirty years, has a summer house at Fantsniis to which he retreats whenever he can One winter's night in New York he told me about Fantsniis and the archipelago nround it, a warren of islands he has sailed in since he v.

as a boy. Go there," he said. But Fantsnas is perhaps 4.500 miles from New York, and within a week his command had vanished Into that recess of my mind where daydreams dwell. Each year at Christmas we make our plans for tbe coming summer's cruising. In 1963 we had sailed our ketch Minots Light to Scotland, on to the Baltic via the Caledonian and Gota canals, and in September we had made our way south and west to Denmark where we were spending the winter.

Now, at the year's end, the living-room of our rented house near Elsmore was carpeted with charts and dividers marched across Europe. Somehow, as we debated this destination and that, Johan's words returned. The matter was settled the charts were folded up, a Finnish-English dictionary was ordered, and I wrote to" Johan for sailing directions since there seemed to be no marked channel to Fantsnas. Another Solent? In the course of acquiring information on sailing in Finnish waters, I soon discovered Peter Pye's book "A Sail in a Forest," which recounts a oyage he made to the Gulf of Finland in Moon-raker. Pye had had a fine ttme and said so, which led to gloomy thoughts because of the book and the articles was based on, Finland now probably crawled with visiting yachtsmen every summer.

Another Solent or Long Island Sound not quite to our taste. We decided to go anyway, though with mixed feelings. Seasons come and go abruptly in Denmark, and the cold nalf-light of winter seemed only a matter of days in giving way to the warm sun of spring. Minots Light needed only a coat of anti-foulmg before going back into the Kattegat, and with few weeks of fitting out and provisioning she was ready lo go. We left Denmark on June 5, and after a night in Tralleborg and another Simnsham, we were on Sweden's east coast, one of the finest cruising grounds anywhere.

From Simrisham along the coast to Stockholm we sailed among hundreds of islands, large and small, rocky and green, deserted and decked with painted houses. Day followed day of sunshine, and the clear Baltic twinkled as we ran soundlessly before nuld southwesterly breezes. There were narrow. Intricate channels of sometimes marginal depth that twisted among the islands. A moment's inattention and there might be' the crunch of iron striking rock, not a pleasant sound in tideless waters (or in any waters).

Wooded islands From Stockholm we continued through more wooded islands to Tjockii, where we anchored in a small cove for the night. It is only about 35 miles from Tjocko to Manehamn, capital of the Aland Islands that lie between Sweden and Fmiand. The wind was force 4-5 from the southwest when we left, the sky a crisp blue, with fluffs of cumulus, and we tore along north-eastward at nine knots under all plain sail. Once clear of the outlying skerries we found a moderate sea, which quickened the blood after the fiat waters of the archipelago. By 1400 we were in Aland, and, with the wind now force 6 and narrow channels ahead, we shortened down to forcstaysail and mi7zen.

In another hour we were secured to mooring off the Manehamn yacht club just north of the Poramern, the last of Gustav Erickson's fleet of square riggers, and now a museum. Three easy sailing days took us from Manehamn to Helsinki, where Johan's cousin Gdsta joined us as pilot. I have become wary of "local knowledge." which I have found almost always synonymous with local ignorance, but Giista was the exception Soon we were in Fantsniis. which was more matjical than even Johan had intimated. Dunns our stay at Fantsnas we spent an evening at the home of one of Johan's friends in Lovia "Sailing in Finland is so wonderful that I cvpocted to find a great many forenrn yachts," I said to our hot.

"but I have seen unh other one since we left Mariehamn." "Oh foreign vachts come to F'nland." ho said a slichtlv (((Tended fnn Whv. there wts an English yacht here only a few years ago. Let's sec. the owner's nsme is In fiiir guet book here it to, fellow niimod Peter Pye." ABOUT MOTORING Swedish sense about insurance Cromarty Wfe0, Ky PS 2tJ UT. O0a.

s.iiK A DETML from a new series of road maps published an A. K. Johnston and G. W. Bacon, of Edinburgh Maps of Scotianci and Ireland, on a scale of fl miles ro the inch, erc published last week, in paper jit 5i or clotb at 7i 6d.

The England and Wales map, on scale of 111 miles to the inch, is promised for the summer. SAFETY REFINEMENTS by our 9 editor BY J. R. L. ANDERSON JN order to achieve acceptable results in 1 automobile insurance, it is not wise to concentrate solely on raising premiums." This observation by a Swedish insurance expert, Mr Klas Back, at a meeting of the Swedish Insurance Association last year, would be endorsed by every motorist in Britain.

It would also be endorsed by British insurance men, who do not enjoy the resentment caused by rack-renting premiums, although, short of extreme selectivity in the individuals whom underwriters are willing to insure, they find it hard to see what new methods can be found to avoid fairly regular increases in rates for the mass of motorists. Costs go up premiums go up. It is worth having a look at some of the things that Swedish insurance is doing to try to break this vicious circle. Mr Back's company Folksam. one of the biggest in Sweden has put a great deal of effort over the last three years into trying to reduce repair costs.

Between 1956 and 1962 the general cost of living in Sweden rose by some 22 per cent, but the cost of car repairs rose by about 75 per cent. Folksam felt this to be intolerable, and decided to open its own repair shop. It explained carefully that it dtdn't want to put private garages out of business, but that it did want first-hand experience of repair costs, and if it could find ways of reducing them this could be for the benefit of everybody. The repair shop, at Vaxjo, was opened at the beginning of 1964. Only the most severely damaged cars are sent there.

By "cannibalising" spares from written-off vehicles and repairing rather than replacing large components like wings, the company has found that it can do its own repairs for some 20 per cent less than thev would normally cost outside. The methods used at Vaxjo are obviously not applicable to all repair work, but the achievement there at least shows what can be done. Keeping written-off cars There has been another important achievement. It has been the practice of Swedish insurance as of insurance companies elsewhere to sell written-off vehicles to dealers for what they wiil fetch. The companies have a sense of responsibility about this, and really badly damaged cars are deregistercd, and are not supposed to be put back on the road again unless thev can pass exhaustive tests.

Between principle and practice, however, there is sometimes a gap, and in Sweden again, as elsewhere there are occasions when cars which ought not to be repaired for further use do find their way back on to the roads. Folksam now takes all written-off cars that it has insured into its own shop. These are normallv cannibalised and the remains sold for scrap if a car can be repaired, everything is done directly under the company's own supervision This is a valuable social gain, as well as an economic one in reducing the risk of a badly damaged car' having another accident In cooperation with four other leading Swedish insurance groups Skandia, Fylgia. Stadernas-Hansa, and Ansvar Folksam has helped to form an insurance committee for the general study of motor-car repairs. This committee has undertaken various negotiations with the motor trade, and the results so far achieved are held to have been of real value.

Another line of attack has been to send Swedish technical men to the United States and Canada to study insurance practice and automobile workshop practice there. The Swedes went out with the preconceived idea that the American economy is so iavish that they would find few people who ever repaired anything, and that damaged parts would normally be replaced by new. Instead, they found that the Americans go to great lengths to" iiw second-hand parts for repairs, and that a large industry has grown up for the prime purpose of supplying garages with used spares. Even General Motors, which runs its own insurance company, uses second-hand spares instead of new components for insurance work whenever it can. Moreover, the Americans also pay much attention to replacing bits of a component rather than the whole.

'Drive in' assessment The Swedes have also been impressed by the drive in system for insurance claims which they found lii the United States. Instead of massive a motorist whose car is capable of being driven after an accident can (if he lives in the right place) drive it to an office of his insurance company His car will be inspected on the spot, the damage assessed, and if liability is straightforward he will be given a cheque for the repairs authorised by his insurers. (The cheque can be cashed onlv by an authorised motor repairer.) All that the man who has had an accident then has to do is to take car and cheque to a garage and get the work put in hand. Obviously this system can't applv to all damaged cars, but it can meet the needs of a good many American insurance companies find it vastly cheaper than employing armies of clerks to examine claim forms. Bringing cars to be inspected is also much cheaper than" sending out inspectors to examine cars The Swedes hope tc have some drive in offices on the same style Sweden's smaller population makes experiment in motor insurance easier than Britain, but all these experiments merit close study here The drive in system of dealing with claims could certainly be used in Britain because it could not be used in everv small town does not mean that it would not work in a good many places.

It is quick, convenient, and cheap. It has the further advantage of removing all possibility of adding bits and pieces of improvement to a car because it is "an insurance job." The cautious would no doubt argue that insurance companies cannot make up their minds about insurance claims on the spot because of all the questions of habiliH that must be gone into Obviously, there complex cases that require study But a great many straightforward accidents do not witness the knock for knock agreement Wherever knock for knock applies a claim should surely be capable of being settled on the spot. Southern States of America. Another useful development is a simple electric winclon-windmg device which can use the existing window mechanism in a production car. To he (itted to an existing car this would probably cost about Hi per window, but fitted during production the cost should be much less It may mean that a year or two all British cars will have electric window uimiers I am delighted to add that there is progress on one of a ear's with which the motoribt today vastly worse off than his father in the 1920s clocks.

Eight-day clock work car clocks the twenties kept far better time than most of the electric clocks available today This is explained variations the current from a car's batter Smith's have developed a trail siMonsid car clock worked by own battery which is said to keep time as well as the clocks of 40 sears ago. Smiths Industries also disclosed a whole range of new instruments and accessories which will be available to the motorist within the next two or three years. Perhaps the most important is a purifying system for motor-car exhausts This converts the poisonous carbon monoxide exhaust gases into the less harmful carbon dioxide, and also reduces the cmantity of unhurncd hydrocarbons discharged into the atmosphere State legislation in many States in America requires treatment of exhaust gases and it is probable that similar legislation may soon be enacted in Britain An MGB car has been fitted at the Smiths factory at Witney with a refnseralor built into its heating ami ventiUtins systems Tins can reduce the temperature inside the car from 100 degrees Fahrenheit to 70 in a minute or so It should heip the export of British cars lo tropical countries and to the A SPEEDOMETER that gives an audible warning whenever a car's speed is approaching a speed limit has been developed by The motor accessories division of Smiths Industries, and will be on the market soon. The alarm a bleep "can be set to operate at any of five different speeds. It increases in intensity as the pre-set speed is exceeded Mr V.

Cave, managing director of Smiths Industries, told me that their view motoring conditions BnUin made such an instrument necessary. Smiths Industries is also experimenting with anous systems of speed control whereby a motorist can pre-belect any speed which he does not wish to exceed, and his car will nut then cruise above that speed This would automatically protect a driver from ewetfding, say. the 70-mile-per-hour limit on motorways. LETTERS: bench seats and breath tests MAY 1, a passenger, offer an opinion concerning bench seats Our Gazelle has a front bench seat, and when travelling I find that I am unable to relax for of sliding about the seat Admittedlv, a fold-away dividing aim is provided, but when in posilion this impairs my husband's ability to change gear (Mrs) Anthea Whltorth 32 Templer Road, Paignton, Devon I AIL to understand the logic of the motoring organisations' contention that random breath tests during certain hours someone in every region of the country will be in process of breaking the Jaw about driving under the influence of drink If the random breath test can prevent even a fraction of such people from remaining on the roads, and perhaps committing the further ennie of injuring or killing other road users then, in accept in; the tes's, the ordinary, law abiding cmz-n is merely doing his civic duty in preventing brearhc-of the law (Mrs) F. Golluiher, 12 Pasture Close, r.rcenacres.

Skiptoo, Yorkshire. are a "serious encroachment" on the personal liberty of motorists When a crime has been committal the police frequently hue to motorists to question Uiom, and even to eviimne the boots of their cars When motorists return to Britain from ab'Odi', thev are questioned, and their cars examined, by Customs officials In each case, almost all those so stopped have committed no crime, but no one suggests that encroachments are being made on their liberty. The normal ntiren regards it as a necessary compliance with the enforcement of law md order It is an unfortunate truth that.