Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1916 WOMEN SUBSTITUTES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3559, 20 September 1916, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1916 WOMEN SUBSTITUTES.

This is an age of substitutes. Especially is y this the case in Germany ', where substitutes for many varieties of food, and of the constituonts of food, have reached such a stage that there is scarcely an item in the ordinary bill-of-fare that is not synthetised. There is not any likelihood of British people, or the people of our Allies, coming to such a pass as this, but wo have our I* substitution " cam-, paign also. It is the substitution of women for men workers in nearly every, avenue of industry ' and commerce. • According to a cable message received yesterday, there has been a slight slump in the- enrolment of women workers in the munition factories in England, and it is probably because the present is the most critical period of the whole war that the fact is deemed sufficiently important to cable. This process of substitution is going on to a much greater extent than its generally supposed is the case, and therefore a cessation in the supply of substitutes is almost as serious as a shortage of recruits for the army. In many-cases the fads of substitution are not obvious—the women have been taken on to do entirely"" new " work, and so, in a sense,' they have not replaced men, though if they had not been available, men would have had to do the work. Women in Government and municipal employ, however, are more easily reckoned up, and the records show that in June last nearly ,6000 women were working on the tramways controlled by local authorities, and for clerical work these bodies had taken on over 4000 women. Another 10,000 were accounted for in the sanitary service, gas and water supply, Poor Law work, etc. The railway companies are employing an enormous number of women in work that was previously done wholly by men, and in the country districts of England and Scotland it is estimated that about 150,000 women have taken the place of men in agricultural work. The London " Times" stated in an. article in its issue of June 28 that "in "thie previous February something \ over 300,000 wbnifcnwere engaged.in indiistry definitely as substitutes for men." And of these, it is worth noting, less than one-third were accounted for ? by the munition industries. The attractions of the munitions factories are complicating the problem of female employment at Home. Their effect upon,.. the.old domestic servant problem is already marked; but that is not a serious matter. However, more vital industries) are in some danger of being | affected; "In the* interests of the natioiiy" say the k'Home Office and the Board of Trade in a series: of pamphlets which are now appearing oti v the '■■' ■substitution of women for enlisted men,." it is of vital importance that ;eyery; manufacturer wlid is producing articles required for the prosecution of the war, for the support.of the. population, ore f m :? the export trade, should make every effort to maintain his business,; at the highest possible pitch." The '' Times," commenting, upon this appeal, states that " industries of undoubted national importance already speak of a shortage, of female labour, sometimes ascribing that shortage to the competing attractions of the service of the Minister of Munitions. Yet it is certain that we are nowhere, iienr. the absolute limit of female labour in industry. There are still many hundreds of thousands of women who have had industrial experience, not to mention those who axe anxious to acquire it, who may b^ called' upon in the nation's hour of need."