AN ALL-IN WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 168, 18 July 1942, Page 4

AN ALL-IN WAR

THE decision to call on all women in the Hamilton and Cambridge . districts from 22 to 25 to register for war work, and the statement of the Minister for Manpower that New Zealand's share in the war effort will require the recruiting of many thousands of women this year for various duties in the navy, army and air force will help to bring home to the women of New Zealand the urgency of the need for their Immediate and unremitting help in the victory effort. Many hundreds of women are already doing war work of vital importance, work calling r,® 1 °"'y ?' so fo , r Physical energy, for grit and determination to do the job faithfully and well. These qualities have been exhibited to a very high degree in the splendid band of volunteers who have enlisted for every phase of war work. But not enough of them have t T « th,S 18 th l ca w e is no fault of the wt >men themselves, the shortage la man-made, because little effort has been made by those responsible for the conduct of the war either to plan ahead so that the needs of war industries could be known far in advance or #«jT prG f ß u P° n wornen the urgency of offering their help. The indifference to which Mr. Broadfoot, Minister of National Service, refers would not have been apparent if any effort had been made during the last two years so to systematise war and productive industry as to develop among women a growing consciousness of the absolute necessity for their participation in an all-in war effort. In all other theatres of 4 W i?.?\ en . ha Y e responded with firm and noble courage and with adaptability to the tasks set before them, whether on the land, in the factories, or In the forces themselves. They have so proved their efficiency and steadiness of character that they have been given wider and wider responsibilities, have been called upon for increasingly important duties, and have relieved many thousands of men for the actual fighting services. The women of New Zealand will respond no Jess readily when they know that they are needed and when as is not the case to-day, they are told exactly what is required of them. Thev know the great work which the Women's Land Army is doing in England their unremitting toil in the war factories, their front-line courage in the antl-Blreraft latteries round Britain's bomb-swept coasts. They will be ♦», g to help here when the road is clearly signwhen they are assured that work vital to the defence of the Dominion, or to the attack when it is begun, is ready for them