The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, 23rd. AUGUST, 1940. A WOMEN'S LAND ARMY —WHY NOT?

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 203, 23 August 1940, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, 23rd. AUGUST, 1940. A WOMEN'S LAND ARMY —WHY NOT?

CONSTERNATION at the growing shortage of agricultural workers in this and other dairying districts,' has led to considerable speculation as to the outcome of the approaching season. Appeals to the farmers to produce more, and still more to assist the Mother Country in her growing need for foodstuffs, are apt to pall in the face of the acute labour shortage and in spite of the greatest loyalty to the cause, the best efforts of the primary producer are likely to suffer. All this is very patent to residents in the Bay of Plenty where is situated the greatest maize growing area in the Dominion and where is also wide stretches of fertile drained swamp, ideal for dairying and pig raising. The only method to overcome the labour shortage, and it is one which is apparently overlooked or negatived by the Government,, is the creation of a Women's Land Army. This movement; was inaugurated in England in the last war, and has been reintroduced in the present one with signal success. In its ranks are probably the finest and fittest of the Old Country's young womanhood. They are pledged to the war effort by way of replacing men who have been called to the colours a,nd their work has earned the warmest praise and admiration of the authorities. If this has been done in England,, why,, in view of the acute shortage of male labour in New Zealand, and the fact that the position must get steadily worse with each departing reinforcement, cannot it be inaugurated here. The critics of yesterday raised awful indictment of "women in the sheds", but today under the emergency conditions which threaten our Empire the cry is merely a bogey which cannot be entertained if we are to give, our utmost in the great cause which we have espoused. There are thousands of young New Zeala,nd' girls who if the need arose would willingly undertake the lighter grades of farm work —and after all milking cannot be termed "hard". With standardised sheds, machines and an ample supply of hot water the process demands little more than bailing, washing, leg-roping, applying the cups and stripping. There are women today cheerfully fulfilling these tasks and actually managing the stock better than many men. By the creation of a Women's Land Army,, the members would feel that they were doing their bit for their oountry.and also enjoying a healthier life than, they could possibly experience in the home or in an office. Give: the women of New Zealand a chance to come forward, and with the Mayor of Hamilton we have no hesitation in expressing the view that the greatest part of the farm labour problem would be solved in two months and the production figures preserved and increased in. response to the Empire's call.