A NOVEL SCHEME

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2333, 15 December 1914, Page 8

A NOVEL SCHEME

v ■ .WHAT THE WAR IS DOING. To pay destitute women to learn how to - cook -economical meals' is a novel method of affording relief, but a little thought shows the common sense of thenotion, and the credit of evolving this . new fashion of war relief belongs to Miss '.Clark, one of the honorary officials of the National Union of Women suffrage Societies. (states a writer in "The Queen"). Hitherto the National Onion, in addition to its-humdrum but useful w : ork of sorting out voluntary workers amongst the various releif -.societies, and its efforts to he guide, philosopher, and friend to air women who confide their trouble's: to its sympathetic ear, has been plodding along the wellbeaten path of practical relief work that leads to the workroom and tho production of large, quantities of garments,'well or ill-made, according'to the ekill of the destitute' women employed. Wanted, a New Idea. All relief • workers have sensed the. difficulty—what to do with the productions of the.unskilled workers. (The garments made by the skilled help to clothe the very poor who are being helped by settlements, care committees, maternity centres, and hospitals.) Most of them have been aware of the danger—competition with the clothing trade and a dislocation of the labour it employs. Not one but' has been woighed down by the ■knowledge that "a little plain sewing" is not sufficiently a trade .to provide a living for these unfortunate women in times of difficulty like the present. In some quarters successful efforts have been made to teach the women a new trade. An infant hand-made toy industry is the result.. In certain parts of the country the National Union has initiated a fruit and vegetable drying industry. But these outlets are not wide enough to solve 1 the problem. ■ Nourishing Dinners. ; 'In discussing' with Miss Clark her economical cookery scheme, it waß learned that the workers of the National Union are,conscious; that British women

of the poorer classes are not cooks by nature, as are the French, the Italians, and the Germans, and that as suffragists they .deeply deplore The brilliance of the cookery class idea lies in the proverbial killing of two birds with a; single.stone. By- teaching these women how to cook scientifically and economically, how to prepare really nourishing andrappetising meals for an expenditure, of progress is being made an important national reform?) By paying tho nnemploycd women wages for the work done'in the kitchen'classrooms the best of all relief—that- which provides paid work— ;is being granted. As a matter of fact, a.third birdis killed, because under the ' arrangements being made by the National .Union"for the instruction of these :women the,pupils will actually cook the ;free dinners now being provided by various relief-organisations, for the feeding of the'destitute. Who will Eat Them? . The classes will be limited to four pupils each,-so that the instruction given and the'work done may be practical. The women will have the opportunity of actually making the dishes themselves, which' is worth more than all the demonstrations and lecturing in the world. The scheme is also an economical one, for, beyond tho wages paid to the pupils and the salaries of the :staff of professional instructors, there -mil.be no expense, as the classrooms and the materials will bo provided by the relief organisations supplying the free meals, who are glad enough to obtain a staff of cooks to do their cooking for them in exchange for the use of their kitchens. As a practical scheme it has already received the approval of the Central Committee for AVomen's Employment, and it is hoped that it will develop its usefulness- to considerable : proportions if ."Hgranfc can bo obtained 1 from the Queen's Work fur AVomen : Fund. i Pioneers to Whom we shall be Crateful. i Social workers and others who have had opportunity of acquainting them- • selves with the average ability of tho i working man's wife as a cook will moro • than welcome the initiative of the Nal tional Union in starting a reform that