THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 249, 9 July 1918, Page 2

THE WOMEN'S LAND ARMY

WELFARE WORK

(Published by authority of Iho War Office, por favour of tho Uoyal Colonial Institute.)

Most, of the recruiting meetings which were held at' tho beginning of the prosent year for tho Women's Auxiliury Army' Corps, the Naval Service, or tho Lnnd Army, met with similar and very significant results. Thousands Hocked to join llio Auxiliary Army Corps, and a very satisfactory number were ready to enrol under tho Admiralty; but women of every class showed the greatest possible reluctance to signing on for any definite period of work on tho land. Even those girls in domestic service who, before the war, had been brought tip to work on farms, and who wero absolutely ' cut out for the Women's Land Army, enlisted by tho score in tho two services in which their previous experience was of no value to them, or to the country generally. And' this in spite of the fact that tho term of enlistment for the Laud Army is six months, and not, as in the case of the Auxiliary Army Corps, or tho Naval Service, for the 'duration, of tho war. A certain number.of women have, of course, worked on the'land from the earliest days, many of them directly replacing a gardener, or a groom, or perhaps a cowman, in their .own village. But this has been unofficial work; they have found their jobs ready to' hand, without having to undergo the ordeal of formal interviews and medical examinations; they signed no official documents, and, above all, were not called upon to migrate to isolated hamlets or farmhouses, in considerable uncertainty as to their reception. AH the pioneers among women land workers, excepting those employed in their own neighbourhoods, had Buc'h a difficult, and often intolerably discouraging task, that even where they finally succeeded in overcoming local prejudice and even winning definite- recognition, they were slow to recommend to other less determined women the hard road they had to travel. Nothing was done for months for the Women's Land Army. This mu6l bo freely admitted before giving an idea of what is now being done. The Land Army is divided into three, sections; (1) Agriculture; (2) timber cutting; (3) forage., A woman who signs on for a year may choose her own sections; if, however, she only signs on for six months, she will be sent into tho agricultural or timber-cutting section, but not the lonise, which comes under the War Office, and forms part of the Army Service Corps. The minimum wage is twenty-three shillings a week, and tho Government provides free uniform, free travelling expenses when taking up or changing a job, and short course of freo instruction when necessary. .The women tractordrivers receive" thirty shillings a week when trained, and a shilling bonus for every acre ploughed after their first month's service. They are required to >ign on for a year, and are to undertake any other farm work to which liiey may be set whenever tractor work m impracticable. As. far as accommodation is concerned, the women are billeted by the Board of Agriculture, or, in the Forago Department, by tho War Office, in precisely the jame manner as (he A.S.C. The stall insists of: (1) Travelling lounty organising secretary; (3) districts •epresentative; and (4) the local referee. Those women who nre not billeted, like -.he motor tractor driver's! are urged lo ipply to their local county organiser for lolp* in finding suitable lodgings, or in my other emergency which may arise. Having seen that the women are fed, liousod and clothed, tho business of tho jflicials responsible for their welfare ;omes to an oud, and the unofficial or;ani6ation steps in which, more than any jther, has made itself responsible for sreating as attractive a. social life for :hem as conditions permit. The young Women's Christian Association, which is carrying out a great work in Franco for .lie "Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, on nuch tho 6fiiii6 lines as tho Y.M.C.A. vork for the men, has now undertaken o provide tho rust rooms and recreation tuts for the Women's Land Army which night, no donbt, to have been provided larlier to stimulate recruiting for the and. ....

Ah excellent circulating library has boon formed, especially for land women, and the.books are distributed in each count}' by the organising secretary. In addition to this the Y.W.C.A,. has purchased and presented, as an experiment, at the strong recommendation of experts 'at Cambridge University, a complete reference library of books connected with land work of every description. With these books, which will bo available at eacli county town,, it is hoped to slurb a definite 'educational wolrk among tho girls who show a particular aptitude for agriculture, and who will bo encouraged to remain on the land after the war. Agriculture as a career for women has, in this country, been far too long neglected, and it is tho aim of the Y.W.C.A. to co-operate with the Board of Agriculture in urging the most intelligent and enterprising members of the Land Army to settle down to their work with a view to future as well as

present conditions. Clubs ill the market towns whero the women can read, rest, and enjoy a dance, or concert, and meet other land workers aro being erected and opened as rapidly as possible, • In any neighbourhood whero a considerable number of the women are employed, cither an existing building will bo made use of as a recreation hut or a hilt of the. temporary kind will bo put up. The Y.W.C.A. is undenominational. A club leader will endeavour to placo a girl in touch with her clergyman ar priest, whether Caßiolic. Protestant, or Methodist, when she arrives in a fresh neighbourhood. Otherwise her religion is her own couccru. Tho great problem is how to be of uso to thore girl» who are employed in ones and twos in very romoto hamlots. A so'ution is being arrived moans of women cyclists—local residents—who take it in turns to visit all flic girls in each district, and bring them into touch with tho rest. Yiolct Scott-James.'

Mrs. (.iwrgo ITiiine (Featlierston) is visiting Wellington. Mrs. G. \V. Kussell is visiting Aucklanil and Kotorua. Mis. Milno will return In Masterton to day from a visit,to Wellington. Miss Lilian DunstaN, of New York, arrived in Wellington .on Sunday from Ran Francisco, on a visit to her sister in ! Christchurch. Writing to tlio secretary of the Chrislcliurch Countess of Liverpool Fund on Jtav 28 from Jericho, a New Zealand soldier says: "I, t'elor Muir, do horeby declare that V received a parcel in Iwst condition. M.V one wish for the. future is to bo near 'that kind donor and ko be able to thank her personally for tlio •■rent benefit received , frum thin well-thonglir.-<>ut parcel Here on this sunbak"d land of Jericho it came as a liris'lit star on a dark night to guide an ohffioldier back oueo more to a scene of comfort, especially after a collapse from the effect of a .1011 h.p. mosquito bite." All parents nl 'e hereby cordially requested to encourage Stationers and Storekeepers to push the sala of "Thinker" Brand Writing Tablets and "Thinker" School Exercise Rooks for tho nation's good—Bannatyne and Hunter, Ltd wholesalo agents for the "Thinker." -Advt. _j