KNIGHT-ERRANT WANTED

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 27, 26 October 1918, Page 4

KNIGHT-ERRANT WANTED

A correspondent, "Rnchel," .writes as follows on one of the burning questions of the day:—"l. always read with great interest and sympathy the reports-of the various activities of the Society for the Protection of Women and ; Children, and read with special interest the report of the meeting in Wednesday's Dominion. But I think there is a class of women in New Zealand whose cause should have a much more ardent and able advocate than has yet appeared. I.allude to tho respectable middle-class mother. Sho is not an object for.charitable or Teligious aid, yet she is the most neglected and ostracised cog in tho social wheel. The wife who has not earned any maternity bounty can get plenty of help. She is n-elcomed in (he various boarding-houses, can easily obtain chango of air under favourable circumstances at the seaside, tho best seat in tho railway carriage. Is it worth while forfeiting these advantages for a maternity bounty, however generous? The mother, of desirable children, the offspring not of those requiring reformative or charitable treatment, is truly a hunted creature. It would be an interesting study. to rend her various interviews with .prospective helps, not to mention tho interesting I study it is to sec the facial expressions nhe encounters when tho awful fact is disclosed that there are children in the house. We associate the sea beach with the pleasaut sound of children's laughter as they paddle or build castles in the sand. Alas! In the case of the worn parents seeking health and rest for themselves as well as their offspring these castles in the sand are the only shelter 'in sight' and hardly adequate. The sign, 'No Dogs Allowed' is frequently seen. The sign, 'No Children Wanted' is quite as readable to the initiated. Would the proposed maternity bounty afford encoura"ement and help to this—the desirable class of mother? Could .£5, or .£SO, or .£IOO find her a conscientious help in time of need if there were, say, five children in the houso? May I suggest that some of those engaged in the more romantic forms of war work turn their attention to helping those willing to mend some of the important ravages ot the war?"