WOMEN'S NATIONAL COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 296, 10 September 1919, Page 5

WOMEN'S NATIONAL COUNCIL

REMITS' I 'PASSED AT CONFERENCE. Tho conference of the National Council of t]io> Women of Kw Zealand was," continued in St. John's eclioolrooni yesterday. Miss Melville (Auckland) presided. ' Tlio following remits were passed:— Auckland: (1)' "The National Council of the Women of New Zealand urgently requests the Government to officially declare that in exercising its mandate over Samoa it will refuse to permit indentured labour to be cnployed." The council offered the suggistiou that tho solution of the labour problem in Samoa aud the maintenance of exports from tho blonds could bo obtained by offering sufficient inducement to tho Siimoans to perform the labour necessary to produce tor exportation. This appeared to liavo been done in tho American portion of tho Samoan group by eradicating the private trader, the Government purchasini; all copra at a rate sufficient to give the natives the necessary impetus to labour at its production. Fm>m the Christchurch branch;— (1) "That in the interests of women and children women police bo appointed, and that tho branch bn instructed to make this a.question at the election." (2) "That a special olScer should be appointed in connection with the Magistrate's Court, to collect dues in maintenance cases." (3) "That statutory provision should be made for tho compulsory remunerative employment of men who neglect to support their wives and families, the money earned by the men to bo devoted to the maintenance of their families." (4) "The National Couacil of Women resolves that it has no confidence in the present methods employed bythe Government in relation to 'industrial school inmates and the conduct of schools and homes for defective and feeble-minded children. The committed considers that the 6ystem .followed in regard to . the Dpccial schools branch of the Education Department calls for thoiough investigation and reform." ,■ . From the Christchurch Social Hygiene Society:— . , (1) 'Tor tho better protection of girls by: (a) liaising the age of consent from IB to 18; (bj extending the time limit in which information can bo laid for criminal assault; (c) the abolition of the powers of accused to plced belief in the girl's attainment of the age of consent as a palliation of an oll'eace against her purity while under that Ege." (2) "For the appointment of women justices of the peace to assist in dealing with ail cases wnere women and children aro concerned, and that juvenile courts should not bo held in thO (j ordinary Magistrate's Courts buUd'Jigs. "|b) For the estubiisiimsnt ut self-sup-porting iarm colonies, lor the prolonged, and it needful the pernmneut, detention or male and female sexual degenerates, with a view, if possible, to their menu and pnysical restoration." (4) An amended remit; lhat even mother of more than two illegitimau children by different fathers, whose children become a charge upon the State, shall be regarded as a moral degenerate and detained in a farm colony ior an uideterminate period." From tho Wellington bnmch.;"(1) That public opinion must be aroused to insist upon the legislation which already exisW for the improvement of the condition under which assistants in shops and factories work, being put into force. "(2) That it be the duly of tho National Council of Women '.o arouse public interest in the imprpveinsnt of our national school system." . From the AYoinen Teachers Aescciation: "That in all schools of Gratlo \ and upwards, aa experienced woman teacher should have a position and status ia tho upper department:, with special recpous.biiities l-twavds gir's." Another remit brought forward by oue of the branches and p:\s.-ed nt the conference was as lollows:—"The > council considers that more women inspectors should bo appointed for shops and laclories; that it is essi-nlial Oiat these women should have had practical experience of industrial conditions, and that tlicy should lie given tlie same positions us men inspectors." ~,...„ , The conference concluded with the election of officers, which wes as follows:— President, Miss Melville; vice-presidents, Mrs. Sheppard (Christchurch), Sirs. Walker (Gisborno), Dr. Do la Mare (Hamilton), Mis* England (Wellington); secretary, Miss Henderson (Christchurch); Mi* Jackson .(Auckland),