WOMEN'S WORK AT HOME

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 65, 10 December 1919, Page 4

WOMEN'S WORK AT HOME

IN WAIt AND PEACE. Miss Snelson, national general secretary of the Y.W.C.A. for Australasia, anil -Miss Craig Eoberton, an -English visitor to Nciv Zealand, wero guests of the Pioneer Club yesterday- afternoon, and a very interesting hour or so was 'passed' by all who attended tho icception. Lady Stout, president of the club, welcomed the two guests, and after tea had been handed around a brief talk upon matters with w'hicli they were intimately associated was given by both ladies. Miss Snelson was the first speaker and she described tho wonderful work which British women had done during tho war, and tho part which tho Y.W.C.A. had played in connection with thoso activities. She was very anxious that the British girl should get her due. SDeaking of tho Young Women's Christian Association Miss Snelson said, it was curious that tho history of the association should have been so intimately connected with war as it had been. During tho time of the Crimean War tho asso-

ciation was first heard of when it gave a home in London for the benefit: of

nurses who had been on service, and now during this tho greatest ef all wars it had come into its own as an organisation that spared nothing in its efforts to meet tho need of tho girl and women workers who also were lighting for tho nation. It hatl had a very varied field of service, and one of its first efforts was to chaperon. hack to Germany and Austria thoso women who had > been stranded in Great Britain. When girl* first began to go into the munition factories few employers then troubled themselves to think vory much about tho welfare of their employees. The one object upon which everyone concentrated was tho need for shells and yet more shells. Tho girls literally worked ton and twelve hours a day on end, and came back to their, quarters to turn into beds vacated almost at that moment by the girls who were to replace them. Later the Y.W.C.A. mid other associations were asked by tho employers to tako upon their shoulders the work of feeding, and to somo extent tho housing of these munition workers, and it vas very interesting to hear employers talk of putting up recreation halls, gymnasiums, tennis courts, etc., for tho'girls. Possibly they had come to realise that better work' was to bo obtained from employees who wero cared for physically, mentally, and morally. Miss {-'nelson, however, preferred to think that they realised women's value to tho nation, and so wanted to give tho best possible conditions.

Tha i'W.C.A. had established canteens at various munition ccntres, clubs, recreation and rest-rooms, and in the. military camps in England as. well as iu France it had established 'huts fyr the girl workers, wliero their interests and welfare were looked after. Its care for tho war worker had been carried into Russia,' Bulgaria, Mesopotamia, and other countries, and as an organisation it existed in every country in tho world fiavQ Thibet.

Miss Snelson expressed tho opinion that tho world would never fully know what it owed to British women ,iiid girb, and also the women of France, lb was 110 exaggeration to say that but for tho work of the women the war could never have been won. Every word cf that statement was true, and several instances illustrating tho magnificent spirit and courage of the girl workers in the munition factories were given. She' had heard a well-known' thinker say "Tho power of women in the future will be startling: What are they going to do with it?" That was the vital question of the hour, and. it was one that the association was trying lo answer by working to give every girl (ho best possible chance for self-development, and by supplying specialists who would help tho girls in this direction.

lliss ■ Roberton, who is a menvber of the British National Council of Women, and who also represented in part tho WW.C.A., said that work similar to lliat in England described- by Miss Snelson was done in Scotland, and she wns glad to think she was connected with so great an organisation. When leaving England' she had been asked to deliver a message from the president of the International Council of Women (Lady Aberdeen), which message she had been giving wherever sho camo into contact with tho various branches of the Women's National Councils in the countries she had been visiting. There wns such important work to be done in the world that it was essential that women everywhere should stnnd together. The Qninqucnnial National Conference of Women was to be •held In Norway next year, and Lady Aberdeen was very anxious that New Zealand should bo represented by a delegate at this conference. At a conference which had boen held in .Tune last a suggestion had been brought forward that a British Dominions Council should bo formed within the Women's National Council, with the. objoct of 60 arranging matters that not only' -purely British business, but matters affecting overseas interests should be dealt with as well. The International Council,' continued Miss Roberlon, wouid do much to bind the different nation's of tho world together, and it had its representatives on Ihe Advisory Executive or tho League of Nations. Locally much might bo done to further the interests of women and children through tho agency of the Wo-, men's National Council, and in furthering the election of women to public bodies. Sho had'been horrified to learn that there were no women in Wellington upon tho City Council. At Home all the leading women's organisations were affiliated to the Women's National Council, and from it deputations woro sent to the Government or the local bodies, insisting upon the due representation of women upon those bodies. It was due to the Women's Council that women were represented upon the Advisory nnd Constructive Commission of the new Ministry of Health, upon the Royal Housing Commission, upon the Royal Commission on venereal disease, and various other bodies. It had been necessary to have some such organisation as the Women's National Council, that would bo outsido all party or controversial subjects. Owing to her re-election upon the Glasgow Parish Council nnd District Board of Control, Miss Roberton said that her stay In New Zealand 'had to bo curtailed, but before she went she hoped .to sec all that was possible of child welfare work in this country. In conclusion, Miss Itoberton said that it was very essential to liavo women 011 local bodies, as the actual administration of laws was moro important than the of them. Sho hoped the Women's Council here would bear that in mind.

Appreciation of the speeches that had been given was expressed by Lady Stout and Mrs. Sprott, the latter saying that during the six years she had spent in England she had seen much of tho war work of women and girls, and she felt intensely proud of her sex in consequence. It wivs' impossible to express adequate admiration of wliat they had done. The Mayoress (Mrs. J. P. Luke) was mnong those who were present at tho club.