ELECTION TIME

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 150, 21 March 1939, Page 4

ELECTION TIME

Busy Month For Women's Institutes This month is the busiest time of the year for the women’s institutes. In every district each institute is holding a plebiscite among members, on the same principal as a general election. The electors and the candidates are the countrywomen of New Zealand and the purpose of the election is to appoint officers for the ensuing year. To an outsider, the elections may seem of little enough importance, but to those living in the rural districts and small towns it presents another step in the development and opportunity which the women’s institutes otter all members. Development was difficult, aud opportunity did not always come the way of women in the rural districts before the advent of the institutes, with their all-embracing social schemes for improving life for the countrywoman. The door to the outer world was closed because these women lacked the opportunities which would open it to them.

The. elections, with their democratic principles, offer every member of the institutes an equal opportunity to serve on an executive, and thus gain, first of all, confidence in herself as a leader and then a knowledge of administration. Under the election system the most inexperienced women have the chance to stand, and every woman may exercise her right as a member in choosing by secret ballot her officers. The institute records show that many of the women who found their feet in the women’s institutes are taking Increasingly important places in public life.

In one Wellington, district, six nominees have already been chosen for institute president, and there may .be many more. The eagerness with which the vacancy is being contested is felt to be a compliment to the retiring president, the position being regarded uot so much an honour as a willingness for service. Centenary Plans. Plans for the countrywomen's section at the Centennial Exhibition are well in hand. The. institutes have been divided into six divisions, giving each division a month to display their accomplishments. Most of the exhibits will be of handcrafts, demonstrating the ability to make useful and practical articles from natural products. Weaving from hand-spun wool will be among these.

A feature of the countrywomen’s section at the exhibition will be the overseas exhibits, showing articles sent from sister institutes in England, Scotland, Canada and Australia. It is hoped to make a feature of Maori handcrafts from the Maori institutes.