ORGANIZER RETIRES

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 185, 2 May 1940, Page 4

ORGANIZER RETIRES

Saw Growth Of Women's Institutes Movement

There are few country women in New Zealand who do not- know Mrs. E. Kelso, who retired from the position of Dominion organizer’of the New Zealand "Women’s Institutes at the end of April. Regret at Mrs. Kelso’s retirement was felt by all who have come into contact with her, for Mrs. Kelso has devoted herself to the movement with untiring energy and enthusiasm for many years. She was the first official organizer to be appointed, and in this capacity was responsible for the consolidation of the administrative side. She . visualized the movement as a national one, and, though not born In New Zealand herself, believed it should be a movement essentially for New Zealand women, based on the conditions obtaining in the country districts and the needs of New Zealand country women. Mrs. Kelso glows with enthusiasm when she talks of the thrill of building up the movement In its early days, with the ideal of enlarging the lives and outlook of women in country areas. “Enlarging horizons,” she calls it. To her, the movement was to be one which would reflect New Zealand women and which would assist them to play a full part in the life of their country as women, wives, mothers, and intelligent citizens. The institutes have alrea'dy achieved much that was visualized. They have grown rapidly under the enthusiastic "guidance of women of Mrs. Kelso’s calibre. Today there is a membership of more than 30,000, and still the movement grows and gains ground. In a recent interview Mrs. Kelso outlined some of the opportunities the institutes afforded women, and more particularly married women with children, to come together in a sociable manner and thus to find an outlet for their latent talents.

Democratic Ideals.

The outstanding feature of the New Zealand Women’s Institutes is the democratic ideals on which they are founded. There is no bar to membership, and the spirit of neighbourliness animating the whole movement is responsible for that fellowship which is essential and inherent in any large corporate body. The Empire-wide connexions of the institutes also have a wide appeal. The work of the institutes is not only social, said Mrs. Kelso. The scope of its activities is so wide that every individual member is offered the maximum opportunity to develop her talents.

Mrs. Kelso regards the institutes as primarily an adult education institution based on social intercourse. At the same time, the fabric of the movement is so flexible that It is now adapting itself to patriotic needs, as is being show'n by the ready response to the call for organized help in providing com forts for the soldiers. Arts and crafts and home crafts are rapidly developing into one of the most popular aspects of the work. The organization of the system is so widespread and interlocked that it could stand) any shock. Mrs. Kelso likened the organization to a great spider web, spread over New Zealand. If any one thread was snapped, the strain did not break any others in the intricate weaving of the whole, ami could quickly be mended. Mrs. Kelso icould very well be likened to the ■benevolent spider who guarded the web, for she is probably the only woman wfltli an intimate knowledge of each of the institutes making up the whole movement, and in her many visits all over the country she must man}’ times have added new “threads” to the web, and patched those which had become -broken.

• Asked if she was retiring from the movement entirely, Mrs. Kelso made a quick denial. It was not possible for her to conceive herself no longer connected with the movement into which she had put her heart and soul for so long. Its interests would always be hers, she said. Though the movement has achieved so much, it still has a great deal further to go, and Mrs. Kelso feels Confident that an even greater future lies ahead of the New Zealand Women’s Institutes than the founders dreamed of.