WOMEN'S LAND SERVICE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 249, 22 October 1942, Page 3

WOMEN'S LAND SERVICE.

DETAILS OF NEW SCHEME. ISSUE OF EQUIPMENT. Details of the organisation of the Women's Land Service, which will embrace the existing Women's Land Corps, have been received by the organisations charged with its control. The minimum age for membership is 18 years, and the consent of parents of girls under 21 must be obtained. With board and lodging provided. workers on dairy farms will be paid £2 ls a week for the first six months and thereafter £2 8s 6d. On general farms, the respective rates have been fixed at £1 16s and £2 3s 6d, all subject to the usual tax, in lieu of board, an additional £1 a week must

be paid by the employer. These rates came into force on September 10, and women engaged under the original plan will be entitled to the new rates from that date. Upon appointment, a member of the service will secure a free issue of three working overalJs, with boots, leggings, gumboots, socks and shirts. After one month, a service uniform. two dresses, stockings, shoes and gloves will also be supplied as dress equipment. Women normally engaged on farm work, although not members of the old Land Corps, may apply for membership of the Land Sercice and, if approved, wTill be eligible for a free issue of dress equipment only. Where only one service woman is employed, she shall be accommo dated within the homestead, and shall not be required to share a room. However, where two or more members are on the sarne farm, accommodation in suitable detached quarters may be arranged. A camp rnay be established by the National Service Department, under a senior girl or a matron, where the conditions make such a camp desirable,, TRAINING SUBSIDY AVAILABLE. A training subsidy of £1 a week in respect of employees deemed to be inexperienced will be paid by the department for a maximum period of three months and 12s 6d for a further three months. As a general rule, a farmer will not receive a subsidy for a near relative or for one who at any time has been normally resident other than as a paid employee within the homestead. Farmers and members of the service must give at least seven days' notice of termination of employment. Duties which members may be called upon to undertake are set out. and applications for membership by women or for labour allocation by farmers, if approved, will be placed m a Dominion pool, from which available recruits will be drawn. The oi ganisations to which applications may be forwarded are the district office s of the Women's War Service Auxiliary, the district manpower office, and the district primary pro duction councils, which will collaborate in securing a smooth-rumiing organisation which will enable the Land Service to make a valuable contribution to the war effort.