THE EXAMPLE OF FRANCE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1548, 9 May 1916, Page 4

THE EXAMPLE OF FRANCE.

“The people of the United Kingdom are hut slowly realising whet is needed,” said Mr Walter Long, at the inaugural meeting of the Women’s National Land Service Corps in London. “They have always been accustomed to look upon food supplies as a matter of course. They have not been trained for great emergencies. Our farmers even now are slow to move in respect of the labour which they will need to replace the men who are going to the army. They should be grateful that women arc ready to assist them. If the farmer is a. real patriot it is his business to see that lie has not in his employ a single man who can be spared for more important work. "Women are wanted at once to help in directing and controlling labour, whether on farms or in market gardens. If the men go into the army before women are ready to take their places there will be a diminution of produce. I have been connected with farming for more than forty years, and 1 know very few duties in that industry which a woman cannot do . People who hesitate to adopt this change do not yet realise the terrific nature of the struggle in which we are engaged, and in which heroes are dying every day. Last autumn I saw in Prance magnificent crops being gathered solely by women, children, and very old men. The work was as well done as if the best farm labourers had been at it, and there is no reason why our people should not follow- that example. We, who arc saved from the terrors which have visited other lands, should be all the more ready to prove to our gallant allies that we will spare no effort to help them. To do that we must keen up our strength and activities in every respect. The allies will never sheathe the sword until German oppression, cruelty, and tyranny have been put down for ever. But that end can only be achieved if all classes do their utmost to provide the sinews of war.”