From the Backblocks To the Borstal

NZ Truth, Issue 1192, 4 October 1928, Page 6

From the Backblocks To the Borstal

TO link up with Red Cross workers during the war— and .drop out, owing- to an attack of paratyphoid — -to take charge of the movement for settling English women and girls oti the land— these are only a few of the adventures of Miss Watkin, who is now m charge of the Women's "Borstal Institute at Point Halswell. Something that, makes Miss. Watkin "one of ourselves" is the fact that she was a schoolgirl at the dreamy little town of Russell, before the days of its fame as a tourist resort came to spoil its charm. . Left orphaned at an early age, she has had to make her own way, but. has held some interesting positions. , . After the war, the Quakers sent her to Holland to purchase cattle and accompany her unusual purchases to^ Vienna, where they were literally meat and drink to the starving Austrian children. Her land settlement work had brought her m touch with livestock. She states: "The land-girls were so good that the. farmers won't part with them. Strangely enough, they are particularly handy with cattle and the oldfashioned milkmaid, is popular again, but under modern conditions."' Her Holland commission executed, Miss Watkin made one of the overseas settlement delegation and visited this country, among others, m the quest for suitable land to be settled, by English girls and boys. On her return to England, she took charge of the outdoor department of the first woman's Borstal at Aylesbury. Here she taught gardening and dairy-farming to the girls— a thing never before undertaken by the Prisons Department of England. . But life has its ups and downs, and, on her second return to New Zealand, Miss Watkin spent two years teaching m a little backblocks school m the Bay of. Islands. Moreover, she thoroughly enjoyed' it. But on the appointment of Controller-General Dallard to his present position, she was "called to service" and has had charge of Point Halswell for two years. Miss Watkin has a pleasant sense of humor, a silvery Eton crop and a thorough appreciation of the brighter side of life, as well as its drawbacks. Perhaps that is why she has .done such excellent work m encouraging the young girls committed to her charge.