LEADS A WOMEN'S ARMY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

LEADS A WOMEN'S ARMY.

LADY LONDONDERRY HAS ENROLLED THOUSANDS OF WOMEN

FOR THE STATE.

Not long ago a big army motor van broke dawn in a London thoroughfare. The chauffeur was at a lossi for a particular tool, which he had forgotten to carrv with him on this trip. "Say, can you lead us a hand here?" he called out to the driver of a Royal Flying Corps car that was passing by. The car slackened speed, turned, and drew up alongside, and then to the surprise of the onlookers a girl, neatly clad in khaki, and wearing the badge of the R.F.C., sprang nimbly from the driver's seat, and went to the assistance of the army man. Things were soon put right, and the khaki girl jumped back into her car again and was soon whirled away. "She belong to the Transport Section of the Women's Legion," explained the chauffeur to the little mob of spectators who had collected. " They are trained women every one of them, and they thoroughly know their job." KEEN BUSINESS WOMAN. And that is the secret of the success of the Women's Legion, that vast army of women workers controlled and organised by Lady Londonderry. Each woman who has enrolled under the banner of the Legion is put to the job for which she is best fitted, after haying received the necessary training in her work. As the founder and organiser of the Women's Legion, Lady Londonderry lias rendered inestimable service to the State. She was one of the first to recognise the great part women were going to play in the winning of the war. She realised that their work to be effective must be skilled work, and that iwith care in selecting and training, and with good management, women's labour, even in new and exacting capacities, could be made equal to the remarkable calls upon it. Lady Londonderry is not only a capable organiser and keen business woman, She is also an expert in all agricultural matters, and this is hardly to be wondered at, seeing she is the daughter of the famous agriculturist. Lord Chaplin. During her girlhood passed on her father's country estate she was early imbued with the love of the land. COOKS FOR THE ARMY. And this is one of the principal reasons of the enormous success of the Agricultural Section of the Women's Legion, into the organisation of which Lady Londonderry has put her whole heart. For she knows that (women can take an active and useful part in the safeguarding of the nation's food supplies. So, under her direction, countless hundreds of trained' women workers have been found jobs on the land in every county in the kingdom, and in almost every sphere of agricultural work.

One of our best-known society hostesses, Lady Londonderry is devoted to country life, and her happiest times are those which she can spend with her children and her husband at their delightful place at Oakham in Rutland.

Some idea of the gigantic scope of her work may be gathered from the fact that the Legion has provided not only hundreds of women for the land "and women motorists for the army, but also drivers to take the place of fit men in commercial life, women cooks to train men cooks for the army, and cooks and waitresses for military convalescent hospitals all over the kingdom.

The canteens at Wooliwich where meals) are supplied to over 3,000 people daily, have also been established under the auspices of the Legion, and many oanteens in the north of England aro under the same organisation.