The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER MONDAY, MAY 3, 1915. HELPING THEMSELVES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 2, 3 May 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER MONDAY, MAY 3, 1915. HELPING THEMSELVES.

In the course of an interview the other day, Mr E. W. Helph; manager of the New Zealand Fanners’ Cooperative Association stated that while the war was chiefly responsible for the shortage of tonnage for export of our frozen meat and other produce, lie felt that everybody had been relying too much 'on the Government. Time after time they had been told to rest assured that the steamers would be returned in ample time to take up their regular running. Then again, from the moment the shipping companies found it necessary to advance their freights to meet extraordinary expenses, in consequence of the war, people cried out from one end of the country to the other, denouncing the companies as exploiters and so forth. To what extent, if any, that kind ol thing influenced the London boards ol the shipping companies he could not say, but he was certain that it did New Zealand no good. However, apart f ro m that, he could not help feeling that had it not been for the frequent assurances from Wellington that ampin tonnage would he available, those interested in the business would have seen to it, and made better arrangements for themselves. He did not wish to disparage the work which the Government had tried to undertake. but he thought that the people would have been better served if they had relied more upon themselves •ind less upon the Government, which, by the way, very seldom succeeded in commercial enterprises. The lesson for the farmer is that he should co-operate for his own good and the Taranaki farmer now has one specially good chance to do this by taking :T ' live interest in the co-operative freezing works scheme which is just he in a launched in these parts.

WOMEN AND WORK. The heavy drain on the manhood of the countries engaged in the world war now raging, has made it imperative that women should undertake certain duties and occupations in which hitherto they have had little part. Discussing women and public work, the Wellington Dost remarks that time was—a few hundred years ago when “man imagined that Providence designed an interior brain for woman. Medieval man believed that w hen hive was fashioned out of U rib of Adam, no portion of his brain was used for the benefit ol his part-, ner. Milton, in his ‘Paradise Lost, grants beauty and charm to Eve, hut makes her intelligence subordinate to her vanity and eredulty. Slowly, a!-| most imperceptibly, man has revised his lordly opinions of woman’s mind. This change in his attitude has been hastened by woman’s proof of ability, in all manner of mental exercises, in competition with men, and the old notion of the design to Providence, has to he adapted to modern revelation in this matter.” The Post, how- ( ever, is satislled that woman’s best work should he always in the home,' for there she lias in her hands the material for Parliaments, Courts of Justice, City Councils, and the broad avenues of trade and industry. The character of a community must de-, pend largely on the mothers. The ( worth of men in public life is directly proportionate, as a rule, to the early training in the private home. Tet, our contemporary concludes, “this important work for women behind the scenes of the world’s stage does

not provide their solo scope for usefulness. Many have the leisure for public life, ami numbers have clone exceedingly valuable work for the general public. I'sually when a competent woman decides to give time and energy to the public she likes to do enough, work to make her appreciated.”