The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1915. WORK FOR WOMEN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 15, 21 December 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER TUESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1915. WORK FOR WOMEN.

Under the auspices of Lord Selborno and the National Political League, a great movement is going on in England for placing women on the land. This horrible German-wrought war has made it more than ever imperative that in many occupations which were almost solely undertaken by men before this great struggle for world-free-dom and the crushing of the Huns, women must now play an important part. In Britain the question of the food supply is becoming more than ever a difficult one, as more agricultural laborers are joining the army. I’lie intention is now to form a great “land army,” which will take up the work that really constitutes the second line of defence of our Empire. For this “army” three hundred women are already in training, and it is hoped that by the spring thousands will be serving in it. Tliq necessary training varies in length according to the, branch of agriculture which is being’ taken up. For milkers a six weeks’ apprenticeship is considered sufficient, and at the end of this the worker is able to earn 15s per week and is provided with a cottage to live in.' The heavier work of farming is also being taken over by women of sufficient physique, and those who have .begun are doing well. During the recent hop-picking season, sixty women of the professional class wore sent out, with a trained nurse at their head, to a camp in Worcester. They were untrained, but, they took to the

work splendidly, and the other ‘‘hoppers” accepted their new comrades on the best of terms. It is said that that never before had the picking going on so smoothly and happily, and when the novices, left, lour hundred “hoppers” accompanied them to the station -to see them off.' Hay-haling is another occupation at which women are proving adept. It consists in wir-

iti'l; :ind (nicking bundles of hay to he dispalched to (he front. No training is required. Girls sire sent out in batches of six or twelve to tli« district v. which their services sire required. Their fare i paid, und they receive wages graduated by the amount ol work they get through. A party of these hay-balers passed through London the other day on their way to a fresh district, and according to rfe-r ports, they looked hrown and well,and seemed to he thoroughly enjoying themselves The movement is receiving the practical support and encouragement -of the l highest in the land, and it is hoped that the English spring will find at least a hundred thousand British women ready to replace the men who have left farm work to stand for their women-folk in the fighting line.