The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1912. THE LADIES' PRIZE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 107, 21 September 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1912. THE LADIES' PRIZE.

We hope that the ladies of Xe\v Prymonth will not allow the appeal made through our columns yesterday by Mrs. Godley to go by default, or regard it as a purely "courtesy talk." We have i'.ad quite enough of the insane protest against Territorialism and the mock parading of the passive resisters as '"heroes," and it is quite time that some of the more competent hoys had some recognition paid to their -fidelity. Mrs. Godley is asking that the ladies of the Dominion should subscribe to a fund for haying a "Ladies' Prize" for every Senior "Cadet Company in New Zealand, to bo shot! for annually. There are now 362 Senior Cadet Companies in the country, and the number will probablj soon reach 400, so that if Mrs. Godley's suggestion is carried out it will require a hearty substantial support from the ladies. But if the amount required is considerable, the money will be well invested in the encouragement of lads who come from every city, town, township, hamlet and district in the land. All these boys have mothers, and sisters, and sweethearts, and cousins, and aunts, and there is probably hardly a woman in the Dominion who has not a personal interest of oho kind or another in these embryo defenders of our homes. Touching upon this subject, a contemporary points out that it has been urged in England against women's suffrage that if women had votes they would not realise the need for national defence and would not agree to the universal training of their boys. This may be so in England, but in New Zealand the reverse holds. Here every woman over twenty-one has a vote, and the women's vote, at past elections, has gone steadily for the 'teaching of their sons and brothers to defend their homes. It has been repeatedly asserted by all who were interested in the national defence movement that .without the sympathy, encouragement and assistance of the women the movement would never have attained success, .while the division list of GO to 5 in favor of training showed last week how confidently members of Parliament view the attitude of their constituents, of whom at least one-half are women. Women eaunot become soldiers, even for national defence, though there are some enthusiasts among them who insist that man and woman, boy and girl alike, should be able to handle a rifle against invasion. But we do not need these Amazons, for our Xew Zealand lads, .properly trained, are quite able to do the defending for them. Still the women can and should show the boys that their spirit of defence is appreciated and valued by those who are proud to have loyal and loving defenders. This can be done by an enthusiastic adoption of Mrs. Godley's suggestion. Shooting for the "Ladies' Prize" would set all the boys striving at their best. These little things, of course, require some organisa-

Mrs..' GcSdley cannot appeal individually to the women of the country. We.should like to see a strong committee of ladies in Few Plymouth "mothering" the idea. It is their own sons and itheir own brothers,' and their own nephews that.they are asked to encourage, and no woman really knows what it is to have lived until she has had to spanli, or >W kiss, -or to sweetheart, or to mother/these fractious but delightful young idarlings .of ...the gods. Chivalry and courtesy and respect are best bred among boys by a little quiet attention from Itheir womenkind, and the rivalry that [would ; fqilow, the institution of a "Ladijes' Prize"? could only produce a spirit, of supremely, healthy emulation.