WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 163, 16 December 1914, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

I WAR NOTES FOR WOMEN. BELGIAN REFUGEE STUDENTS. London, October 28. The council of the East London College (University of London) has authorised the admission, at normal fees, of students whose courses at Belgian and French colleges have been interrupted in consequence of the war. SEAMEN'S PRACTICALITY. \ The Missions .to Seaman has embarkedon an interesting and practical adventure within the past few days, and has published free a little book called "Ladies' Work for Sailors," containing directions for making all woollen comforts which are now being asked for as gifts to the men who are guarding the coasts in the North Sea. QUEEN MARY'S GUILD. Last week alone nearly 50,000 garments were distributed by the Queen I Mary's Needlework Guild to those in • need. WOMEN TRAM CONDUCTORS. The introduction of women in France and Germany as tram conductors during war time is by no means a new experiment, as those who have been to Valparaiso and Santiago know. Chili, at the time of its war with Peru, used young women as conductors so as to free the men for military service. The girls thus employed, became so popular, through their courtesy to the pub--1 lie, that they were retained after the , war was over) and to-day they form a unique feature of every large Chilian city. As a uniform, they wear straw sailor hats, and over their dresses white aprons, in the pockets of which they carry money and tickets. Strapped to the waist, they carry a leather bag, or portfolio, for the other necessaries of their business. FOREIGN GRAVES IN ENGLAND. The St. Pancras cemetery, one of the largest in London, ufiere most of the foreigners who die in the metropolis, will naturally bf burteds ip making special arrangements to meet the demand, and providing temporary deposit only if, relatives wish this. A proiposal is afoot to turn an arch underneath the viaduct in' the cemetery into a catacomb. FLORA ANNIE STEEL. • The well-known novelist, who had a distinguished career in India, wherd she for years held a Government post, is now turning her knowledge of the country to good Recount, and is providing correct native patterns for the warm, clothes and comforts she is collecting for the Indian troops now on the continent. The garments can be made up under her supervision by out-of-work business women. CELLULOID FORBIDDEN.. The Commissioner of City Police has given notice under the provisions of the Defence' of the Realm Act, prohibiting persons in the city having in their possession or control celluloid, or xylonite, or kindred substances, in any larger quantities* than 121b5., though celluloid, which has been subject to any manufacturing process is exempt. OVER-CROWDED HOLLAND. Bread is getting more and more scarce in Holland. "To-day r saw telegrams from the Mayors of eight places in Zeeland, asking for thousands of loaves to be sent every day," a woman correspondent in Flushing had in one of yesterday morning's papers. "The Dutch Government has sent money, but there is no flour, even to make 'oorlogsbrod' (war bread.)" Nobody may be supplied with white bread unless he produces a doctor's certificate. SWEATED WORK EVEN NOW. Members of the Stepney Public Health Committee, a progressive body is one of the most crowded borough's in the East End, have called attention to the wages paid by some of the War ■ Office contractors to their outworkers for the making of soldiers' uniforms. For making a khaki jacket, 2s fld is paid and 3s 3d for an overcoat, though in view of the stringency of the inspection of the completed goods, only experienced persons can do the work satisfactorily! Needless to say, such a pittance is very far from being a living wage, and it is the more ironic when the high prices paid by the Government for uniforms are remembered. The committee recommended that the facts should be represented to the War Office and the Board of Trade. INDEX OF REFUGEES. So great is often—and naturally—the confusion amongst the poor Belgians who have fled from their country that parents get separated from their chi'dreu, brothers from sisters, and so on. At Somerset House, now an army of clerks is kept hard at work compiling a card index register of all the refugees in the country. Particulars (including name, age, sex, nationality, occupation, and address, both at home and in Great Britain), are to be sent to Somerset House! from the Aldwych headquarters and other places where registers are kept, and all possible help is given to the unfortunate ones in tracing their human belongings. WOMEN'S CHEMICAL COMPANY. A proposal lias been put forward by a Scotch doctor, to one of the suffrage bodies, that a Women's Chemical Company should be formed to help ease the stress of unemployment amongst women, and at the same time cope with the scarcity of potassium salts by manufacturing these in some coast town in Scotland from seaweed, which is easily obtainable in great quantities there. SUFFRAGETTES' WONDERFUL WORK. Besides the two "Cost-price" restaurants that are very successfully at work in the East End, (and a third is soon to, be opened), where 2d dinners are served in the middle of the day and nourishing sou]) at Id a pint 'in the evening, the East London Federation of Suffragists—Miss Sylva Pankhurst's branch—has many original activities. It is also finding employment for a small number ofj women, a number which can he indefinitely increased when more orders are received, for needlework, brush-making, dolls and, toys of all