WAR'S EARLY DAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1920, Page 6

WAR'S EARLY DAYS.

WOMEN'S GREAT EFFORTS AT HOME.

VIVIDLY DEPICTED BY MRS, CORLISS.

Mrs. Corliss, President of the New Zealand Women's National Reserve, spoke very interestingly at the Mayoress' evening at Kawaroa Park on Friday of the work done by the women at Home in connection with the war, particularly during its early stages. Mrs. Corliss is a gifted and eloquent speaker, and conveyed to her hearers more in the limited period of her address than s.ll the accounts that have been written of this not unimportant phase of the war activities at Home. She first of all gave a vivid picture of the first few days of August, 11)11, in London. For the ten years (before wealth had greatly accumulated, the country living in the lap of luxury. At least one section were. There were other large sections, however, who were living in misery and squalor. Their condition was accepted as inevitable, and the wealthy classes considered they had done their duty by them when they had contributed to the charity and hospital funds. They made no real effort to eradicate the causes of their fellows' destitution and hopelessness. Many of the children in the poorer parts did not know what it was to have a decent meal- She had seen herself children fighting with dogs to secure a crust or a bone from the rubbish bins. On the other side was the ostentatious display of wealth—women parading their Pomeranian dogs, and even engaging nurses to look after them. The line of demarcation between the rich and poor was very pronounced. 'People blamed the war for the present industrial troubles and unrest. That, however, was not altogether the case, for di; satisfaction with the jocial conditions was being made manifest and general unrest was evident before the war. The social upheaval would have come in any case.

« "IMPOSSIBLE" WAR THEN 'CAME.

Few believed war, in this age, wits even a possibility. Poor Lord Roberts, when lie spoke at the Guildhall only a few months before and solemnly and earnestly pleaded witli the nation to prepare for the coming war was not taken 'seriously; indeed, he was openly derided. For a brief time the issue hung in the balance. . Then the cry "war" was heard over London; the sounds, long dra.wn out, "war, war," seemed to bo parried on the very winds. People went home that night, riot to sleep, for that was impossible, but to ponder on the situation and try to realise what it portended. War, impossible war, had come.

Next day London was a different city. Gone were the long lines of vehicles, gone were the huge unending crowd*. A pall had come over the community. It was stunned. But it recovered the next day. People poured into the city and marched to the recruiting places and congregated near Buckingham Palace. The public now realised what the war meant and the nature of the issues at stake. The nation had awakened from its slumber and saw the realities of the situation. ONE OF THE FIRST PROBLEMS. , One of the first problems was the care of the thousands of girls who had been discharged from factories which no longer required their services. They only received about 10s a week, and out of this had to live and dress themselves. They had rooms at tenement houses, for which they were required to pay in advance, and as soon as work stopped so did their funds, and out of their rooms they were soon put. Miss Beatrice Harraden, the author of "The Ships that Pass in the Night," was amongst the first to interest herself in the plight of these stranded girls. She made an appeal'through the Press of England for help. The colonial women in England were the first to realise the iiecd for this work, and at once volunteered their services. On the day following the declaration of war they had this, and similar organisations, started. The suffraggettes, who were organised anduaed to controlling others, were of great assistance at this period, throwing themselves whole-heartedly and with conspicuous success into the war work. The organisation secured a central building that had been used as a training college, and a start was made to train what appeared to be very unpromising material- These girls, between 10 and 25 years of age, had Been reared in the slums, and knew no other life. Tlicir knowledge of cooking, for instance, extended only to the boiling of a kettle They perhaps had tea and a piece of bread for breakfast, bought a penny halfpenny worth of cooked, or partly cooked, food from one of the shops for dinner, and at tea time had some shrimps and a piece of bread.

A SEEMINGLY HOPELESS TASK. Mrs. Corliss undertook a cookery class. It seemed, she said, a hopeless task at first. The girls knew only the language of the slums, freelj interlarding their words with forcible expletives. They could not realise that the better class women could have sympathy With them. They had been taught to believe that the upper classes looked down upon jthem and treated them with contempt. All of the women at the establishment were regarded by the girls as duchesses, and duchesses they remained, in their eyes, right through. They at times were very amusing and interesting. But they responded splendidly, and becam* one of the most valuable assets. Men were joining the colors in such large numbers that it was with difficulty that the ordinary business and services could be carried on. Here was the girls' opportunity. They took the men's place's in the delivery carts, on the 'buses, cleaning windows; in fact, in a hundred and one ways they proved of immense service. They were fell trained first by the women's organisations, which attracted all the best women of the nation to their services. These girls would no more go back to their" old life than would the men from the slums who had served in the trenches. They wanted to participate in the best things of life—not the worst. And that was » hopeful feature.

THE GROWING DISCONTENT. '

Before the war there was a growing discontent with the inequalities and the ostentatious display of wealth by the "smart set." The observant men amongst the workers' were determined to alter conditions that permitted waste and extravagance on the one hand, and misery -and destitution on the other. I'hey r«j«ot«d th« idsa that the poor

had always to be with the nation, believing that they should .be given the opportunity with the others of participating in the fulness of life. It was thought that the war, bringing as' it did all classes together, would end the past social wrongs -and gross inequalities. This was put to the war's'credit. There was a determination on the part of both the men and women who had fought and worked to save Great Britain that the old conditions must never again be permitted, and in the consummation of this desire lay the hope of the nation.

Mrs. Corliss briefly touched upon other aspects of women's work at Home, showing how reluctant at first the authorities were to utilise their services. She recalled how, in June, 1915, when the terrible cffectß on the army in the field of the shortage of munitions became known the women's organisations simply demanded the right to help in tii making of munitions to save the lives of their men, and how, being given a month's trial, during which their task was not facilitated by the foremen in the work, shops, they triumphed, and eventually saved the day. For it was not men the British Army was so short so much as munitions, and without the immense supplies made possiblo by the big army of women workers adequate supplies of munitions necessitated by the new form of fighting, would have been impossible.

It Was a striking, interesting address, Mrs- Corliss securing the close attention of all from the time she started until she finished, when she was heartily apolauded,