SOCIAL WELFARE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 November 1938, Page 9

SOCIAL WELFARE

INCREASING DIFFICULTIES OF WORK OBSERVATIONS AT WOMEN’S DIVISION MEETING The increasing difficulty of finding money for 'social welfare work' of a voluntary nature, owing to increased costs and the prospect of compulsory contributions of so many different kinds was the subject of a discussion at the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union meeting yesterday afternoon. Members felt disheartened at the difficulty of carrying on a service, which increased taxation and costs of all kinds were making it hard to maintain. Present legislation, it was stated, did not favour women generally, and country women were actually being penalised by it. Life in the backcountry, difficult enough at any time to the mother of a growing family, was harder than ever. Thus the anomolous position had arisen that, when the need of the Division as housekeepers was more than ever necessary, the cost of maintaining the service was becoming prohibitive. Members generally agreed that greater strictness in apportioning the services of housekeepers would be necessary in future. Some women became members solely for the purpose of obtaining housekeepers, but after.wards failed to show their appreciation, either by attending meetings or offering assistance in . raising funds. Often they failed to continue their subscriptions. They were simply making use of the Division as a cheap registry office. The meeting decided that it should be a recommendation to the Executive Council that housekeepers should not be supplied in future unless applicants had been financial members for at least two years. A remit was also passed to the effect that applicants also should be required to pay the full amount of the housekeeper’s salary, and that subsidies should be granted only under exceptional circumstances.

It was stated that other voluntary societies, such as the Plunket Society were alrealy experiencing a decline in public support. Work such as that of the Plunket Society, which had placed New Zealand on the map with other countries in the world, could never be replaced by a State system. Yet even here it had always been noticeable that the mothers who profited by the advice and assistance it rendered gave little financial assistance in return, and the Society was kept alive by the voluntary efforts of a noble band of women, who neither asked for nor received any advantage for themselves. Work of the quality they gave could never be supplied by the State, it was stated. This was amply illustrated by the fact that the system was the envy of Russia. The want of assistance' by those who benefited most was an indication of the trend of the day, the increasing desire of the public to obtain something for nothing. The efforts of those who gave voluntary service should therefore doubly appreciated.