DOMINION PRESIDENT

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21227, 25 September 1940, Page 4

DOMINION PRESIDENT

LETTER TO MEMBERS Dear Fellow-Members,— I am hoping you will all be as keen as I am that we should make a W.D. contribution to the £IOO,OOO fund for aeroplanes for Great Britain. At the Dominion Executive meeting, your delegates showed their enthusiasm for some specific effort on our part, and voted unanimously that we give a fighting ’plane as our contribution towards the war. However. it was not as simple as it sounded. so I was overjoyed when this public fund was started and we could do just what we wanted, in a slightly different way! I am not at all perturbed, and hope you won’t be either, at the somewhat varying announcement which might be confusing. Common sence tells us, if we collect £SOOO. no-one will refuse it, or stop us having a ’plane named by us in the New Zealand Squadron, and if we do not raise as much as the £SOOO required, we can still make a good contribution towards our fighting squadron. The team-work and selfless spirit of our organisation has always been my anchor to it, and this seems such a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate and foster it. Every member will have equal pleasure and pride in the gift. It is not the size of our contribution that counts, but the goodwill and blessings that go with it. Waves of thought and sound never die, and we shall send a wave of success and victory out to our fighting men with our gift. This is how I am feeling about it myself. I think you will feel the same, and if we let our thoughts range on these lines, we will find these are just the background lor all the rest we mean and find it hard to express. Make Use of Rest Home Last week I went down to a meeting at the Rest Home and stayed the night and following day there. It is so comfortable, with just the right home atmosphere that we countrywomen love, that it seemed a pity that there were only two resident guests. They were delighted with it, and said if our members only knew the advantages of it, it would i be lull to overflowing. It seems odd I to me that any member does not i know all about it by now. Some- j how or other they must just miss the meeting where it is discussed. One member told me the doctor advised that she must stay in bed for a 1 month, and that he could recommend j just the place, and, to her surprise, | it was our own Home she was sent i to! I am constantly being told mem- | bers don’t know what a Rest Home j means. Well, it means you can stay j in bed, all day for days, or go to bed j when you feel like it, and have the | next meal in bed without bothering * to get up for fear of giving trouble, ! or you can just make a holiday of j it, taking the bus to town to shop, i or go to the pictures, or play golf on the nearby course. Doctors can attend you there, but it is not a nursing home, just a convalescent or rest home. And, above all, it is your home, so do make use of it. The Women’s War Service Auxiliary is still in the first stages of organisation, and there is nothing much to report yet. Committees are being set up in the main centres, and will afterwards spread to the provincial districts. Its work will be conducted through all women’s national organisations, and any woman not belonging to one is urged to join up with the one whose objects most appeal to her. The first aim and object is to mobilise the womanpower of New Zealand so that each one of us is employed at the job she is best fitted for and which most needs her. Must Help With War Effort It seems to me there is little choice for us, we have our job, and we must buckle to it as never before during the war. It may be that other woman-power will be called on to help us if it becomes too 'strenuous and the necessity arises. Meanwhile, it is good to know that our daily job, in most cases, is as necessary as the fighting forces, if less spectacular. » The writer Swift gives it for his opinion that: “Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind and do more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together.” Today we are backing the whole race oi politicians to show us the road to victory, but they can’t succeed without the help of each individual of the Empire, given without stint or reserve. Now, the pet lambs are calling! Fortunately, only two so far. It has been a wonderful season, Providence’s reply to the cry for increased production? I must just say thank you for having elected me again as your Dominion President, and given me the opportunity in this time of crisis tn be of service to you. I know I can’t please everyone, but I will do my best. Yours sincerely, EILEEN K. N. ADAMS.