WOMEN’S LAND ARMY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21230, 28 September 1940, Page 6

WOMEN’S LAND ARMY

MISS V. COLLIER A MEMBER INTERESTING EXPERIENCES The following interesting article is written by Miss Val Collier, of Hamilton, who has been for some time in England, and who, on the outbreak of war, joined the Women’s Land Army. Judging by the nature of the tasks these women undertake, their war effort is an enormous contribution towards the efficient running of a country, whose man power has to a great extent to be replaced by women:— “When the Government national service booklets were issued several months before the outbreak of war the eyes of many were caught by the Women’s Land Army section. Thousands rushed to join up with this service and I was one of them. For sometime all I knew was that I was number 9411 and that I should have to go where I was told when the time came, if come it did. “After a further period of wartime appointed secretaries and committees called meetings of the volunteers of their area, discussions took place, and so much went on behind the scenes before, as actual members of this new service, we were sent to do our training. Numbers, in fact most, did not begin their training until after September 3. This preparation to fit us for work amongst the toilers on the land lasted one month, and took place under lecturers and instructors in agricultural colleges. Or in some cases with the kind co-operation of private farm owners who willingly submitted to the risk of having their cows’ tempers ruined, or their fields tractored until they had the appearance of a stormy sea. Nearly ali these probationary land workers, I think, found the training pleasant, but whether the instructors, farmers, and others mixed up in it (including the livestock) found it so I should not venture to say. I daresay some days we’ve made lighter for our tutors when they were intermitted by the usual astounding remarks of the greenhorn. One girl who was to learn to milk said she wanted to begin on a calf. Another asked a lecturer if “a cow could suddenly make up her mind to go dry.”, On her first evening a new arrival at one of the training colleges watched the dairymaid drive the cows into a milking shed and re-appeared a minute or two later wheeling two full churns of milk. “Oh, you have been quick,” cried the new girl. Works Begins in Earnest “Eventually the honest work of bending backs over root crops, ; pitching straw, and striking home fence posts alongside our sturdy farmhand companions, down on the farm, began. The jobs of separate,, members are many and varied. Sorne work in the forests, some milk and do general farm work, others tend the poultry, and yet again a large number sit with teeth chattering all day long on the top of a mechanical tractor which draws a plough. Some j of the last mentioned, erstwhile Lon- ; don typists, bringing in 300 acres on the south coast have earned fame for themselves. So good was their ploughing that it brought forth from the Director of Agriculture the praise that it was some of the best ploughing he had ever seen. “Almost all kinds seem to be represented in the register of previous occupations. Clerks, milliners, free lance artists, radio performers, typ- j ists, dietitians, musical students, girls I from the stage, golf club secretaries, 1 and some who have not before been in any set occupation, are only a few. A good supply of kit is issued to each girl, and the workaday part of it consists of khaki drill dungaree overalls with gumboots for the mud we have now become so familiar with. A thick, lined raincoat with double shoulder pieces is much ap • predated. Dress for when off duty, or for ceremonial occasions is made up of laced shoes, khaki stockings, brown corduroy riding breeches, with pullover of green embellished by an armband bearing a scarlet crown. The hat is of fawn felt. Monthly Paper Published In April the first publication of our monthly paper, The Land Girl, came out. Its 16 slim pages hold a well written editorial, articles by members, health hints, general farm knowledge questions with answers, country news from our scattered units, and pictures of interest. “Early rising is the order of the day and some of us now even like it, or pretend to. And when eight laborious hours are finished and we sink .into an easy chair holding a steaming cup of tea we nod approval to one another, and agree that never before did we know that two such single things as an armchair and a cup of tea could hold such charms. Our appetites have now setlted down somewhat, but for the first few weeks I think this was the most notable thing about us. Anyway, we are all agreed that it is a fine healthy life in spite of the fact that there are reckless cows who do not mind whom they kick, and that there are stubborn tractors that glare at you on a cold morning (making you feel colder than ever), refusing to whirr into life.”

COWING FUNCTIONS Hamilto/. East School Parents’ Association, social In schoolroom on Thursday, Octobei 3.