She Wanted To Be A Policewoman

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 124, 7 November 1941, Page 41

She Wanted To Be A Policewoman

HEN Mildred was born she weighed nine pounds, and all the nurses gathered round and said, "What a fine healthy baby!" Mildred, however, did not allow herself to be unduly complacent in the face of so much approval, but with due regard to the wishes of Sir Truby King doubled her weight in six months. She was in fact a model baby and yelled only when her mother inadvertently left a safety pin open in her underwear. At the age of five Mildred went to kindergarten. She could have gone at the age of four, but her mother found her so useful in the house that she was reluctant to part with her. From her first day at school Mildred showed a capacity for leadership which she never afterwards lost. It was she who instituted the practice at morning milk of passing all the glasses to the end of the table before stacking them on the tray, whereas before the individual child had been expected to walk to the end of the table with his! glass. To the superintendent’s deep regret, Mildred left kindergarten for primary school. at the age of six. At twelve she gained her competency certificate and

prepared to enter the local High School. When the headmistress asked her what she wanted to be Mildred replied: "I want to be a policewoman." The headmistress sighed and put Mildred into a non-Latin form. * * * T school Mildred had a distinguished career. In her sixth year she was Head Girl and captain of the hockey team, the cricket team, and the Ludo Club. She would have been made captain of the basketball team if the sports mistress hadn’t thought it would look like favouritism. The staff were enthusiastic about her. " Mildred is so keen," said the Games Mistress. "Such a power for good," sighed the Head Mistress. Admittedly her scholastic attainments were not brilliant, But one can’t have everything, and though Mildred might not know the difference between a participle and a gerund she always knew the difference between right and wrong, a difference to the discovery of which’ many wise men have devoted a lifetime. Mildred’s muscles inclined her, on leaving school, to enter the Training College, where she underwent a course as Physical Training Instructress. At 21 she was appointed to a district high school, and here she spent seven years in work of immeasurable value to the community.

UT it must not be thought that all this time Mildred was forgetting her Purpose in Life. Hidden in her bottom drawer Was an interleaved notebook in which were carefully pasted all the newspaper items which heralded the formation of a Women’s Police Force in New ‘Zealand. In her bookcase stood an impressive row of bound volumes of the Police Gazette, and all the works of Dorothy Sayers. Above her bed hung a life-size portrait of Commandant Mary Allen. In her wardrobe reposed a pair of neat black lace-up shoes, still unfortunately a size too big, waiting for the day when Mildred would assume them for the fateful interview with the Commissioner of Police. ... Then after years of patient waiting on the part of Mildred and many other women throughout the Dominion a small notice appeared in the daily papers asking for applications from women desirous of joining the Police Force. Mildred ‘filled in the requisite six printed forms and waited... . nas * "ts * MILDRED'S application was received with unrestrained delight at Headquarters. "The ideal type," was the general comment. A day and hour were fixed for an interview. ‘Mildred hid her beating heart beneath a coat of navy serge, and with trembling fingers tied the laces of her size seven and a-halfs. She presented herself at the office at one minute before the hour. Her name was announced. She entered. " The smile of welcome wiped itself from the Commissioner’s face.

"Please sit down," he murmured, sadly. He explained. Mildred’ was quite unsuitable. "If you had only looked like a drum majorette or a theatre usher or a herd tester or even an art union ticket seller, we might have been able to find a place for you. But as it is-" his eye travelled the five feet ten inches from the well-polished toes of Mildred’s sensible shoes to the crown of her classically severe navy felt-‘it’s quite out of the question. You see, we are proposing to attach our policewomen to the Detective branch of the Force, and we couldn't possibly enrol in the Detective Force anyone who looked as much like a policewoman as you do." * * * WO _sstalwart policemen assisted Mildred’s sob-shaken form from the room. But her customary firmness of character did not desert her in this crisis. Forsaking ‘conventional paths, she applied for and obtained a position as chucker-out at an exclusive night-club. Meanwhile, the Commissioner had decided that it was shameful that so splendid and typical a specimen of young New Zealand womanhood should not be made the fullest use of, and he arranged with the authorities that Mildred should go overseas with the next batch of W.W.S.A.’s. But by the time she received the official notification, Mildred was married to the night-club proprietor, and was too busy being happy ever after to do anything about it,

M.

B.