COMRADESHIP AMONG COUNTRY WOMEN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 384, 1 November 1946, Page 18

COMRADESHIP AMONG COUNTRY WOMEN

Silver Jubilee of Institute Movement in New Zealand

(Written for "The: Listener" by

BARBARA

HARPER

N the life of. mankind one of | the strongest urges is for com- | panionship. Few town people fully realise the loneliness which surrounds the lives of some coun‘try people, particularly women who have not the same advantages as men of coming in contact with their own ‘kind. Desperate loneliness can often warp the minds, narrow the outlook, and ‘take the. zest from the lives of those compelled by circumstances to live in isolated places. For these reasons rural movements have been advocated and successfully established in this land, and "country bumpkinism" has been defeated to a great extent. Happiness and progress in country communities are largely due to country schools, Adult Education, the Country Library Services and men’s and women’s farming, social, and philanthropic organisations. No movement has done more for the spiritual harmony of the country women of the world than Women’s Institutes. It is coincidental — yet rather significant, too-that the first Women’s Institute was formed in 1897, the year of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Though this organisation really belongs to the 20th Century (and this century might well be termed "a century of organisations’’) the Institutes "pride themselves on preserving all that is best in the ideals of Victorian days." And though it is, distinctly, a movement for women, men have on various occasions assisted in its progress. Indeed, one man played a large part in its foundation.

Erland Lee was a prominent member of a Farmers’ Institute of the Hamilton Saltfleet district of Ontario, Canada. After attending an "Experimental Union" of his organisation at Guelph, the capital of Ontario, he realised there was far more in country life than just farming. A woman called Mrs. Hoodless, who spoke at the conference on "domestic science and sewing,’ was, to a great extent, responsible for: his conclusions. What a grand idea it would be, he thought, for Mrs. Hoodless to come to Stoney Creek, his own native village of 800 people, and address not only the men but the women too-the women, whose lives, on the whole, were stunted, dull, and complacent. And Mrs. Hoodless did this the following year. She had ideas, too, and could foresee the advantages of an Institute for women. Her suggestion was put before the meeting and received with enthusiasm. On February 19, 1897, Mrs. Hoodless held her second meeting, which was attended by exactly 100 women and one man, the progressive Mr. Lee. Six days afterwards the first regular meeting of the first Women’s Institute was held, and unknown to the inhabitants of Stoney Creek, a world-wide country women’s movement was launched. Like Mushrooms Looking back over the 50 years’ growth of the movement, the rules which have been drafted and redrafted are not of such vital consequence as the comradeship, humanitarianism, learning in arts and crafts, and interests in national

and world affairs which have entered the lives of thousands of women. As the result of a visit by the Belgian Director of Agriculture to Canada (where Institutes were popping up like mushrooms), the "Cercles des Fermiéres" were formed in Belgium in 1906, and thence spread to France. It was not until nine years later that the first Institute appeared in Britain; and in 1924 Miss Mavis D. Hay, an M.A., of Oxford, formed 900 Country Women’s Circles in Poland. By degrees, similar rural movements developed in Holland, Germany, Austria, and Russia. It was probably the traditional conservatism of the British which hindered the establishment of Women’s Institutes in the United Kingdom. Some scoffed at ‘the idea and others thought it inopportune in wartime (1915). But others were ardently enthusiastic and were not deterred. Several of the leading lights (again, including men). of Llanfairpwill, Wales, held a meeting, and the first Institute in Great Britain came into being -the first of many. The stress of war brought women and their organisations face to face with many special problems; It is well known, from bitter experience, that periods of national turmoil cannot properly be met without careful local and national organisation. In addition to those societies already in existence, many Women’s Institutes were formed to meet the problems of food production

and food economy, of caring for and entertaining the wounded and convalescent, of helping in hospitals, providing of bandages and medical supplies, sending parcels to men on the battlefronts, and giving sympathetic help to widows and fatherless families. Contrary to expectations, the time was peculiarly opportune for such a movement. In their wisdom, Institute leaders met the great need for mental relaxation and stimulation by forming dramatic, musical, and literary circles within their groups and by arranging demonstrations and talks on all kinds of subjects frora cookirig and dressmaking to psychological and _ international preblems. Handicrafts have always occupied an important position in Institute life: the activities include horticulture, basketmaking, hand-painting of | pottery, brush-work, glove-making, fur craft, skin-curing, rug-making, embroidery upholstery, leather work, woodcarving, spinning, and weaving. To New ZealandIt was due, indirectly, to an exhibition of handicrafts of those kinds at Caxton Hall, Westminster, that the movement spread to New Zealand. Miss A. E. Jerome Spencer, O.B.E., who was in London doing war work, read the placard outside the hall and walked in. Since the outbreak of war there had always been at the back of her mind the need that would exist in post-war years for something to replace Red Cross meetings. in country districts, in order to continue "the spirit of fellowship and co-operation which fad grown ou of the grim needs of war." One thing led to another, and soon Miss Spencer had procured sufficient information about Women’s Institutes to decide that here lay the solution. When she returned to New Zealand she discussed the matter with Mrs. Francis Hutchinson and in February, 1921, a small group cf women met at Mrs. Hutchinson’s home at Omatua, Hawke’s Bay, and the Rissington Women’s Institute was formed. Neighbouring towns soon heard of this and requested Miss Spencer’s help to form further Institutes, During the next 12 years her time was spent untiringly travelling to country districts organising this tremendous movement, which now embraces 900 Institutes and 30,000 members. This year the movement celebrated its Silver Jubilee, and there are hundreds of women throughout this country whose hearts turn to the foundress in gratitude for interests awakened and enlightenment received. In nearly every country district women from _ every sphere of life meet each month to exchange ideas, to open their hearts, and to learn something fresh-whether it be a new recipe (for which they’re notorious, but what matter!), a new stitch in embroidery, or to hear the experiences of a traveller, or the ideologies of a_philosopher. Telephones, tadios, and motorcars have improved the lives of country people, but there is no substitute for the human element of companionship. In 1939 Miss Spencer wrote, "In this rapidly-changing world the ‘visibility is poor.’ One thing alone seems reasonably sure that so long as the organisation preserves its ideals and its original free democratic principles it will maintain its remarkable vitality; and furthermore, it will continue to render the Dominion valuable service as a training ground in the understanding and practice of those same principles so essential to the preservation of freedom and peace in the world to-day."