CORRESPONDING SECRETARY'S REPORT.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 287, 19 May 1919, Page 10

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY'S REPORT.

Following was the Corresponding Secretaiy’s report:- - The year which has just closed has been one of the most strenuous in the history of the Cnion. Departmental work has been well maintained, anil the majority of the branches report continuous activity. The campaign to secure signatures to the petitions asking that the Efficiency Board’s proposals should be given effect to by Parliament engaged the energies of the great majority of our members, and in many cases the local organisation in connection with the petition was undertaken by branehes of the Cnion The granting of the Referendum was a call for further strenuous service, and members once more heaitily responded to the call. While the opportunities offered for work have made so great a demand ui* n the Unions, their activities received a serious check during the influenza epidemit in November and December. The embargo placed upon all indoor meetings meant the closing /town of our work for the last two months of the year. During this period of sorrow and depression the members throughout the Dominion did their part in nursing the sick or caring for the children of families that had been stricken As a result of the epidemic most of the annual meetings hud to be postpone d until February or March of this year, and there has been considerable difficulty in securing annual reports. Some few Unions have sent no reports at all. In accordance with the decision of last Conference the organising work ha> been greatly extended dr.r*ng the year. V the close of the Conference the new scheme for organisation was put into operation, and Miss Sadie Waterman offered herself U r training. She joined the staff in May and was for some months under Mrs Cowic’s tuition, travelling with her through Central Otago, helping to arrange her meetings and getting a general insight into Temperance work. Finally she spent some time in Southland, where she yave material assistance to the Cnions in the di c c.i<t, and organised two strong breaches. In October vhe resigned he» position in order to get married. Miss Weymouth took up the work of collecting in May, and proved very successful. Her first field of operation was Southland and Otago, and tere, too, she succeeded :n organising two Bramh Cnions in the country, and a strong “Y” Bramh in Invert .rgill. Mrs Napier, who offered her services a- honorary “Y” Organic r. has travelled through the

Dominion visiting existing “V” Branches and organising new ones. Our President, in the course of her lecturing tours for the Alliance, has visited a great number of o »* urions, and in several places where 'here is no union she has prepared the wav for future organisation. The editor of the “White Ribbon" has also been able to visit some of the branches, and has organised two new ones. Mrs Tee Owie has done splendid service in securing members, and preparing the way for the organisation of branches. In September, Miss Alice Karnshaw was accepted as a trainee, and after -pending some time in Dunedin under Mrs Cowie’s instruction, she was transferred to Christchurch for a few weeks and in December was assigned work under the Committee in No. 3 area. Our Dominion Organiser, Miss Powell, was with us for the greater part of last year, hut as she jaund the travelling was getting be yord her strength, she accepted the position of Principal of the Turakina Maori Girls’ College, and severed her official connection with the New Zealand Union. While we heartily congratulate Miss Powell on her new appointment, we as heartily regret the loss of so enthusiastic and capable an organiser. Three new branches in Palmerston North district are evidence of her activity. Miss Powell’s wide experience a»'d thorough knowledge of all branches of the work will make her place hard to fill. In October, the exigencies of the campaign in connection with the Referendum made it necessary to have a radical change in our scheme oi organisation. Miss Weymouth found it increasingly difti< ult to carry on her \\«>ik in face of the fact that the New Zealand Alliance was also making a <all for funds In order to settle the difficulty, the Kxecutivc Officers of the I nion met the Dominion Organiser for •he Alliance, and agreed that the two organisations should work together until the |x»ll was taken. Miss Weymouth te act as collector for the Alliance, while the organisers would work undo 1 the area committees, the Alliance assuming the financial responsibilities of the Union. The activities of our organisers arc reflected in the substantia! increase in the number of Unions. The adult Unions now number 105, and the ■ N V* iq. A 1 ■* Kl <>H to tbit Waifc worth, Mikurangi and Fitzroy have closed down, and Tuakau reports “meetings suspended.” The new l nions are lirev Lynn and Papatoetoe in Auckland District, Matamata in Hamilton, Taihape, Taoroa and Bunny 1 liorpe in Palmerston Nor h, Motueka in Nelson, Kangiora (revived) in Kaiapoi, kaitangata, Milton and Balclutha in Dunedin, Riverton and Winton in Invercargill. The new “\ ” branches are Papatoetoe, Marten, Normanby, Hastings, Napier, Titnaru, and Invercargill. The total membership according to the Treasurer’s books is large, but this does not include the

full ftrength of several of the new Unions, while some of the old ones have not reported. In connection with the campaigns for the petition and the Referendum some special efforts have to be recorded. During the campaign for signatures to the petition shops were opened in many centres in order to advertise Prohibition facts and secure signatures. In some cases the venture was entirely organised by the local Union, in others Union members took chaigr for tbc Alliance. In the same campaign our New Zealand President organised and carried out a scheme of advertising in Dunedin telling facts in connection with the liquor traffic. The medium used was the picture shows and theatrical programmes. Later in connection with the Referendum it was decided to appeal to the relatives of overseas soldiers to write to the men and urge them to vote for Prohibition. The appeal took the form of a letter signed by our President; 10,000 of these were issued, and as it was necessary that every one of these should reach someone who had a sol dier relative overseas the work of distribution was somewhat duncult. The plan adopted was to send with every parcel of the letters a circular asking for co-opera*ioi . The organisations apjiealed to in this way were the branches of our own Union, those of the Presbyterian Women’s Missionary Union, and th** Methodist Women’s Missionary Union, other Women’s Missionary and Church Societies, l)eacones?ss and other inteiested individuals. Our connection with the World’s Union has l>een Actively maintained during the year. Several letters have been received from Mi->s Anna (iordon in her capacity as Corresponding Set retary of the World’s Union, and also in that of National President of the United States. When the news that the States had ratified the Prohibition \mendment to the Constitution was received here, a cable of congratulation was sent from the New Zealand Union to M ss Anna Cordon. Invitations to send delegates to the World’s Convention next year have born received from Miss Cordon and Miss Agnes Slack. The New Zealand Union was lepiesented at thr Congress of the Overseas Women's Suffiagr l nion held in London last June OUI delegate' being Miss Ruth Atkinson. Greetings were exchanged with thr Australasian Convention, held in Perth last September. Inquiries with regard to the employment of women polire and women justices of tlx* |Ya< e have been made from the* W.C I'.U. »n Brisbane and S\dmv, and the Women’s Non-Party Association of South Austialia Wn favourable re plies were received iiom Sylncy and Adelaide. The New Zealand Union has been associated with the women’s societies of all the Australian States in the in quiry which has been instituted into

the condition of indentured Indian women in Fiji. The matter was brought under the notice of the Union by an appeal from the Committee of Inquiry set up *n Australia. In response to the appeal the Executive decided that our organisation should supjrort the Committee, and a donation of j£io was sent to the fund for defraying the expenses of Miss Garnham, a missionary on furlough from India, who volunteered to visit Fiji, and make an investigation of the conditions of life among the Coolie women. A summary of Miss (tarnham’s report has been given in “White Ribbon, ’ so it is only necessary to add that owing to the epidemic of influenza, we have had no recent communication on this subject, but we are still “standing bv.” The general activity of the Unions is a sufficient guarantee that ail branches of our work are alive, and there is no need to refer t«» nr., special department, to offer hearty (ong-atulaiions to the Auikland Disl nion on its enterprise in opening headquarters. The practice of holding provincial Conventions has been established as a regular feature of the year. Auckland. Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson and Canterbury report successful gatherings. These Conventions are invaluable since they afford many members an opportunity of attending a Convention, and also of taking part in discussions on the work. As an educative force their value is nrobably greater than that of the Dominion Convention. In conclusion 1 want to urge upon <»ur members the necessity for realising that ihf*r< never was greater need of earnest consecrated service in the work that our Union has taken up; .•part from the great reform on which our hearts are set, the problems that face us arc many and serious. The education reform, the. housing problem, the care and protection of >oung people, tin* many difficulties that will arise in connection with the return of our soldiers to civil life, will make insistent calls upon our energies, and if we arc tiue to our motto we must respond to these cylls.