WOMEN'S WAR WORK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 8208, 4 August 1915, Page 3

WOMEN'S WAR WORK.

_ —♦■ A NEW LEVER FOR RECRUITING, a_-»rjiiri.n. An analysis of the applications for war work shows that oiit of a total of between 23,000 and 25,000 sent in about 3600 women wish to be employed on armament work. One oi: the applicants; who is-most-eager to make shells^ is a Scarborough." laundress whqse place was' destroyed by. the German' cruisers in the East Coast raid (says the London '"Vimes"): : ' -";- fry''-'-' ■ v VrV Next to'shell-making the occupation niost in favour appears to be agricultural work, for which 2400 have volunteered, or about 10 per cent, of the whole. What proportion will prove suitable remains to be seen, but a considerable number claim to have had experience in dairying, gardening, and the lighter kinds of country labour. The Board of Education and the Board of Agriculture are co-operating with the Central Labour Exchange with a view to the organisation of training. There is reasbn to believe that the War Office is likely to make a new recruiting appeal to certain employers based on the idea of a. large number of women being available, and invit-. ing them to consider the. duty of releasing more of their male employees arid allowing women to take their places temporarily.- It is not admitted that this is a kind of "veiled and sectional compulsion." \ As it is put, the men will not be coerced at all; all that is intended is that employers will be in a position, if they please, to go to employees and-say it is. "up to them" .to consider what they ought to do. The employer, on his 'part, will be expected, to undertake to reinstate the employee who enlists at: the end of the war. ' •

Government Departments, whatever may have been their attitude hitherto, ; will, Ht- is said, set an "example in "this" direction on a 'largo scale. The proposed appeal will only be made to those classes of labour in whi^h female labour can be temporarly substituted. It is recognised that there are many skilled and technical spheres in which men cannot be dispensed with. The official plan, in—short, is justified on the ground of the necessity for discrimination.