BREAKING PREJUDICE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 286, 14 September 1933, Page 6

BREAKING PREJUDICE

MRS E. R. McCOMBS' ELECTION. WOMEN EXPRESS PLEASURE. CONGRATULATIONS IN ASHBURTON. Pleasure at the fact that women have at last a representative in Parliament was expressed by the leaders of several women's organisations in Ashburton this morning'. They congratulated Mi's E. R. McCombs on her win in'the by-election, not on Party politics, but on the fact that such a staunch advocate of women's interests had been elected to Parliament, the first woman member in the House.

"It is a wonderful thing to think that Mrs McCombs is the first woman member of Parliament," said Mrs F. -Curtis (president of the Ashburton District Women's Institute). "Her work on several local bodies in Chris t- ' church has been splendid, and her new appointment is just some little recognition of what she has done." Mrs Curtis said that Mrs McCombs was to be congratulated on being the first to represent women in the House. She had always been a fighter for women, and she would be a champion for women's interests in her' new capacity.

Although the Women's Institute was a non-political organisation, Mrs Curtis continued, it represented 30,000 who were all vitally interested from a national angle, and in congratulating Mrs McCombs they realised that she was blazing the trail for other women fitted to assist in the government of the country, and that she was breaking down the prejudice against women in Parliament.

Taking Share of Work

"As women, we must all be pleased that Mrs McCombs has attained this position in Parliament," said Mrs E Ruddock (President of the Cavendish Club). "It is time women began to take an interest in the higher phases of life, and as a woman I congratulate her." Women who had been taking part in local organisations in New Zealand had proved that they could take their full share in the government of the country, added Mrs Ruddock, who said that .Mrs McCombs would be able to put the woman's viewpoint before the House, where it bad always been lacking in the past. "From the woman's point of view, I am very pleased to know that Mrs McCombs has succeeded to a seat in Parliament," said Mrs D. Hamber (president of the Ashburton branch of the Women s Division of tbe Farmers' Union). "It is appropriate, but long overdue, that New Zealand, the first country to give the franchise to women", should now have a. woman in Parliament." Mrs McCombs, she added, was a very able woman and would be a, tower of strength for women in her work in the House, All women would he pleased to know they had a representative, and she hoped Mrs McCombs would' soon be joined by others. "Mrs McCombs is a woman of high character, and should ably represent the women of New Zealand in Parliament," said Mrs A. J. Petrie (president of the Ashburton Mothers' Union). "She has taken a keen and intelligent interest in church welfare work and will prove to be a stalwart counsel in problems of social reform. New Zealand women now have a strong medium whereby they can voice thenviews on the many subjects which come before Parliament, and on which women feel that their viewpoint has never adequately been represented. Apart from any consideration of party politics, the women of this country must be pleased that the first woman M.P. has been returned." Unswerving High Principles. "The mews of Mrs McCombs' election to Parliament as the first woman to take a seat therein, will doubtless be "received with special interest and satisfaction by members of the Presbyterian Women's Missionary Union, throughout New Zealand, as the Henderson family, of which she is a member, has been second to none in zeal for the missionary work of the Presbyterian Church," stated Mrs R. S. Watson (president of the Ashburton P.W.M.U.). "Miss Henderson, of Riccarton, a sister of the successful candidate, has been for many years editress of the P.W.M.U. journal, 'The Harvest Field.' Another sister, Miss Alice Henderson, of Auckland, was for 35 years a missionary in India, and was the pioneer missionary of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand in India. She is the authoress of .several mission study books on India. A third sister is Mrs Matthew, also a missionary enthusiast, whose eldest daughter, Miss Dorothy Matthew, is a missionary in the Punjab, India, supported by the Girls' Auxiliary of tbe P.W.M.U. of New Zealand. Members of the Missionary Union, whatever their party politics may be, will rejoice that the first women to represent the people of this country in Parliament, is a woman of unswerving high principle, and one who shares with the other members of a distinguished family a zeal amounting to a passion for the highest service of humanity." Tho opinion that all women must be pleased that Mrs McCombs had been returned was expressed by Miss E. Trevurza (secretary of the Ashburton branch of the. Women's Christian Temperance Union), who added that members of the Union were specially pleased, as Mrs McCombs, as president of the Sumner branch for many years, had done splendid work for the organisation. It was counted by members of the- Union an honour that one of their number should have been elected to the House.