SOUTH SEAS WOMEN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 79, 15 January 1936, Page 8

SOUTH SEAS WOMEN.

SOCIAL SERVICE. Novelists and travellers usually give a picturesque account of the lazy sunny life of women on the small coral islands of the South Pacific. The films also help to give a one-side picture of life on these islets, where the small villages are strung round a wide lagoon and communications with the outer world are scanty and spasmodic! Some of the most lonely of the islands of the Gilbert and Ellice group lie on the Equator, and the native women have lately become interested in social service through the visit of an Englishwoman from Samoa, writes "C.N." in the "Manchester Guardian."

She managed to do the thousand odd miles voyage in a small schooner named after tho Pacific pioneer, John Williams, and frequently had to be carried through the surf on a man's back. In each village, on an island often not more than a platform of coral twenty feet above sea level, she gathered the women together and suggested they should form a village committee to make village life more interesting. The story of the women's institutes in England excited the women's curiosity, especially when it was realised that they (would be taught how to make soap.

Soap is one of the expensive luxuries of the islands, so a simple recipe was taught the women: one tin of caustic soda, two tins of water, and four tins of coconut oil. The idea was taken up with enthusiasm, and the profits went to restocking with new materials it was discovered, too, that the old traditional weaving of native mats had fallen on evil clays through the boredom of island life and lack of new designs. New colours and fresh designs ivere suggested, and the women went hack to making their own dyes instead of the crude imported ones. One women's committee attends its meetings in uniform and each member possesses a mosquito net, which is considered an even better record than that of the next island, which worked to buy a sewing machine. Men Sceptical. The news of the women's social work spread quickly through the scattered islands, and the Englishwoman has now managed to visit them all. Baby ivelfare is now interesting the women, largely through a simple experiment ,vith the young cocoanut. It "was discovered that the soft flesh of the young nut could be pounded into a ;mooth custard to which the nut juice is added. This when heated makes good baby food. Drinking water for babies is now boiled instead of being used straight from the doubtful wells.

The men of the islands have been rather sceptical about this social work )f the women. In one village there ,va.s a wide swamp. The women's committee decided to fill it in and grow taro plants on it. The men said the plantation would be a failure, but success has brought in the whole vilage to plan a much bigger plantation. An excellent substitute for starch was made by another group of women. The ivomen, too, are starting gardens to _;row bananas and tomatoes, which so far have failed owing to lack of earth. They realise that a more varied diet nrould keep the family healthier and the recipes distributed are eagerly discussed and tried.

One of the most useful effects of this work has been the new view of the status of women in the islands. Die conditions on an isolated islet a ,'ew miles round are cramping, but these regular meetings and activities have given the women dignity and a aew intelligence. In nearly, all the islands the women's committee inspects the village every week, sometimes every day. picks up litter, surveys the sanitation of each little thatched family house, and informs mothers when their children are not clean. They march out in their home-made overill uniforms which help to make the affair more awesome for the inspected, and perhaps a little more easy for the inspectors. And all this work is kept with no white supervision, except by letter and a triennial visit by i woman missionary from Samoa.