WAR NOTES FOR WOMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 62, 13 March 1915, Page 11

WAR NOTES FOR WOMEN.

a (From Our Lady Correspondent.) LONDON, January 15. WOMEN AT BALTIC HOUSE. j For the first time in its history women ■ were present at a sale at the Baltic Exchange, in London, a few days ago, when five steel steamers taken from the enemy I were put up for auction. j ROYAL BOY KNITTER. Queen Mary's stall at the recent exhibition of the London Needlework Guild, lof which she is president, bore contributions from the King, the Prince of Wales, Prince George, Prince Henry, six pale blue knitted petticoats from the Queen herself, and a couple of navy blue knitted j muJßers, the work of Prince Albert, the I sailor-boy prince,'who made them during i his recent convalescence. Princess Mary ■ had a special stall of her own. I lODINE FOR SOLDIERS. I An interesting item has come to light in the very handsome anonymous gift I I made by two donors to Sir Frederick 'Treves, the eminent surgeon, of sufficient iodine to enable every soldier at the front to carry his own. It is put up in a neat little ampoule very easy to carry, and co. simple in application | that the wounded man, or his neighbour, can dress a 6light wound instantly. ! AMERICAN WOMEN'S FRANCHISE. The American House of Representa- , tives, according to a cable received on Wednesday, on Tuesday passed a special rule that it would debate the proposal to amend the Constitution so as to give suffrage to women. Later news tells us that thi 3 proposal was rejected. It may not be generally ] known that in America voting for the State Legislature, which has been granted in nine States to women, carries with it also the right to vote for the House of Representatives, so that the woman voter in America has a voice in the election both of the State Governor and of the President. LONDON'S V.C. Lance-Corporal Holme 3, who recently gained the V.C. for conspicuous bravery' in Flanders, and is now lying wounded at the London Hospital, is to be given a I wonderful welcome by Bermondsey, his I native district, just over the other side of the river, where dwell immense thou- j sands of working people. He is to be driven home, met by the Major and Corporation, and taken to the Town Hall, passing along the lowly street where he spent his boyhood. Regulars, Terri-, torials, wounded Belgians, Chelsea Pensioners, boys of the Naval Brigade, the M.P-'s for Bermondsey (which is so large ; that it boasts several), are to escort him, and at the Town Hall an illuminated address and a purse of gold, subscribed for by people with very little, is to be presented. The idea is to set the V.C up in a small business. A CONTRACTS BUREAU was established recently in Gloucester on rather novel lines, for it is at once a philanthropic and an ordinary business agency. Instead of private, well-mean-irf<r women indiscriminately making shirts, socks, and the many etcerefas that soldiers need at home, and possibly by that, depriving some regular worker of what she should have, one of the philanthropic societies in Gloucester fcae established this contracts bureau, which keeps tally of the necessitous women 'and the goods needed, and distributes shirtmaking, etc., to them by the help lof its members.

FIGHTERS' INSURANCE POLICIES. Though the premiums charged on life insurance policies since war broke out, "by those going on active service, have been made so high as to insure the companies themselves against great loss, large sums have already had to be paid out in claims already. Although hostilities ha,ve only been in progress five months, the industrial offices have, down to the present, paid nearly £225,000 on Borne 11,000 claims, the greater number oi which come from the Navy. Inquiries which have been made by ti London paper from several -industrial assurance offices show that some of the policies on which claims have been paid had only been in force a few weeks before the declaration of war, while in the case of some claims which have been paid during the past month, there were arreare on the policies. The balance-sheets of the insurance companies at December 31st next should prove interesting reading.