WOMEN WANTED

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 64, 16 March 1915, Page 6

WOMEN WANTED

AS AGRICULTURAL LABOURERS THE OUTLOOK IX ENGLAND. VISITING CLERGYMAN'S PREDICTION. The prediction that tenia Ie labour will be needed to keep the agricultural industry going in England during the war is made by the Rev. E. R. Nevill, an Anglican cleric, who arrived from London by the Rotorua this morning. He says that the rural community has been called on so extensively by the recruiting authorities that a shortage of hands is feared for the sowing and harvesting of crops. One reason for this heavy call is that the manufacturing communities have been left sis intact as possible in order that their industries shall proceed effectively. Most especially does this apply to centres where khaki and clothing are manufactured.

''Oh. yes." said Mr. Nevill. in reply to an interviewer. ''I think that the women of England will respond very readily to any call for assistance in the fields. Tn fact. I am sure that they will be delighted to render any service in their power. English people realise the titanic nature of the struggle. Yon out here can have no idea how the raids on Scarborough and other coastal towns have stirred our people up. They know what might be exerted to happen if the nation did not win." The visitor added that there, was every reason to believe that the people of Great Britain were more determined than ever to throw the fullest possible weight of men and resources into the long and bitter struggle.

Referring to the popularity of the recruiting movement. Mr. Nevill said that anyone who bad been in England during recent months could not but realise the wonderful results that bad been achieved in connection with Kitchener's army. The million mark had been passed long ago, and lie believed that by now the total number of British soldiers at the front or in training would be more like, two millions. "I have seen them at Aldershot and at every railway station as 1 came through England," added Mr. Nevill, "and 1 can assure you 'that the organisation is wonderful. Leading military authorities of England and France declare that the territorials of England are learning more in three moivtbs of training than the average soldier learns in -six. Yes, by the spring we should have a fighting force of outstanding merit, both in regard to numbers and efficiency."

Asked whether the people o"f England appreciated the part which the overseas Dominions had been able to take in regard to the war, Mr. Nevill replied that they most decidedly did. "There is," he added, "just this to be said. It is considered that the Australian and New Zealand troops should not have been sent to Egypt but straight to Europe, and that the Indians should have been placed in Egypt." He said that the latter were considered to have been misplaced in trench fighting. They were excellent cavalrymen, but of this" work they got none in Europe. Tbe conditions of Egypt—sun, sand, etc.—would be more suited to them, and they should be in their element in withstanding the attacks of the Turks. On the other hand, tbe Colonials were better fitted temperamentally for the more patient work of tbe trenches. Perhaps more of them would get there very soon. Concerning the. reported German atrocities. Mr. Nevill said he was in a position to give information which he had obtained first hand from the daughter of one of bis parishioners who had served as a nurse with tbe Belgian Red Cross Society during the terrific fighting around Cliarleroi and Mons in the early stages of the war. lie had also had in his parish a Belgian vicar who had come from the front. "These people told me?' said the visitor, "that the trouble with the Germans was that the soldiers who were first to trample over Belgium were all dead drunk. Their treatment of women and children was horrible, and the wounds they inflicted on their foes with tho bayonet were barbaric. Some of the nurses who attended the wounded soldiers of the Allies said that the injuries were beyond description. Mr. Nevill remarked "that the worst of the atrocities appeared to have occurred during the early part of the war when the Germans were intoxicated by temporary successes and also by looted wine.