WOMEN IN MUNICIPAL LIFE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 72, 26 March 1921, Page 20

WOMEN IN MUNICIPAL LIFE.

•fii.. 1.1,1 ..omen candidal"'-* who an'; standing f.u the City Council in 'Welling-' t .11 are Mis- N. IV i . .1.1, M.A.. presi-! .icnt of the local brattch of the. Womrn'ti \.in-.n.i', Conn.-,!, .l.i-l Mrs. Preston. i ln.lv -uper iitenJent ■ ••' tin- Si. .Tollri Vtnv.ilmiee Rrieade. The candidates- are ties, and last week ml,lie—'.! t'le K. 0.1 \\ . t :-, 1.. nf ihe Pi..n.-r i.'li-Ji. Speak-1 ing of I iie inaction of New Zealand' .i..men in vegnril to public life. M;- ---■ .n.i -aid thai there were one or tin r-.i--.iis for ; ijs. «i,.ti> ii »-\'st.".l. amlj in,.-.' re.i-,,n- uere. irs-tly. that most J secondly, t'neii' .paction was due to the: i-enti-dli.-ing tendencies of the New Zealand 'loverninent. i\iii.-ii relieved the peopl,. ..I main .■;" tiie limb's of active j citizen-hip. T!ii> centralisation pro-1 •lv.'.'-l a 1-uk .-:' interest in municipal. affair-, and \\ onlJ in time eliminate active citzenship in men as well awomen. DV.eu-sing ihe hou.-ing pro- ] blem, Mrs. Preston -aid that if women! could sec for themselves something of; the conditions under which many people were living at the present time they '.louil be rilled with iiorror. They .should 'uive a proper system ot" women sanitary inspectors, which would do something to mitigate these ba,l con.lit ons. From! -ueh environment little that was good; could emanate. It had been said that do what you -would there were people wh ii would create slum.-. That was trite, hut ! there were the children to consider, and! if children grew up in such places slums would always remain with us. One! remedy was for the building of hnu»es outside the city area, with .heap fares for long distances. Town-planning and recreation places, res-,-rooms for women. city market*., etc., were also briefly touched upon by the speaker. In mentioning the same subject, I'oad said that housing was a matter in which State aid was necessary, nltlioiigii she did not believe in the panacea of State! assistance for the evils that afflicted! life. In Great Britain the London County j (Jopncil and the Glasgow County Conn-, eil had been building houses for .sj.mej time, but the British Government is assisting hy planning to build SOO.OOfI 'houses, although it has been told the echeme is economically unsound. However, it was doing so because it recognised that slums were not good houses for children who arc to form an Imperialrace. Imperial sentiments, nor national! sentiments, nor social sentiment did not flourish overmuch in slum*. Housing. here was too ibig a matter for municipal authorities to grapple with alone. It could ;be lessened by the acquirement of -large tracts of land in the suburbs, and iby a cheap tram service. To condemn slums -was not the remedy. It was a question for experts, but it was the council's part to get the right experts— and that was no easy matter. If "New Zealand is to be saved from tlie grosser social evils that afflict older nations, it had to avoid slums, and if it does this alone it will deserve a foremost place among civilised nations. It could only ho done by eternal vigilance, however.