LADIES AT ROTARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 140, 16 June 1930, Page 9

LADIES AT ROTARY.

GIRL WORKERS. .

SPEAKERS FROM THE Y.W.C.A.

DELEGATE FROM JAPAN.

It is not often that a lady finds admittance to the platform of the Auckland Rotary Club, but to-day there were two of the fair sex billed as the speakers of the day. One was Miss Jean Begg, secretary of the Auckland.Young Women's Christian Association; the other, Miss Yuki Kimura (of Japan), connected with the same organisation in its international activities.

Both were heartily welcomed by the chairman, Rotarian J. O'Connor, who, making special reference to the visit of the Japanese lady, said Rotarians were particularly pleased at the opportunity to reciprocate some of the kindness that had been extended to them by Japanese Rotarians. Miss Begg, in a rapid survey of the work of her association, paid a tribute tu the employers of girl labour in Auckland lor t]ie co-operation in work having for its object the welfare of the girls in their employ. Miss Begg spoke of the work done by the Y.W.C.A.. and the great need for assistance and encouragement to the wage-earning section of girls, particularly when they were out of employment.

She appealed for greater assistance in community work for the girls, remarking that at the Y.W.C.A. they were in touch with 2000 girls. Miss Kimura said that Japan, with its 83,000,000 of a population, had similar problems to those' of other countries, and had adopted similar methods in the way of social service in endeavouring to ameliorate the lot of the masses. As with other countries the aftermath of the war had left financial stringency and unemployment. Numbers of university graduates found it _ difficult to secure employment, and the same conditions applied to lads leaving the primary schools.

One of the most notable movements in Japan at the present time, said the visitor, was the women's franchise movement. Miss Kimura outlined the special activities of the Y.W.C.A.. in Japan.

A vote of thanks to the speakers, moved by Rotarian. C. H, Furness, was carried by acclamation.