THE COUNTRY WOMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 225, 22 September 1932, Page 13

THE COUNTRY WOMEN.

ADDRESS BY MRS.- JACKSON,'

' A meeting of those interested in work amongst country women was held; yesterday afternoon in the Farmers' Trad- • -ing Company's hoard room. .'. The chair was taken by Mrs. Noel Adams, vicepresident of the Waitemata Council and president of the" Clevedon branch. . She explained that the Waitemata Council had'.nine branches, and it was proposed to form one in. the city, so that when the members came to.town they would have some centre in which ■ to .foregather. Wellington, Christchurchy and Dunedin each had such a branch, and it was found by them that town women could help country women in many ways. She then introduced to the meeting Mrs. C. C. Jackson, Dominion president of the women's division of the Farmers' Union, who paid a compliment to the organisers of the meeting. The women's division was formed eome eight years ago, and had grown rapidly. It had 300 branches and 10,000 members, yet she felt it was only in its infancy. It was not so much money and members that they wished to have as a better understanding between the country women and the women in the towns. To Help One Another. The movement was not political or sectarian, but it appealed to all women on the land. They were joined to the Farmers' Union to help them to better the conditions of , the women, to bring pressure to bear on such questions as a better letter delivery in the country and lower rates for telephones, both of which affected women very nearly. They were organised to get more amenities for the country women. The town women did not, in too many cases, know what the country women had to put-up with. She had recently been visiting a woman who, as a bride, went into a settlement for which a road was promised, and now she was.a grandmother and still there was no road. She wished women to unite to 6ccure better conditions for one another. One of the definite works undertaken by their organisation was the providing of bush nurses and housekeepers for the women on the land. These housekeepers, who were paid 25/ a week, were practical workers, who could make bread and. butter, milk the family cow, and manage a family, so that the mother did not get up from a bed of sickness to find an accumulation of work. These workers were paid from the community chest, which was kept to help women and "children in any need. - Until the provincial councils could take over, these things were provided by the community chest. They also had their own book club. Wairarapa was trying out the provincial scheme. They had eight or nine housekeepers and nurses, and each branch raised about £5 a year towards expenses, but when New Zealand was organised each district would do its own work in this direction. Rest Rooms and Homes. Another move was for rest rooms in all the towns. In the smaller .towns and settlements the wives of farmers often had nowhere to go, but to trail the children up and down the streets, waiting for the farmer at the sales. They aimed to provide a small room where a mother could take her children, feed them, and enjoy a rest and a cup of tea. Rest homes were another activity,- and they had one in Raglan and one in Temuka and another in Wairarapa. When these were established, a mother who was worn out, or who had come out of hospital, or did not feel quite ill enough to go there, but needed medical attention, could go to the rest homes, and rest and be quiet till she was stronger. They had a definite promise from the sheep owners that when wool rose again they would establish one rest home in the north and one in the south, and also endow them, so that' women from the land could be nursed and brought back to health again. The division also provided sewing women, w„ho could be hired at 25/ a week, or 5/ a day, to go to the farm house and bring the sewing up to date. They were capable of doing all ordinary sewing, not so much the dressmaking as turning second-hand clothes and cutting down for the children and making old clothes look pretty and like new, so that there would not be the complaints mothers often heard of, "Why can't I have a new frock?" The women's exchanges were also another activity. A branch in a small town or city would undertake to sell the country women's productions, such as pickles, cured hams, home-made butter and jams and other handicraft, which would give the farm women ready money to spend in the town. In two Southern towns this exchange had been remarkably successful, and the amount of money from this source the farm women had to spend had surprised them. Mrs. Jackson also explained the present position with., regard to the Flock House scheme. A resolution was unanimously passed that a branch be formed in Auckland, and the names of ladies in the room were given in to form the first provisional group.