V.A. STATUS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 181, 2 August 1944, Page 3

V.A. STATUS

rOSITION IN THE ARMY (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Difficulties which have arisen regarding the military and hence the social status of Red Cross voluntary aids serving in the Middle East and Italy as members of the W.A.A.C. organisation were discussed at today's meeting in Wellington of the Dominion Council of the New Zealand Red Cross. Explanations of the position were given the delegates by the Director-General of Medical Services, Major-General Bowerbank, and the Adjutant-General, Brigadier Conway.

General Boweroank said the V.A.'s were an unqualified success.

"It is the policy of the Government to have in the Army women who have been members of the Red Cross, and I hope the best has been made of them," said Brigadier Conway.

"There has been some difficulty in the Middle East in their moving about, and the khaki uniform has been disadvantageous at times, as have been the stripes of non-com-missioned officers. We have tried to award rank fairly and some have been commissioned.

"There is also, I believe, a suggestion that V.A.'s should receive the increase in pay that nurses of the Army Nursing Service get after two years' service overseas. When Army nurses were recruited there was the old system of staff nurse rank. This was abolished by the British Army authorities and was consequently abolished by us, but we have given an increase in pay after two years to compensate nurses for the abandoned rank system.

"There is no increase of pay for length of service in the Army in wartime," said Brigadier Conway, "and I am afraid I cannot hold out much hope of any change. If the difficulty of social rank can be overcome the biggest hurdle will have been taken."

The Red Cross had always been against the granting of stripes, said the Director-General of the V.A.D. services of the Red Cross, Miss H. I. Crooke. She asked if the designation "private" could not be removed from the girls' paybooks and the title of "nurse" or plain "miss" be substituted.

The matter of social standing was specially troublesome in Italy, said Mrs. G. Mac Donald, of Geraldine. In Italy the girls were being barred from hotels and clubs, which had been exclusively set aside for officers. Only Y.W.C.A.'s remained.