HOUSEWIVES' UNION.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14275, 10 February 1912, Page 12

HOUSEWIVES' UNION.

IXAUGUHAL MEETING

The inaugural meeting of the Canterbury Housewives' Union was liold last night, and was well attended. Mrs Wells presided, and apologised t'er tbi> absence of» Professor Mills, who nad missed the train at Invcreargill.

Mrs Wells dealt with some of the questions that it was hoped to discuss during the coming year. The union intended to maintain a continuous rampniirn. the object of which was to educate v/onien in good citizenship. They liad to realise the fact of evolution. Women the vote and required to educate themselves to use the machine to the very best possible purpose. The best way to educate themselves was to meet one with another and discuss mutters affecting them. She would likr? the, women of Christchuxch to feel that their city was the fairest and sweetc>; in tiie whole world, and if they banded together she believed they could arrive at such an ideal. The union would attempt to organise the voting power of women. It was'quite useless for them to advocate reforms if they did net stand together at the ballot-box. -It was hoped that I'rc lessor Mills would have addressed them en the subject of the just prices of wholesale goods, a subject in which all housekeepers were interested. The tenancy was, in other countries, for 'prices to be dominated by a. comparatively tew men, and it was for tlio union to , attempt to find out how this method ol fixing prices was alfecting them. The housing question was another important object of the union. Anyone who knew anything rbout the noorer classes in Christchurch knew war, very difficult for them to get decent houses. The late Mr Taylor began a crusade against 'he slums in Christehurch, and it was Iho business of women to .see that there were fair houses for all, nnd not to allow children to bo born in dunis. Every house ought to have a bath. The union would also discuss the ques-

tion of sweated labour. It would lc well for them to know that all products are made under sound and sane conditions. The State schools should b.> ! improved by being equipped with hot i r.nd cold baths, midday meals should bo provided, and out-door play should be organised ami properly supervised. .She I also thought that all school children I should have uniforms, in order to break ' dawn class distinctions. (Hear, hear), i These things would cost money, sho would bo told, and she admitted that, but she believed that the money could bo got. Classes were too large, and, as a consequence, mistresses broke down in health. Referring to the question o» jic'lectod chikkeu, she said they should aim at dealing with these children in an ideal fashion. They wanted to give them some of the best conditions they could give them. As to the care of the sick she hoped the time was coming when cominonsense methods will bo used. She contended that nurses worked too long hours—eight hours in a sick room was too long. Flip, union ought also to advocate universal old ago pensions, and remqvo the stigma of pauperism and chanty which was still attached to the old pension. Prison reform was another question that the union must discuss. Mrs Green, the unions oreaniser, reported that she had mot with no refusals, and about one hundred had handed in their names as members. Sirs , Cunnington gave an address emphasising the objects of tho union, and dealt at sonio length with tho necessity for united action and for enthusiasm. Details ought to bo relegated to committees, otherwise tho union would run the risk of collapsing from its own weight. She urged that tho union should become affiliated in some .way to tho Eugenics Society, that the union should attempt to assist in tho work of tho Pluivket Nurses, and

in the Kindergarten movement. Referring to tho fact that tho police required a guarantee of £20 before taking steps to bring back to the Dominion the father of an illegitimate child, she eaid that it was an

iniquity: a girl in trouble had no chance" of getting such a guarantee. She spoke against the boarding-out i system, and cited the case of a widow, recently left with seven children, who had n boarded-out child, and who told the speaker' that this was tho only way she could make money. Continuing, ' the speaker urged mothers to see that their sons were brought up to somo skilled trade. Mrs T. E. Taylor, the national president of the union, urged that tho members should make up their minds as to what particular subject should be dealt with first. Personally, tho children and tho mothers were .the questions she felt most intimately and strongly about. Tho speaker suggested that the education of girls, after leaving school, till they got married, should be the work of tho Technical College. Mrs J. McCombs, tho general secretary of the union, said that thb union was one of several throughout the, Dominion, and when one union advocated a reform it would not do s<l alone, but would -nave the support lof tho other unions.