WOMEN AND WAR

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23004, 26 April 1940, Page 2

WOMEN AND WAR

STUDY GROUPS FORMED ! ( “If we wish to be represented on the next peace council we women must prepare ourselves and study political : economy and .social and economic re- • adjustment. In this way we in New . Zealand will make a valuable contri- , bution when peace really is discussed,” ■ said Miss M. G. Havelaar, in speaking to a remit from the Christchurch branch ; of the National Council of Women at : the council’s Dominion conference held i on Wednesday. Miss Mary McLean said that social readjustment covered economic adjustment, and one could not expect people who were unemployed and hungry to -be peaceful and good citizens. Many Continental countries were reconstructing their economic and social systems but destroying old principles, and it was for members of the council to consider whether they were giving anything constructive in return for the principles destroyed. “Get Wisdom” Miss Elsie Andrews (New Plymouth) seconded the remit, which asked that all members of the council should make a special study of political economy and social and economic readjustment, to be in readiness for adjustments which were inevitable after the war. She said the remit had been considered by the Dominion executive, and it had been decided that the collective opinion of the executive should be expressed at the opening of the discussion. Members of the executive were in complete accord with the remit, and felt that it pointed the way to the highest plane of approach which could possibly be maa- by the National Council of Women in this connexion, the plane of courageous thought directed to the end of an increase in knowledge and understanding in the spirit of the old injunction, “With all thy getting, get wisdom.” She said there was not one delegate present who did not realise that international stresses, of which war was the most terrible expression, came upon the world not as sudden, violent, and unpredictable upheavals, like an eruption of an earthquake, but as the result of deep-seated causes operating over a number of years. Modern medical science, in a typhoid epidemic, did not content itself with treating cases as they occurred; _ it dealt drastically with the bad drains of which the epidemic was the symptom. Much as members hated and deplored war, unless they recognised it asi a symptom of disease in, the body politic, and were prepared to search out, and stamp out, the causes of the disease they would never be able to prevent its recurrence. Clear Thinking Necessary The remit showed a way in which the National Council of Women could give a lead to the women of the country, and New Zealand women perhaps more than those of almost any other land were in a position to approach these difficult problems in the detached and impersonal atmosphere necessary to clear thinking. They were “difficult problems,” not so much because 1 of their abtruse nature as because the pursuit of objective truth almost in--1 variably brought students face to face

with facts which were most painful and unpalatable. One’s immediate reaction to a tense situation was to do something, and people were apt to lose sight of the fact that action may be merely an escape from thought. . Quoting Sun Yat Sen, she said, “Action is easy. It is thought that is difficult.” “Our emotions lead us readily into physical activity, but we shrink from the mental activity which fundamentally is the forerunner'-and basis of all social progress. ' To-day civilisation stands in a position of peril greater than it has faced for many centuries,” said Miss Andrews. Clashing ideologies confronted the menace of mutual destruction, and man needed to marshal all the forecs of thought to signpost the pathway for future generations: “This way lies danger; this way lies safety,” so that those who came after might be guided even by the saddest mistakes towards a smoother road. “The very greatest service we can render to life lies in the accumulation of such a wealth of knowledge of the causes leading to conflict that our influence in the community will create a public opinion determined to remove them from the path of society,” said Miss Andrews. Study Groups Formed Several members spoke of courses that had been planned or that were being held in various centres, under the auspices of their councils. In Christchurch a three months’ course of lectures will begin on June 1. Mrs W. N. Benson said that study was vitally necessary, for members could not hope to treat twentieth century problems with nineteenth century mentality. One of the basic causes of the present trouble amongst nations was that people had not intellectually and spiritually caught up with the material progress of civilisation. The present need was a desire for tolerance and an understanding of the reactions that had brought about this present cataclysm, said Mrs Benson. PARTY AT “RUNNYMEDE” Miss I. F. Milnes, president of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Federation of University Women, was hostess at a pleasant party given at her home, “Runnymede,” Shirley, yesterday, in honour of Mrs W. H. Cocker (Auckland), Dominion president of the federation, and Mrs A. E. Hefford, honorary secretary of the Wellington branch of the federation. Others present were Mrs H. S. Allan, Mrs C. E. Foweraker, Mrs F. J. T. Grigg, Mrs B. C. Penney, and Miss M. E. Sims. Messrs Arthur. Charles, and James J. Staples, sons of the late Mr and Mrs J. J. Staples (Akaroa). have been visiting Akaroa for the Centennial celebrations. Mr and Mrs Percy Saxton (Waikato) and their eldest son are staying at the Hotel Metropole, for the Akaroa celebrations. , . . . Mr and Mrs J. D. Piper (Pahiatua) are visiting Akaroa and are staying at the Hotel Metropole.