FLOCK HOUSE GIRLS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 237, 21 June 1926, Page 10

FLOCK HOUSE GIRLS

A VISIT TO THEIR HOME STRICTLY PRACTICAL TRAINING FARM FACILITIES DUPLICATED (Contributed.) "Not only of itself but for what it may portend, the work which is being performed at Flock House is of the utmost importance to the Empire." This statement by Lord Burnham, made in the course of a visit to Boys’ Flock House last year, may as fittingly be applied to the sister organisation at Awapuni, known as the Flock House for Girls. About two months ago the trustees of the fund known as the New Zealand Sheepowners’ Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund purchased from Air. W. Strang the estate formerly known as "Shalimar,” two miles out of Palmerston North. This was opened in May with the name of Girls’ Flock House, for the residence and training of a prescribed number of daughters of British sailors of the Royal Navy and mercantile marine who had suffered death or disablement in the Great War. The first to make their home there are twelve girls who arrived from England on May 7; and these will bo followed by drafts every three months to the number of six or twelve. A visitor to the home is at once struck by the suitability of the estate for its new purpose. A short drive between shrub-bordered lawns opens on a picturesque double-storied house bright with Virginia creeper and passion-fruit vine. One steps from the veranda into a wide entrance hall, the chief ornament of which is a map of New Zealand, on which the girls nave marked the location of the farms where their brothers from Boys' Flock House are stationed. A sitting-room wilh long, low windows and a conservatory beyond is also the recreation room, big enough for indoor games and dancing, though the latter must perforce wait upon the advent of a piano. A cloak-room in which to leave outdoor clothes is furnished with a small wardrobe for eacii girl, and a row of hand-basins for the special convenience of those on gardening or dairy duty A bright large kite chen adjoins, in which two of the girls at the time of the visit were preparing the dinner for the household of eighteen, and beyond is the dining-room. The sewing room is next. Two girls were at work in the adjacent laundry completing the week’s ironing. The woodburning stove with six of the old-style irons heating on it was sufficient evidence that the domestic facilities of the average farm-house were being duplicated in Flock House; so that there is no fear that the girls trained there will be unaware of the probable conditions in the homes they subsequently go to live in. Dignity and Solidity. The general impression created by the suite of living rooms downstairs was one of dignity and solidity. The wooden panelling of the rooms, the low latticed windows, the arched doors of ecclesiastical. design borne out by the carved fireplaces and mantelpieces, gave to the visitor an impression of austere beauty which was not impaired by the rigidly plain but appropriate furniture. Upstairs are the bright, attractive bed- ’ rooms, with touches of home revealed in the knicknacks and photographs on each girl’s dressing-table. Here a iso is the "infirmary” and a guest room, which will be the “old girls’ bedroom whenever one of them goes back on a visit to her first New Zealand home. Outside on the way to the dairy are passed two girls in their workmanlike "land girl’s” uniform, chopping .woo<l and testifving by their skill in doing it to the efficiency of their instruction. Thon the dairy, with its spotless benches, big enurn, and array ot pounds of butter. Already—and it had been in working order only three butter was being sent from it to Boys Flock House. ’ Piloted by the member of the staff in charge of the outdoor training, a most important corner—the poultry run was visited. Not being particularly interested in hens one might have been contented to take them tor granted; but the enthusiasm pt the supervisor would take no - denial, and " came awa v from our inspection with a considerably increased respect for the knowledge and ability required to make a commercial success out of Keep g tO An ’ orchard and garden Provhie a"’ other avenue of training for the guls. Evcrv fourth week the same group returns to the same employment-an advanta n e in regard to the gaidenm o in struction. of being able to °^ rve l ® effects of the changing seasons. lhe house girls- are engaged in cooking, laundering, cleaning, and polishing for two weeks of the mouth: and, afi dairj eirls milk and make butter for the remaining week. All attend the evening classes, lasting one hour, conducted by the matron, who is certificated fiom tlu Edinburgh School of Domestic Economy. On Monday there is housewifery M laundrv: on Tuesday, cookery; on Wednesday. sick nursing; on Thursday,, nutting out and sewing. The first work m dressmaking is to complete the Provided bv the fund, of which the first part is bought in England, and the rest made by the girls themselves. The Y.W.C.A.’s Work. The personal interest in and care for the individual girl is entrusted to the Young Women’s Christian Association of New Zealand. From its headquarters office in Wellington it has set up a simple machinery to give practical effect to a resolution passed as the outcome ot a conference held a few months ago with representatives of the Shecpowneis Fund, viz.: “That, in view of such an opportunity of service to the Empire, uu d in gratitude to those who have given then lives for our safety, the Y.W.C.A. feels privileged to undertake the supervision and after-care of the girls brought to this country under the Sheepowners Acknowledgment of Debt to British Seamen Fund.” , , , The selection of girls is made through the Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women, which appointed a special panel of nomen with experience ot life in New Zealand, to act in co-opera-tion with the London Advisory Com mitteo of the Rhecpowners !• unci. Am. in addition there is the N W.C.A. "om-

mittce for Girls’ Flock House in Palmerston North. Tho members of tho latter committee become personally acquainted with the girls, plan lor their all-round development, recommend place# of employment, and. if necessary, remove a girl from unsuitable conditions. From tho time of welcoming the girls on the boat when it arrives in Wellington. bringing them to a new country and untried life, these women aro available for friendship and advice, and help so long as tho girls care to turn to b hem. For the six months of their stay the girls are dependent on thg provision made for their recreation as well as domestic and outdoor training. ' cry soon there will be equipment for hockey and possibly for basketball also; and by the summer a tennis court may bo ready. What was once a stable may perhaps later on be transformed into a games room. The Object of the Training. A minimum of regulations and a penfeet system contribute to making the girls methodical and self-reliant. They live bv rule and work hard. Their simple way of life—which yet does not preclude an atmosphere of comfortable, attractive, and home-like—is the result of much careful planning to secure the best preparation for the life they will take up. As domestic helps for a period of years to farmers' wives, they will be doing their part, in the country of their adoption, to meet one of tlie urgent needs in New Zealand life. Girls who make good share equally with the boys m any subsequent help available from the Sheepowners’ Fund. The ideal is for them to start as partners with their brothers, and they will share in the assistance which will be given to the boys when the time comes that they are ready to take up farms of their own. Such is the scheme, and so far it has fully justified the hopes with which it was launched. Girls’ Flock House will remain a living tribute to tho heroism of the Navy in the Great War. Through it these daughters of British seamen exchange their heritage from the war of crippled resources and a fatherless childhood for the fair prospect of a useful and independent womanhood. Through it they grow up as worthy citizens ot this new land, bound by the old allegiance to that Empire of which it is a part, and for which their fathers fought and died.