WOMEN'S WORK

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 58, 6 September 1916, Page 3

WOMEN'S WORK

BRANCH OF THE NATIONAL

RESERVE

A MINISTERIAL APPRECIATION,

Tlie Concert Chamber of the Town Hall was well filial last night' on the occasion of the annual meeting of the Women's National Reserve. Colonel Pouter, C.8., Commandant of the Reserve, was in the chair, and Her Excellency the Countess of Liverpool was among those present on the platform.

Apologies for unavoidable absence were received from the Mayoress (Mrs. J. P Luke) and Mrs Hall-Thompson-In opening the proceedings the chairman said the annual report did not contain a hundredth part of the record of work done by the women of the Dominion in connection with the war

The president of the Women's Reserve (Mrs. Dr. Platts-Mills) presented the annual report, the main features of which have already been published.. The Reserve, she said, had been formed to take the place of men who had enlisted or who would enlist, but it had developed into a body of loyal women, who were ready to do anything that a woman may do to assist tlie Government of the country and the soldiers and sailors and their dependents. She gave an interesting account of the work done by the women workers in the clerical uranch of the Defence Department and in other directions, and she added in this respect that wherever they had asked for '. <lp in training, the highest and best had given it ungrudgingly and with tlie utmost willingness. The speaker went on to refer to other activities of the Reserve, and remarked incidentally that a bank manager had told her that it took three women to do the work of two men in a bank. She thought that was a very satisfactory report (Hear, hear.) The question had been raised, she added, as to whether a woman who took up a position should hand it back to the man after the war No genera] answer could be given, but members were reminded that they joined the Reserve and accepted employment from patriotic motives and not in a spirit of self-interest. (Applause.) She moved the adoption of the report and balancesheet

Mrs. Tripp seconded the motion, which was carried by acclamation.

The Hon. G W Russell (Minister for Internal Affairs) addressed- the gathering In" the course of his remarks he said that a very energetic branch of the Re.serve exists in Christchurch, where, among other things, instruction was being given in gardening There were also branches in Dunedin and Auckland, where good work was being done, but the model had been set in Wellington for the rest of the Dominion. He ex pressed the thanks of the Government for the work the women had.done in connection with the war, and he also thanked Their Excellencies the Governor and the Countess of Liverpool in connection with various patriotic efforts. (Applause.) The women of the Dominion were just as active after two years of war as they were when the war began, and he was pleased to have the opportunity of publicly expressing . his appreciation of their services. He also paid a tribute to the New Zealand nurses who had done such excellent work—and some of whom had lost their lives. (Applause.) As to the future, he said the war would have the effect of widening woman's sphere of work. At Home not only were the minor positions in the Government service held by women, but it was even suggested that the more important positions might be filled, by them. It was stated that the man-draper had practically disappeared at Home, and he (Mr. Russell) thought it was about time that the National Government brought down a War Regulation providing that after Ist October no able-bodied man should be allovyed to stand behind a draper's counter and sell a reel of cotton or a packet of pins. (Loud applause.) In his concluding remarks the /Minister said it was evident that the Women's Reserve had justified its existence, and he was proud to be in a country where the women had done' so nobly. He was not going to provide, through the Women's Reserve, cheap labour for grasping employers (applause); where women did the same work as men they should be paid men's wages, and he hoped the Reserve would not allow its women to be cajoled or utilised for the purpose ,of cutting down wages. As to what would happen after the war, he suggested the possibility of an influx of returned soldiers and emigrants from the British Army, but he contended that the men who went to the war would i.be entitled to the women's jobs when they returned. One essential, however, was that the land of the Dominion should be thrown open for the men who came back from the front. Properly managed, tens of . thousands of returned men could be placed on the land at very little expense to the State. He was also in favour of giving assistance in connection yrith motherhood, and he thought that the .pension scheme should be amended so as to provide that the man and woman who had reared a family should not be entitled merely 'to a pauper's pension, but should receive the reward of their labours on behalf of the State. (Applause.) Her Excellency * expressed her deep sympathy with the work of the Reserve, and a hearty vote of thanks was carried to, the Hon. G. W. , Russell , for his speech and for the interest he had always shown In the work of the Reserve.