SOLDIERS' & SAILORS' WIVES

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 74, 29 March 1919, Page 5

SOLDIERS' & SAILORS' WIVES

WELLINGTON NATIONAL RESERVE CLUB

A CRECHE CONTEM§LATED.

A pleasant and interesting afternoon was spent at the Town Hall yesterday at the inaugural meeting of tho Women's National Reserve Club for the wives of soldiers and sailors. The hall had been finely decorated by the D.I.C. with many flags, large and small, and an effective draping of yellow and Nile green round the gallery, while Miss Cooper was responsible for the arrangement of pot plants and many bowls of hydrangeas, which made the stage beautiful.

The Club Committee received the guests, and Colonel Hughes, D.STO., presided at the gathering. A brief and enjoyable musical programme had been arranged, Mr. Wenzell Collie playing selections on-the organ, Mr. Len Barnes and Mrs. Kennedy contributing songs, and Mr. Norman Aitken humorous monologues. The afternoon tea arrangements were in tho hands of Mrs. Bethune and her committee, a number of the wives (members of the club), assisted by Mrs. Clifton, handing the tea round.

Mr. John Hutcheson was the speaker for the afternoon, and gave a brief and interesting account of the inception and working of the club. He referred to the- establishment of the Mothers' Help Division with great approval, and said that at first when the War Relief Association had been asked to assist with the work of lightening the burden of the mothers and wives, they had felt that the matter required careful consideration. The association was the custodian of money subscribed by the public, and members felt ahat they were responsible for its careful expenditure. When they studied the condition of affairs, however, they came; to the conclusion that of all sections of society that had silently suffered and endured the most, it was the wives and .mothers who were deprived of their natural protectors. When a woman married, her enjoyment in life became largely curtailed, and the conditions of life often became dull, drab, and dreary, with but little help, and little social intercourse. If such an institution as they proposed were established on proper lines at a moderate cost, it would bo self-sup-porting in a short tune. The reserve was very anxious that the War Relief Association should finance the project, and it, would most certainly meet a very great want. A fact that the War Relief Association found very significant was the number of applications they received \for assistance during accouchments, and this they endeavoured to give in the best possible way, with due regard to the feelings of the recipient. _ • Tho members of the association felt a duty to those who had gone away to fight, and he hoped that.the obligation of the civilian did not end with the war. A substantial expression would be given in acknowledgment of their debt to the dependents of soldiers. Mr. Tripp, chairman of the War Relief Association, spoke briefly on the same subject. He said they were only the administrators of funds given for the benefit of soldiers' dependents, and such relief was in no sense charity. Whether they could establish a creche such as had been proposed he did not know, but ho was sure the public could find the money for such a necessary object, and once it had been established in ono town thoy would soon be all over Now Zealand. It was impossible to get help in bringing up children, and it would be a great relief if these institutions could be established. . Mr. Tripp thanked the Women's National Reserve for what it was doing in every patriotic movement. Mr. M'lntosh, who was in charge of the art union for scholarships for soldiers' children, was receiving much clerical help from the Women's National Reserve.

Colonel Hughes added his testimony to the need for help for the womenfolk.

Among those present were : Mrs. Hope Lewis, Mrs. G. Williams (Masterton), Mrs. J. G. Hughes, Mrs. Tripp, and Mrs. Porter, the organising secretary of tho W.N.R.