WOMEN ADDRESSED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 81, 3 October 1938, Page 6

WOMEN ADDRESSED

MRS. FRASER'S ANALYSIS

i Women had a right and a duty to | take an active interest in politics, said 'Mrs. P. Fraser when speaking to a .meeting of women at Upper Hutt on Saturday afternoon. The government of a country was only housekeeping extended to a national basis, she said, and whether government was good or bad depended to a large extent on the influence of women. Mrs. Fraser received an enthusiastic reception from those present and a vote of confidence in the Labour Government was carried. An appeal on behalf of the youth of the country had been made by the Hon. A. Hamilton when speaking at Palmerston North, Mrs. Fraser said, but the policy of the Government of which he was a member had led, because of wage-cutting, to unemployment and destitution, and had robbed the expectant mother of proper nourishment. Dental treatment had been suspended hi a number of schools, five-year-olds had been excluded, kindergarten grants had been cut down. | Such a policy laid no foundation for a j happy and healthy future for the youth of the nation. If the people liked the future- that Mr. Hamilton offered they would vote for the National Party, but those who remembered the times of the depression would vote for a continuance of the prosperity that the Labour Government held out. As a wise mother paid first attention to the health of her children, so did a ■wise Government, the speaker continued. The Labour Government had set up a commission to inquire intOj

the incidence of abortion and later to J survey the maternity services of the Dominion. It had been found that lack of hospital facilities and the expense of maternity were considerable factors in the incidence of abortion. Under the social security scheme free maternity services would be provided. "Isn't it worth paying the tax? No girl or woman would grudge it," said Mrs. Fraser. The abolition of the proficiency examination by the Labour Government had brought about an improved type of school, the speaker said. In addition, the grant to kindergartens had been restored, five-year-olds had been readmitted, boarding allowances for country children had been granted, and other educational measures had been introduced. In conclusion, Mrs. Fraser quoted from the Edinburgh "Evening News" of September 5, 1938, in which Lord I Strathspey was reported as saying I that it was refreshing, to find that British newspapers' comment was almost unanimously in praise of the New Zealand Budget. He continued: "I hope that the whispering campaign of which the Prime Minister has justifiably complained and which has undoubtedly led to the depression of New Zealand's stocks and the impairment of Dominion trading interests in this country, is now ended."