WOMEN'S TRANSPORT SERVICE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 111, 11 May 1940, Page 17

WOMEN'S TRANSPORT SERVICE

NEW ZEALAND SECRETARY

COUNTRY HEADQUARTERS

(By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London Representative.)

LONDON, AprU 9

Secretary to the chief of the .Instructional Department of the Headquarters arid Training Centre of the Women's Transport Service (F.A.N.Y.), Miss Nancy H. Tovey (Tauranga) is busily engaged in war work. She joined the service last January after a period pf ambulance driving for the London County Council.

"At first," she said, "it was rather alarming working at London headquar* ters among so many women, so mill* tary in their smart uniforms, but I soon became accustomed to it."

Since February the headquarters has been established in the country at a former girls' boarding school. They arrived at their new billet in the middle of a snow storm, and for some time lived in an atmosphere of frozen water pipes.

At this training centre recruits are given a month's intensive course in mechanics, driving, map reading, first aid, anti-gas work, and motor-cycling. After passing examinations they are posted to companies to drive Army ambulances, lorries, and staff ears.

The girls live in a long, rambling red brick house, standing in pleasant grounds, which is well equipped with comfortable sitting-rooms. They sleep in dormitories on Army "biscuits"—the term for.straw mattresses, divided into three parts.

"To the uninitiated they are a pro* blem," said Miss Tovey, "for they will come adrift.and take all the bedclothes with them, usually in the middle of the night."

' The school gymnasium is now the mess-—and slimming .is never even mentioned! Reveille is at 7 a.m., beds are made, and the dormitories swept by 8, when breakfast is served. War begins at 9. Leave of 48 hours or 72 hours is. granted between "courses," and the relaxation fvam. Service life is something to be appreciated. Girls from the Empire, with no homes to go to, always receive a warm welcome at the Overseas Club, where every effort is. made to entertain them.

"I feel that this is the kind of work that would appeal to New Zealand women," said Miss Tovey, "The life of a driver is full of adventure and new experiences, and I think New Zealanderg would be eminently fitted to the work for one must be strong and healthy to stand up to it, prsctj. cal, used to 'roughing it,' and prepared to put up with occasional hardships,"

pects of employment for girls," and it is their opinion that a young woman would be wise to take up training in domestic science, nursing, or secretarial work, in preference, for instance, to a literary career. These three careers will certainly fit her better than many others for the task of managing he? own home and family in later life.

• Domestic science at long, long test is to be popularised, and in go doing may solve once and for all the British housewife's age-old problem—the domestic servant shortage. Well-trained, youngsters in their early twenties, holding 9 domestic science diploma .sve being given responsible posts as school housekeeper's and under-matrons. Such jobs until a very shor,t while ago were reserved for the older, untrained woman.

In the field of nursing, openings range from nursing overseas to health visiting and industrial nursing, while there is an increasing demand for children's nurses. Girls are training for these posts in one of two ways: (1) At a day nursery for about' eighteen months, or (2) shorter college course s! ». year.

of an old pioneering family. Her husband is Dr. Will M. Burn, M.A., a wellknown writer and lecturer now living in Punedin. .

A cutting from a Harrow paper stated: "Officers and members of No. 22 Harrow Nursing Division of the St. John Ambulance Brigade and No, 15 Harrow Nursing Cadets will be pleased to hear that the King, the Sovereign Head of the Grand Priory in the British Realm of the Venerable Order of the Hor^al of St. John of Jerusalem, has sanctioned the admission of Dr. Alice Burn .as a Serving Sister of the Order of St. John. ■

When making egg sandwiches, use scrambled instead of hard-boiled eggsAvoid excessive moisture,

A correspondent has discovered that floor polish -is excellent for cleaning windows, and gives a brilliant finish.

When drawing threads from linen, damp it lightly for easier results.