HELPLESS AND DESOLATE.

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 July 1915, Page 3

HELPLESS AND DESOLATE.

WOMEN, WAR, AND LABOUR, The Women's Labour League of England have issued a manifesto, from which the following js taken:—"War touches all.working women more vitally than any other section of the community. We pay for it iu a way that men cannot —in the loss of what' we hold most dear, in anixety, and weary waiting, iu sorrow and tears —and the payment is the heavier because we realise that we an; helpless spec tatcr.; of events which have marched against our wish and will to their climax in bloodshed and ruin. From us women war takes our husbands, brothers, and lovers, brings starvation to our children, and menaces the stability and security of our homes. As working women we declare that our interests lie in peace. Every soldier who is slain in battle, whether Britjsh or French, German or Austrian, Russian or Serbian, leaves desolate some woman's heart."

In the absence of men at the front ,the experiment of employing a, dozen women as street car conductors in Glasgow has proved so satisfactory that the corporation have decided to employ many additional .women to fill the vacancies caused by the men enlisting. The women will be paid 27 weekly, and given a uniform. In consequence of the increasing shortage of male workers in Great Britain, women are rapidly entering many occupations which were previously regarded as the exclusive property of women. Some of the railway companies have engaged a, number of women in the clerical and accountancy departments. In Scotland women carriage cleaners are at work, and are giving every satisfaction. In some instances "women have been engaged iu architects' offices to do clerical work, and some are thus able for the first time ,to turn to account a gift for drawing. One case has occurred of a woman undertaking the work of collecting bad debts. The enlistment of many chauffeurs has given an impetus to motor driving for women. There are. a number of 'women motor drivers, but up to the present the authorities have refused to license them. In Paris numbel's of taxi cabs arc now driven by women. One large London firm now employ women to work their lifts. Women are to' be seen in charge of .station bookstalls. In some occupations which are common to men and women the male workers have almost disappeared. Parlour maids haye almost entirely superseded the footmen in private houses; English waitresses take the place of German waiters in boardinghouses.