WOMEN’S PART

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20074, 21 October 1939, Page 5

WOMEN’S PART

DOMINION WAR EFFORT ASSISTANCE OFFERED FULL INQUIRY SOUGHT CONFERENCE CALLED (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. The war effort of the women of New Zealand will be discussed at a conference in Wellington called by the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. W. Lee Martin, for Tuesday, November 7.

It is expected that the assistance of women will be required mostly in the production of food-stuffs and this aspect will be examined in detail as it involves both assistance on farms and in. the home.

“We have received very many offers of assistance from women’s organisations anxious to help overcome any shortage of manpower and do their share in meeting the situation caused by the war,” said the Minister in'aji interview yesterday. Representatives of the Women’s Institutes, the Women’s Division of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union, the Young Women's Christian Association and the National Council of Women in New Zealand had been invited to attend the conference. He would meet the -lelegates and discuss proposals with them.

The Minister emphasised the need for finding out precisely what duties women volunteers were willing to undertake and what they were capable of doing before embarking upon mv scheme. He said that offers had been received from many women willing to do farm. work. Others had volunteered for domestic work, but obviously it was essential to formulate a detailed scheme to meet the requirements before any offers could be accepted.