WAR-TIME WORK

Grey River Argus, 5 January 1940, Page 4

WAR-TIME WORK

CIVIL AIR GUARD. Women members of the Civil Air Guard, whose Hying tuition has cost the British Government just over £55 000, have been told that the Blate cannot utilise the.r services m av.atin now, writes Betty Wilson from London in the Sydney Morning H=xal< Hospitals, farms—and kitchens—have been suggested as their new held of action, for, in spite of feminise propaganda, England still beluves that women are much more useful jo cooks than as aviators. The War Office, the Home Office, the Admiralty, and the Air Minstry have domestic problems which are fur more pressing than any which confront the must put-upon housewife. At least half of the 150,000 women who make up England’s army of women will serve their country as cooks and domestic workers. The remainder of the army is made up of nurses, V.A.D. workers, and land workers. Jobs of the international spy variety

are few and far between. Women enrolled in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (they were known as the Waacs in the last war) are nearly all serving England as Clerks, cooks or domestic workers, at wages which gebin at Is 3d a day and which, may, for a particularly important executive job, go up to 28s 3d a day. There are 20,000 of them. Two thousand Wrens, serving with the Women’s Royal Naval Service, ar e being turned over to 'domestic and clerical work, and 3000 members of the W.R.A.F.S. (the Air Force women’s service), who are doing the same work, are to be supplemented by more recruits in a new reciuiting drive scheduled to begin shortly. Officials just can’t find enough women to do the “chores.”

A whole army of women--50,000 or them —has gone over to the Women’s Land Army, which has Lady Denman, wife of a former Governor-General or Ziustralia, at its head, with Mrs Waiter Elliot, wife of the Minister of Health and Lady Wakehurst’s sister, in charge of London section.. _ As Commandant-in-Chicf. of the British Red Cross, the Princess, Royal, heads another army of 60,000 women, who are nursing in civil and service hospitals, helping air raid precaution work, or who have joined up with voluntary aid detachments. There is another batch of 4000 odd women under the Women’s Voluntary Service listing. Another 500 belong to the Women’s Auxiliary Fire Service —relieving watchmen, staffing switchboards. driving cars. They want more owner- drivers to enrol; The Women’s Voluntary Service has

started a campaign for more ambulance drivers. Even more their domestic worker problem. "A big hospital has just asked for 600 wardsmaids and cooks,” an pfhcial said despairingly, “but while we have floods of recruits for nearly every other kind of service we just cant find enough domesticated women. Anq woman with practical experience of household work would be useful. The same appeal comes from the River Emergency Service, which has been started by the Port of London Authority to deal with river casualties. . They cannot find enough cooks and waitresses to run riverside canteens and hostels for doctors and nurses, even though they hold out such in-, ducements as the -smart trousered unifprm—cut rather like a ski-ing su jt—which will make girls in trie R.E.S. stand out in an army of shortskirted -women. A RECIPE or two.

A Cold Sweet: Separate the yolk and white of an egg. Add one teaspoonful of castor sugar. to the yolk and- whisk until thick and-creamy. Dissolve one sheet of leaf gelatine in a tablespoonful of hot water and strain into, the yolk,; then, when beginning to .set, whisk the egg-white to a stiff froth and fold in lightly. .. Add a few' drops of vanillar orange essence, then turn into a small glass dish to set. Before serving decorate with glace cherries. .. .

Custard Cake: Ingredients: 21b flour, 1 lb butter, lib . soft- brown sugar, 4 -eggs, 21b mixed fruit,' ilb candied peel. 1 pint milk, 1 teaspoonful eabh ri of cinnamon, spice', nutmeg and the three essences (vanilla, almond and lemon), 2 teaspoonfuls, bakingisoda. Method: Rub. the butter into the flour, and add. the .sugar and all the frjuit). Boil, the milk..and add it to the beaten eggs. Then, mix the custard into the rest' of the ingredients. The mixture _.will be. very wet but. this is all right Cook the cake in a moderate oven 3 to 31 hours.

HOW TO DRESS. “’Distinction” and "disaster” are the two headings for the cut-out figures in a section of the Women’s Court dealing with dress at the Centennial 1 Exhibition. Helen has bought a perfectly cut plain black gown. She has added to it one simple clip arid on her wrist she wears a bracelet —the result is “distinction and style.” ..Emmeline, in exactly the same dress, has adorned herself with a rope of pearls, , large •silver buckles on her shoes, a spray of flowers tied with silver ribbon, rings

and bracelets —and the result is "disaster.”

These figures, and the captions beneath them which explain the difference in their appearance, are but part of a novel and instructive exhibit for women arranged by the Home Science section. The display includes several octlcai illusions which demonstrate the remarkable difference made by dress design in accentuating slimness and broader contours. Cut-out figures are painted with vertical lines in one case and horizontal lines in another, the result being that the figure with the vertical pattern appears slimmer and more graceful than the other with tne horizontal design. A further set of figures illustrate the advantage of good posture. a ■dress designed in exactly the same ■way is shown on three figures, tw> of which stand badly and the third stands erect. It provides visual evi- , dence of the importance of correct carriage for the most attractive wearing. of clothes. The texture and design or materials Is also the subject of a display that links fhe varying types with their most appropriate use. This exhibit is 'but one of manv fascinating corners in the Women’s Court, where thousands of visitors spend many hours during their stay at the Exhibition.