WOMEN AND THE LAND.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 28 October 1915, Page 2

WOMEN AND THE LAND.

A NEW SOUTH WALES MOVEMENT. Mr Estell, Minister of Labor and Industry in Sydney, was most encouraging to a deputation which, waited on him last week with reference to giving women practical instruction in all those branches of farming and horticultural work suitable for women. The speeches made were short and to the point, and, although the Minister stated that it was not in his department to promise anything in regard to an agricultural college for women', yet he made very definite statements about Pitt Town Farm.. Fruit preserving and. canning factories will be established there, and if the Government cannot raise the fruit themselves, they will buy it. The point of view that a trained woman with a few acres of her own can support herself and family, if left to her own resources by her husband's death, or with only a few hundreds in money to invest in land, was well brought out by one of the speakers (Mrs Gilmore), who said that she had herself seen women earning a good living in that way in Paraguay. Dr Grace Boelke's contention that washing and scrubbing, which many women perform as daily tasks, year in, year out. are much harder than the lighter kinds of agricultural work, was much appreciated by Mr Estell. Mr Cheal, of the Botanic Gardens, passed up some specimens of imported beans (lima and haricot), which, he said could be easily raised here by women gardeners, and the money kept in the country. Miss Moss, the spokeswoman, strongly urged that women could do nothing "at all unless they were properly trained. Mrs Vickery described what she had herself seen in Ireland, where experts go around the country side and teach the women butter-making, cheese-making, poultry raising and what not. The deputation, which was representative of.the Women's Horticultural Society, though other bodies were also included, was felt to be a step in the right direction, and a move from which only a good result can come. There was a sensible, practical mood apparent, and the opening for women which was indicated was felt to'be one well within their powers, and also their feminine inclinations and proclivities.