National Council of Women Peace Plans

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 97, 24 April 1941, Page 5

National Council of Women Peace Plans

MRS. HOW-MARTYN THE SPEAKER The April meeting of the Manawatu branch of the National Council of Women was thrown open to members of affiliated societies to afford them the opportunity of hearing Mrs. Edith How- j Martyn, of London, speaking on ”rian- 1 ning For Peace.” Mrs. J. Harris (Turakina) president was in tho chair and before offering a welcome to the speaker, asked the audience to stand in silent prayer for tho people of England. Mrs. How-Martyn had been asked to take the subject arising out of a paper issued by the Theosophical Women’s Association, Wellington, in reply to a questionnaire sent out by the International Council of Women. It was necessary first to know clearly where we stood in considering any memorandum regarding peace plans, Mrs. How-Martyn said. The British Commonwealth of Nations was fully occupied with war, and so far as justification was concerned, our minds were made up. New Zealand being a Dominion had not been obliged to come in, but so far as she understood, New , Zealand had been the first in line after j Great Britain. We should not forget j the lessons of history and we did not need to go far back to remember that if we lost the war we would lose every- j thing and have no say whatever. Every discussion should be based on the idea that we would achieve victory and not j stalemate. We must feel there was no ) other way to get victory than by fighting. If there had been another way it would have been found. It could never be held against Great Britain and her , Allies that she had not made every effort to avoid war. The speaker | went on to deal with work for peace over the past fifteen years, particular- ! ly with the efforts of the League of Nations which might have succeeded but received its death blow from America almost before it had begun. It was evident very different machinery : would need to bet set up and we must not delude ourselves that peace would be easy to get. Mrs. How-Martyn read the peace put forward by the Bishop of Norwich as an ideal. Women must have the courage to tackle the population problem and the eugenic problem ; 1 with it. Nb woman should stand for ; having any sort of children in any sort of wav. One of the tragedies of the I present time was that in no country (unless New Zealand) did children get j all tho food they should have. The I Axis leaders urged large families and then made war to find room for them. Mrs. How-Martyn said she had been astonished to find such a large number 'of women’s organisations, many so weak, and few with the strength, money or resources to do first-class work for women. There should be a clearing house and careful study to avoid overlapping. The speaker agreed entirely with the memorandum that there should be more women in Parliament, but considered they should get | there on their own merits and not have special privileges. The circumstances were different in India with 90 per cent, illiterate and masses in purdah and where, curiously enough, at the AllIndia Women’s Conference she had attended the women desired equality and not superiority. This peculiar position required special consideration. Despite opposition to the allocation of seats many had stood for general seats and had been returned. These conditions did not hold in New Zealand. Women must try to understand the conditions there would need to be to bring about peace; they should study history so far as peace efforts and assume their duties and responsibilities of citizenship as well as the privileges.