ALL-IN EFFORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24135, 29 November 1941, Page 12

ALL-IN EFFORT

CONSCRIPTION SCHEME EVERYONE LIABLE COMPULSION IN BRITAIN (Reed. 7.20 i>.ir\.) LONDON, Nov. 27 Every man and woman in Britain will bo liable for conscription under a bill which Parliament is likely to pass within a fortnight. The Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, will announce details of the bill at the next meeting oE Parliament. The Government's powers will not be limited by the age, sex, class or employment of the individual, but in practice the immediate plans .contemplate the calling up of men l'roni IB to 50 years of ago and women from IB to 40. | The plans also provide for conscription of younger women for the Women s Royal Naval Service, Auxiliary Territorial Service, and Women s Auxiliary Air Force, with the proviso that they shall not be compelled to serve in combatant branches like searchlight antiaircraft units. Reservation Principle The principle of reservation by occupation will disappear, by raising the age of reservation by a year each month after Christmas. Most women and older men will be drafted into war industries and civil defence, and men oyer 40 will be employed on "second line" jobs. _ Special tribunals will deal with cases of hardship, including women with special domestic ties and wives of servicemen. , ~ „ The first step is likely to be the callup of women of 20 to 25 years for the Auxiliary Territorial Service, tor which 200,000 are needed immediately. Largo numbers of people will not be affected by the bill because they are already considered to be in jobs best serving the war effort. The Parliamentary Secretary or the Ministry of Labour stated in the House of Commons that the number of women registered in the 1917 to 1920 class was 1,265,0.16. Four women had been prosecuted for failing to comply with the direction. Obligation For Service Wide extension of the scope of | national service legislation in Britain is foreshadowed by a report that a debate on the subject of Woman-power and manpower, which is to take place in the House of Commons, will arise on a Government motion which stands in the names of Mr, Churchill, Prime Minister, Mr. C, It. Attlee, Lord Privy Seal, Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary for Air, Mr. Ernest Brown, Minister of Health, and Mr. Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour, says a British official wireless message. The motion is; "That it is the opinion of this House, for the purpose of securing a maximum national effort in the conduct of the war and for production, that the obligation for national service should bo extended to include the resources of Woman-power and manpower still available, and that the necessary legislation should be brought in forthwith."

WOMEN IN FORCES TRAINING AND DISCIPLINE PROBLEM OF RECRUITING LONDON, Nov. QC The great problem of women's part In the war, especially tho mingling of the sexes in the same branches of the Arniy, was debated in both Houses of Parliament last night. In the House of Lords, Lord Trenchard questioned the wisdom of men «nd women training and taking recreation together at anti-aircraft training centres, He added that mixed discipline was not good. Parents disliked the possibility of men reprimanding their daughters. Lord Croft, Under-Secretary for War, said tin effort had been made to separate women's from men's units, but this was impossible in every branch of the work. Women, ho said, commanded nil women's units, and were responsible for discipline and well-being, except in cases where women had volunteered for a combatant corps. Tn the TTotise of Commons, Captain J. H. McEwen (National ConservativeBerwick) criticised recruiting methods, including the withdrawal of a poster of a lipstickod girl because it was considered too glamorous, He contended that it would have popularised recruiting. "Shame!" interjected Miss Eleanor Rathbone (independent Combined Universities). . It was useless, continued Captain McEwen, for Mr. Bevin, Minister of National Service, to traverse the country, bellowing like a wounded rhinoceros autl threatening compulsion of women. Some girls in one branch of the national effort, he said, were not permitted to have mirrors in their rooms, "What self-respecting woman does not look in the mirror before going out?" lie asked. "Until the Government realises that this is a feline, not a bovine, problem, it will make no progress with women's recruitment.'' "V" SIGN PATENTED ("Rccd. 5.85 p.m.) NEW YORK. Nov. 27 Pratho Scott, sales manager of a boat eompany at Tulsa, Oklahoma, has patented the "V for Victory" emblem and a do?,on firms are offering to nego- | tiato with him for the exclusive rights. Scott designed a "V" boat pennant for a customer, who rejected it. However, Scott got an idea. He paid a patent attorney to search and, discover- ■ nig there was 110 patent ifv the sign, applied and was granted one.