UNSUNG HEROINES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24537, 20 March 1943, Page 4

UNSUNG HEROINES

WOMEN VEGETABLE PICKERS So much has been said about tlio splendid work of the various women's war organisations that the war work being done by women in a more humble and less spectacular capacity is apt to be overshadowed. Yet mucli of it is so monotonous, so arduous, so uninspiritig, yet so vitally necessary, that it has an heroic quality all its own. it may be thought that "heroic' is too strong a word to apply, for instance, to tliei work of the women volunteers who gather in the vegetable crops on the various State farms maintained by the Department of Agriculture for the use of the armed forces. But opinion might change when confronted with a review of a typical day's work on a typical farm, such as that at lhumata, where 165 acres arc planted in peas, beans, silver beet, carrots, tomatoes, beetroot and other vegetables. v "1 leave home at 7 a.m.," said one worker, "catch a tram to SymondsStreet, then another to Onehunga. There we are met by an Army lorry, which takes us to the point nearest the spot where the day's work is to be done. After that we walk —perhaps nearly a mile to the actual scene ol that day's operations. The work goes on all day at top speed, especially if an order hag come in for a large quantity of vegetables, urgently wanted, perhaps, for a ship. One may be hard at it from 8 until 5.30, with about a quarter of an hour off for lunch, which is eaten between the rows of vegetables. Then back one goes by the last lorry, and so home about 7 p.m." Every day about 15 or 20 women carry out this strenuous programme, in addition to the regular Land Army girls, who live in huts near by. Volunteers are paid by the pound, and a fast, experienced worker can pick from 2001b. to .'ll4lb. of peas in a day. All sorts of costumes are worn —slacks, shorts, old skirts, old hats—and all sorts of techniques are devised to speed up the work. Some try kneeling on rubber pads, or old cushions; others use campstools. stuffed sacks, and boxes. One ingenious worker fastened a cushion pad to a low box with a handle. This she dragged along with her as she worked. "ft is a back-breaking job." said one now seasoned worker. "The tomatoes are the worst, as they are the lowgrowing bush variety, and one cannot sit or kneel because some of the tomatoes are too ripe and one would sit or kneel in a squashy mess." Yet to men overseas how worth while it is! At Christmas, for instance, peas were picked fresh, shelled by women workers in Onehunga to save time and space, flown the same day to a distant island "somewhere in the Pacific," and formed the highlight of the men s Christmas dinner. ,