NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19260, 26 August 1924, Page 5

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

The annual conference of women will be hehl in Dunedin this year in iho first week in September. The sessions will bo held in the rooms of the Overseas Club, and the- public will be heartilv welcome to all meetings. Monday, September 1. will bo devoted to the social side, in order that all delegates from the North Island branches may become acquainted with their fellow-delegates of the South Island. A civic reception in the City Chamber will be held by the Mayor at noon. A luncheon in the Tudor Hall will then be tendered to the delegates and members of the branch, and (weather oermitting) a motor drive will introduce the visitors to the beauties of Dunedin and its environments. On their return all will m*et at the Otago Womens’ Club at an “at home.” On Tuesday work in earnest will commence at 10 a.m., and. except for a mid-dav break, will continue till 5 p.m. On Wednesday there will be a longer break at mid-day to allow for a visit to the Arts Building of the University, and (.he afternoon session will continue till 5.30. Probably there will be a similar programme on Thursday, ikho Medical School being visited. The conference will close with a reception at the Otago Women’s Club in the evening. _ Subjects for discussion wifi be of a kind that affect women and children, such as the prohibition cf children’s presence in hotel bars; the prohibition of very young children celling at night time; the claim that efficiency and not the accident of sex shall be the passport to responsible positions in the civil 'service; and the removal of the many disqualifications arbitrarily, inmosed on women by men. Hostesses who are extending hospitality to the visitors are—Mrs Leech.. Dr Sicdeherg, Miss M’Lean. and Dr Muriel Bell. The National Council of Women is a federation of many women’s organisations handed together in a “combine” in order to forward the aims of individual societies. It serves to educate public opinion among women on all aspects of social and legislative reforms; for as a body, the National Council of Women does not devote itself to any one object, nor to any sectarian policy. It seeks to unite all societies of women who are working for (he uplift of humanity, irrespective of religion, polities, race, or colour. Nearly all civilised countries, including Asiatic ones, has their National Councils of Women and these are federated into an International Council of Women with its own executive, standing-com-mittees. and a quinquennial conference held in different continents. The next quinquennial is due in 1525 and may bo held in Washington or Vienna. Let ns'look forward to (he time that, we may welcome their coming to New Zealand, possibly when an established air service has become the recognised method of transit. Even now the Now Zealand Council is in frequent communication with headquarters nn(J the 31 countries comprised in the International Council of Women. These have a Pavilion at Wembley and are holding a scries of conferences there; the Dunedin branch will Ire represented at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition in 1925.