PIONEER WOMEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24594, 30 April 1941, Page 9

PIONEER WOMEN

MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION NEED FOR HEADQUARTERS Although as a result of war conditions the Otago Pioneer Women’s Memorial Association has not undertaken any active work in the past year, there was a good attendance last evening at the annual meeting of the association, .over which Dr E. H. McKinnon presided. Regret that it had been necessary to postpone activities was expressed by Dr McKinnon, and she added that it was particularly disappointing that the association’s memorial building had not been completed before war broke out. The urgent need for such a central building, which could be used as headquarters to serve the needs of all women’s organisations, had been demonstrated by the war more vividly than ever. * ■ “At a time when women are being called upon to • serve their country in many different ways—providing woollen garments for our troops, sewing and sorting out garments for the distressed and homeless of England, working in Red Cross activities, in V.A.D. and canteen work, for the Townswomen’s Guild and the Women’s War Service Auxiliary,” she said, “ it stands out as a distinct weakness in a city that these voluntary workers are compelled to find any sort of cold, uncomfortable quarters in different odd rooms about the town in which to meet and do their work. If the city were a poor city where the population was struggling hard to make a living, one could understand the want of such amenities: but Dunedin has the name of being one of the wealthiest cities in New Zealand, and its women deserve better of it. " New in Dominion

“We have the spectacle of one organisation using a room in Speight’s building above the Vedic, another in the basement of the Town Hall, another in Jamison’s building, another in the New Zealand Express Company’s buildings, another in First Church Hall, and others in many other church halls in the suburbs, and finally in many people’s private homes, where a lounge or a sitting room is given up once weekly for public purposes,” Dr McKinnon continued. “I suppose, however, we must recognise that in every city there is a conservative element which resists and obstructs SI new ideas in a city’s progress, and e idea of having one building in the city to serve the needs of all women’s organisations and activities is new in New Zealand, though not in other countries."

Dr McKinnon congratulated Timaru and Oamaru on their memorials, and commented that the smaller centres had pushed forward with energy and a progressive spirit, while apathy, if not actual obstruction and resistance to progress, had gripped this larger city. This was a time when the old virtues of hard work, self-sacriflce for a cause, pride in one’s worth, and pride in one’s city were giving way to lassitude and to the desire for comforts and pleasure, the easy life against the strenuous life, and therefore it was a time when those who still admired the old virtues should make an effort to erect a memorial to the line spirit possessed by the pioneers, a spirit which appeared to be passing with the century. Office-bearers

Office-bearers were elected as follows:—President, Dr E, H McKinnon: vice-presidents—the Mayoress (Mrs A. H. Allen). Lady Sidey, Mesdames R. S. Black, J. F. Drake, W. H. Elliot, S. M. Park, J. McGeorge, T. G. McKellar, and I. White, Misses C. Cutten, C. A. A. Greenslade; honorary secretary and treasurer, Dr S. C. C. Sinclair; committee —Mesdames Ansell, Aslin. G. Brooks, H. C. Campbell, J. Cooke, R. Dawson, J. R. Dickison, F. Foster, J. A. Henderson. J. McDonald, J. Mooney, W. Sproull, J. Starr, and W. B. Taverner, Misses Calder, Griffith, and Scorgie, and Miss Jean Burtt, of In-

! vercargill; honorary auditor, Miss E. M. Blyth; honorary solicitors, Messrs Collier, Taylor and Salmond. Brave Pioneer Women An eloquent and impressive tribute to the courage, self-reliance, dei termination, and cheerfulness of the women who had played their full part in building the New Zealand of to-day was paid by Miss E. N. Reid in an address on “The Brave Pioneer Women.” Miss Reid urged that there could be no more valuable or appropriate memorial to these women than a building which would meet a need that had become so urgent. Miss Reid’s address was followed by a programme of musical and elocution items, and supper.