“ALIEN’S” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3216, 3 November 1915, Page 69

“ALIEN’S” LETTER FROM ENGLAND.

September 9. The meeting of 3000 of the women of England, representing the men on active service, which was neldi in the Queen s Hall on Friday will be counted among the historic monster meetings that have been held there during these last historic years. The vast hall was crowded to the dors, and every person there was there by right, and with few exceptions the right that husbands and sons and brothers conferred by service in the North Sea, in Flanders, or France and the Dardanelles. The women were by no means all of London, but all pails of the country were represented in the unique gathering, grave, quiet, earnest, and many in mourning, who asked with no uncertain voice for equality of service for all. These wives and mothers who have said “Go!” to their own nearest and dearest, who, many of them, may say in the words of the poem that is stirring England to the heart : Mv Ned has gone, he’s gone away, he s gone away for good; He’s called, he’s killed have consistency on their side with the call for universal service. It was a wonderful audience —an audience that thrilled the observer almost to tears, for it represented patriotism at its highest, the patriotism that can sacrifice what is dear as life itself; the giving of which bereaves life of joj 7 , and turns it into existence, in many cases sordid existence. The two chief speakers. Lord Denman (the Governor-general of Australia when compulsory service for home defence came into operation there, and an officer on the active list of the army), and the Bishop of Birmingham, in kahk), as chaplain to the forces, found a profoundly interested audience as they reasoned the justice of universal service. Lord Denham gave high praise to those who have voluntarily enlisted. In opening the meeting, after the enthusiastic singing of “ Land of Hope and Glory ” and the “Marseillaise,” Lord Denham said the like of the gathering was never seen in this country before. Every woman there had some of her menfolk, possibly all her menfolk, serving at the front, and in letting those men go to the front many of them made the supreme sacrifice of their lives. The meeting would become historical, for it inaugurated a new movement which will add to the fighting power of the nation by ensuring equality 7, of service for all, irrespective of rank or position or wealth. The system answered so well, and with such obvious benefit to the community as a whole, that the agitation against it in Australasia quickly subsided, and both Australia and New Zealand were rendering splendid service to the Empire to-day. A statement which was loudly cheered. When the cheers in honour of the heroes of Gallipoli had subsided, Lord Denham continued : “We want here in England to-day, something more than compulsory military service; the whole nation must be organised if we are to carry this war to a successful issue, organisation not only in the army, but behind it. Voluntary service is haphazard, unfair, unequal. Many | men,’’ he continued, “were torn between the conflict of public and private duty which would be decided for them.” Invidious decision should not be left to the ( individual man, he submitted, and as to , the women, they would work their fingers the bone if thereby they could contribute to the comfort or safety of our soldiers. Women are less tolerant of compromise than men, and at a time like this the value of compromise can be overrated. Mr Ellis Griffiths, K.G., an eloquent Welshman and parliamentary speaker, i carried his audience with him when he said that we know what women have gone through during the last 12 months. The voice of sorrow and suffering and sacrifice must always be heeded, and, in speaking of the familiar posters on the hoardings which the Government have used to appeal to women to use their ' influence to pursuade men to go, and of the picture of the elderly mother saying to her son “Go. It’s your duty, lad,” he said : “If it is right for a mother to say “Go!” why does not the Government itself say “Go”? To this the applause was long and loud'. Mrs Archibald Colquhoun moved that the Women’s Manifesto should be circulated from house to house. It is ;—“We .women of the British Empire, believe the ; time has come when every fit man should be made available for the‘fighting line, or, j if specially qualified, for national service at home during the war. And, further, we believe that the time has come when the_ services of women should be fully i ; utilised.” The resolution was seconded by Mrs Mary Gaunt, sister of Rear- 1 ■ admiral Gaunt, and carried with en- i ‘ thusiasm. ! The great point of the meeting was that ; we are not discussing what should be done ' ■ in times of peace, but what should he done now. After the war is over it is . open to everyone to form a personal opinion as to what the right system should ' ; be. We ought all to bo servants of the ! ; State, and it is a terrible thing to think that while we are at war we cannot compose our little industrial disputes. While j our soldiers face death we fear discipline. To compare the man or woman working ■ at homo, short hours and big wages, with the man in the first line, risking day by ' day the dear gift of life itself for his j i native land, and to say that one is doing I : aS much for the country as the other, is to i compare what is incomparable, and any •; man who makes the comparison is guilty I of cant and hvnncrisv which should not come from the lips of an honest man. | London during August and the early 7 : days of September in ordinary times is j

(Specially Written for the Ladies’ Page.)

WOMEN AND NATIONAL SERVICE,

practically a deserted city. Society is out of town. But for the past year society has not “come to town” in its old | sense. The groves have been broken up, although the teeming millions make ever of the streets a Lying hive. But more and more khaki and hospital blue linen is everyyvhere, and youth in civilian dress is more and more represented by women. The usual September sunburn, which tells : of long days of holiday in the open, is not so pronounced this September, and among the crowds tired and care-worn faces are in the majority; the brightest are decidedly the soldiers eager to be off, and some of the convalescents who have done their bit bask noyv contentedly for the time being in the autumn sunshine and the kindness of everybody. An instance of that kindness yvas illustrated the other day yvhen a New Zealand soldier in one of the London hospitals recently 7 back from Gallipoli made public inquiries : for a relative yvhose address he had forgotten. The “lonely soldier” not only found his uncle at his bedside yvithin a feyv hours, but so many letters and parcels that he yvas embarrassed. They arrived in hundreds, so main 7, indeed, that they had to be taken to the hospital in Fulham by special conveyance. The August holidays have left many pale faces still in the city this year — middle-aged men, yvho are doing double duty for those yvho have gone, and young men, chiefly young married men or the unfit, who are badgered and worried and insulted in bank and office and shop because they have not gone. London is as clamorous and as bustling as ever, but its activity is for the most part war activity, it's thought and conversation and amusements about the war. You cannot go a yard in any direction without evidence of the war. In the fall of last year the chief evidences of the war were the men in khaki and the recruits on their route marches singing as they swung along the road. Tens of thousands of those same men are home again now wearing the hospital blue and scarlet ties. We British are not familiar with war, or yvith the thought of war, and we have but sloyvly realised it, partly because the Government has frequently hidden the truth from us; but with'the wounded everywhere in our midst we cannot fail to grasp the gigantic scale of its operations, and to realise how enormous is the demand for men, for many of these returned were six months in training, less than six day’s in action, and as many months as it took to train them they have been in hospital. The bright bine of the convalescent men becomes the colour scheme of the London streets. In all the throbbing main arteries the khaki and blue clad men are everywhere; in the private motors, and in taxLcabs, on buses, trams, and in the parks now beautiful with the autumn flowers. Motor lorries of joTy-looking fellows go through the great parks and along the river-side, where there are not so many flannelled and straw-hatted punters as in former years, for with so many men in khaki and in blue about, the flannelled and strawhatted young man is shy of observation, ard takes bis holiday in retirement, unless he be of the married brigade, and then he wears his family as a shield from jibes and the recruiting agent. The children in many cases are making intimate acquaintance with daddy. On Hampstead Hea‘\ Wimbledon Common, Finsbury Par ~ and the other great open spaces the children clamber over daddy unrebuked as he lies on the grass in the sun taking his few days of well-earned rest, while others ride royally in prams propelled by the family slave and protector. The fashion in Hyde Park this summer has changed. Instead of the longline of smart equipages in the Row bearing the grandees of society from the four corners of the earth, the charabancs and motor cars carry the wounded soldiers of the Empire; the bands play, and the green chairs under the ancient trees are occupied by people who come to see not the world’s millionaires and artists and beauties, but British heroes. And many of the ladies who used to ride in the motor cars are afoot waiting on the soldiers; their hostesses pi-ovide cigarettes and tea—not “afternoon tea” as the drawing room knows it, but delicious cakes and newlaid eggs. Among the men of England are Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders. Some have known the torture of gas, others hav r e been torn and broken by shrapnel. On Saturday last a party of TO wounded soldiers from' Fulham Hospital were entertained, and among them several New Zealanders. The gentleman who had charge of the programme told one of the soldiers that his son had emigrated to New Zealand —Auckland —a few years ago, and it turned out that they were acquainted. Saturday afternoon, which sets so many people free, is a recognised afternoon for the entertainment of both officers and men. Tennis parties, and the matinee performances at the theatre, and the hotel lounge tea have been y’ery popular this summer, and particularly on Saturday afternoons the officers home on short leav 7 e, and officers not yet gone, among others, find time for this distraction from sterner duties. The matinee queues, it is noticeable, are nearly all formed by women, and very numerous are tbe women drivers of motor cars, especially private motor cars, enlistment having taken away the men chauffeurs. On© misses the uniform dressing of the women engaged in ymrious public ways, and those at the railways and at the lifts wear distinctive dress, but many of the great new industrial army wear ordinary dress. A lady writing on this matter, says:—“lt is not so much, howev 7 cr, a matter of uniform—this is provided in a few familiar oases—as

of the lack of what I may call suitable craft attire. Po.sibly the problem has been satisfactorily solved by individuals. The experience of the women already at work who have decided upon a practical and becoming costume for their own particular calling would be of invaluable help to the still larger number of women who will s'on join the new industrial army. Will they give it?” Among the many new openings for young women made by the war is that into the medical ranks. The Lancet says that we must look to the increased entry of women to meet the situation: "In much of the glut of work at home women are playing their part, and the country has observed with pleasure that the war has given them a fresh impetus towards the study of medicine. Apart from general practice there are certain well-defined directions where women can find congenial occupation, assured incomes, and opportunities for their scientific work.” The treatment of the diseases of women and children is cited, the inspection of child life, and especially in India. The article hr Miss Elizabeth Robins to which I drew your attention a few weeks back, suggesting women as stretcherbearers, has created much interest among all classes of women in England, writes G. M'Dougal. the lady superintendent of La March Military Hospital, Calais : and also she adds among our men in France and the east. “There is no doubt whatever that women could be entrusted with the convov work in all base towns in France. There can be no plea of danger, want of endurance, or physical strength raised against their being so used, as in base towns there is no danger and no need of endurance, and the physical power of the average woman is quite equal to carrying a man on a stretcher the short distances needed. To drive wounded men is to drive slowly and cautiously, and all women drivers can do this. Therefore, why not set free at once several hundred sturdy young men whose relatives proudly think they are ‘doing their bit’? Stretcherbearing has been taught on a commonsense system to the women of a corps that is new working in France, and none of these women, whose ages range from 19 to 50, has suffered physically in consequence. Ambulance driving abroad has been done for a year, and well done, by the women drivers of this same corps. To widen the field of action, why waste strong men as hospital orderlies? The old R.A.M.C. men with years of training learnt gentleness, but the new R.A.M.C. men with two or three months’ training are very rough. Women Avith the same amount of training are more fitted by nature for such Avork, for a woman by nature is gent’e. . . . The R.A.M.C. is the finest organisation of the twentieth century. The work that they have done and ai’e firing daily Avill be for e\-er Avritten in letters of gold : but they should move Avith the times, they should send their young strong men to places Avhere they AA'ill not send women, and in every hospital in Britain or in safe toAvns abroad they should replace the male orderlies with women orderlies. . . . The horrors of Avar are very terrible; men come back Avith minds unhinged. Women may not he fit to witness these scenes, and yet there are women Avho have looked on war’s belli h torments, and are Avorking quietly and still sane. . . . When there is a number of capable, healthy, selfreliant women available it is almost a crime not to use them.” And so think the Avomen themselves, for in Avhatever else England was not prepared for war, the training of her women for years past has fitted them for a strenuous part.