PAN-PACIFIC CONFERENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 50

PAN-PACIFIC CONFERENCE.

ADDRESS TO WOMEN TEACHERS

A large number of members of the League of Nations’ Union and the Women Teachers’ Association assembled in the Tudor Hall on Saturday afternoon, when an address on the Pan-Pacific Conference was given by Miss E. E. Andrews, president of the New Zealand Women Teachers’ Association and one of the delegates to the conference recently held at Honolulu. Miss Andrews was introduced by the Mayoress (Mrs R. S. Black), who stated that the Pan-Pacific Conference, which was held every year, was attended by women delegates from most of the countries bordering the Pacific and dealt principally with questions affecting women and their work. It was a great honour to be sent to such a conference as this. Tn this age. when women were taking such .a prominent part in the social and political life of the world, the Par.Pacific Conference afforded them a splendid opportunity of ascertaining the ideas of women of various nations, and it was only by meeting and discussing problems that they could progress towards the goal at which they were aiming, namely, women’s proper place in the affairs of the world.

In opening her address Miss Andrews explained the constitution of the PanPacific Conference, and showed that it was in truth an. assembly of representatives from practically every country bordering or in the Pacific Ocean. Her own personal impressions of the conference, stated Miss Andrews, were principally in the light of convictions of the absolute pettiness, of racial antipathy, for under the skin all nations had exactly the same ideals and aspirations. Another impression she gained was the feeling of dependance and trust which the people of the less advanced races had with regard to the more democratic and advanced nations.

Miss Andrews then dealt with the educational section of the conference, and stated that a summary had been made of the educational conditions existing round the Pacific. That summary had brought out certain similarities in the conditions in the various countries. The health programmes, the literary aims, and the mechanical methods of distributing educational material all showed points of similarity. All nations were also placing. a marked emphasis on the values which beautified lives. English was taught everywhere, both for commercial purposes and for intellectual co-operation. In the conference of 200 women, there were only three who could not speak English fluently. Id most countries, also, there was a distinct effort being made towards the establishment of a universal language.

Amongst the outstanding addresses at the conference were those given by Miss Goodykuntz. Assistant Commissioner of Education in the United States of America, and Miss Mel. who dealt with the efforts of the motion picture industries of California towards the safeguarding of women and children, and Dame Rachel Crowdy, chief of the Social Questions and Opium Traffic Section of the League of Nations, who dealt with the work done by her committee. In speaking of the future of the Women's Conference, Andrews stated that all the delegates were unanimous that the conference should not be allowed to lapse. The aim of the conference was to provide a better knowledge of and a better understanding between the various nations, and one of the principal endeavours of the conference was to oppose war. The message from the conference to New Zealand was that it should not sit back and let the rest of the world go on, but that it should develop an outlook in terms of the whole of humanity and not confine its activities to the welfare of New Zealand alone.