SETTLERS’ WIVES

Southland Times, Issue 20632, 2 November 1928, Page 7

SETTLERS’ WIVES

CO-OPERATION AND OPTIMISM. CONDITIONS IN AUSTRALIA. London, October 31. The Hon. L. C. Amery, speaking at the Society for the Settlement of Women, instanced the successful settlement undermost unfavourable conditions in Australia, notably in West Australia, Victoria and Queensland. He also instanced the optimism of 60 to 70 settlers in New South Wales after an unprecedented drought. He had never met a more cheerful community similarly conditioned, and was convinced as the result of his tour that the women’s co-operation and optimism provided the men’s greatest assets. Mr W. Mackinder. M.P., declared that travelling thousands of miles in Australia controverted the English fallacy that Australian settlers were necessarily isolated from civilization, and said the civic development had reached the world’s highest standard in Australia. "I never saw slums in any city comparable with the British slums, and there was no evidence of rickets among the children comparable with the British, never a child barefooted and never healthier children nor more independent men or more self-reliant women, notably the wives and daughters of the backblocks settlers.”—Australian Press Association— United Service.