Of Interest to Women

Southland Times, Issue 24545, 20 September 1941, Page 5

Of Interest to Women

W.A.A.F. In Invercargill the appeal for enrolments in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force has been very good. At present 60 girls are waiting to be interviewed by the selection committee and fresh applications are arriving every day. This week about 30 girls from the district began duty. As yet they have not received their uniforms, but were issued with overalls according to whatever duties they would be doing. Those wishing to join the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force must first enrol at the Women’s War Service Auxiliary and the applications are then sent from the Invercargill office to Wellington. Rates of pay vary from 4/6 to 6/- a day, together with uniform and meals. Medical and dental benefits are provided where possible by R.N.Z.A.F. medical and dental personnel. Applicants are paid on a seven-day week basis and their pay is exempt from National and Social Security Tax. The minimum age is 18, and enrolment is for the duration of the war.

The girls have no choice of duties, but any qualifications they may have will be taken into consideration. Applications are being called for short-hand-typists, clerks with a knowledge of typing and for general duties, cooks, kitchen hands, waitresses, aircraft hands, drivers, telephone operators, dental and medical assistants and assistants for the stores and technical training section. At Blenheim the girls are accommodated at the station, where there are club rooms in which they spend their leisure time, but at Wigram and Harewood the girls live out. Local residents are willing to give them accommodation at a reasonable price and they have their meals at the station. An allowance of tenpence a meal is allowed for each meal away from the station. The selection committee said that the girls from this district who had offered their services were of an excellent type. They were di’awn from all walks of life, and so it could be said that those who have begun duty were truly representative of the province of Southland. Women and Gardens There are few homes in New Zealand which do not boast a garden, though some are but small patches of lawn with a sprinkling of hardy perennials on the border. A walk along any suburban street in Invercargill during the early part of the evening will show the observant visitor that householders are taking advantage of the longer days to improve their gardens, and to prepare the soil for another season. The news broadcasts are one of the reasons given for staying at home more in the evening, especially among elderly persons, and the early hours are employed in the garden, which profits by the extra time spent on it. An Invercargill florist, when questioned on the interest which the average housewife takes in the garden, said that 90 per cent, of his customers were women, proof that they did take a great interest in the growing of flowers, shrubs, and vegetables. The flower gardens face the street, and for these, the shop window of the home, women must take the greater part of the credit. “Women are practical gardeners, and great believers in the theory of gardening,” he stated. “They study books on the subject, learn the best methods, then put them into practice, where a man in a similar position tries out his own ideas, and if they are proved wrong, tries others until he finds the correct one. Yet a woman is more easily discouraged than a man, and her interest flags more quickly. A man takes great pains with his garden, giving much time and attention to it, and seeing that the soil is manured correctly, and not giving up once he has begun. “Women must rely on men to do the heavy digging and trenching, for they know that this is one job which they cannot do satisfactorily. But it is the woman who plans the garden, and knows which flowers will make the best show, for she has a good sense of colour and form, and plans her garden as scientifically as she does the furnishing of a room in her house. “Southland has only recently become garden-minded,” continued the florist, “but enthusiasm has grown rapidly, and Invercargill gardens now compare favourably with those of the northern cities with kinder climates. The vegetable section is one of (he most important parts of the garden, especially in these days of carefully balanced budgets, and it is here than men come into their own and do the bulk of the work, though women, too, do their fair share. The increasing importance of this part is shown by the proportions of seeds sold this season. Since the war began sales of vegetable seeds have gone up steadily, until this year 50 per cent, more vegetables are being sold than flower seeds. Many householders are cutting out a part of the flower garden and devoting the space to the homely vegetable.