Our Competition

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 62, Issue 3, 15 March 1941, Page 218

Our Competition

"Should Farm Girls Leave Home Now And Take Up Work in the City?"

THERE were ever so many entries for this competition, and it certainly augurs well for the future of our farms, to find so many of you with the same answer, “Yes.” For in almost every instance your answer was “Stay on the farmit is there a girl’s duty lies while the war lasts.” I wish I co.uld give prizes to you all and publish all your essays, but that is not possible. Even if you did not win a prize, I hope you will continue to send me your ideas from time to time. First prize goes to “Mrs. A.M.,” Wanganui; second to “Alter Ego,” Clinton; and highly commended, “Mrs. Vee,” Waikato, “Rainbow Seeker,” Bay of Plenty, and “Town Girl,” Wellington. Here are the winning essays:

First Prize

WHEN it comes to leaving the farm for a job in town, if a girl goes generally it is because she wants a . change, or expects to better herself financially,' socially, and educationally. If she thought of doing that physically she would drop the idea promptly. Only in their ’teens young people don’t so often think of saving and increasing health for the years ahead, as they take for granted it will always be there, like sunshine- and fresh air. Those are matters of course on a farm, like plenty of space and of wholesome food, all of ’ which, especially to folk used to them, are important needs for health, which spells happiness,, and incidentally, . attractiveness. The staled atmosphere,' umpteen times used over, of shops and offices, is literally poisonous after the open air of out-of-doors. And- after the feeling, of space and freedom from strangers’ observing eyes it is stifling to lose the spaciousness and plenty of a house surrounded by paddocks, outside garden and orchard, to find one’s only privacy in a bedroom of a lodging in some house oh a town section overlooked intimately by neighbours on every side, all the time. It makes a lot ,of difference to health and nerves, that loss of privacy, that shut-in feeling, with the onjy change the regular hurry along asphalt pavements. It makes a surprising difference also to have to realise the greater, and increasing, cost of wholesome food, plentiful on a farm, strictly rationed by your purse, and not nearly as’fresh, in town. You can’t go out into the garden -and pick salads or fruit or flowers, as you have always been able. You can buy things more easily. Yes, only that most of the other shops are shut too when you get out and it

is always unpleasantly surprising how fast money goes when everything has to be paid for. It is much harder to pay one’s way, let alone save, in a town. . If you don’t feel satisfied, perhaps with not getting award wages, at home, you know there are always places open on ' other farms, for you to try out changes of conditions till you feel suited, and with every one you learn something different. There is more to learn on a farm, if you try to find out all its possibilities and interests, than in the drying routine of most town jobs. And there is another fact well worth your considering. On a farm you are helping to win the war, by making it possible for a man to go to the Front, where he is needed, and by steadying the main industry of the Dominion, food production. The whole economic welfare of ' New Zealand, and its value to the Empire, is based on that, so if you stay on and help you are doing important work, holding a vital post on the Home Front, just as much here as in the British branch of the Land Army. Also you are helping to ease the dreadful after-war slump and unemployment problem. For ,if the farms have been kept going a man can return to his job there, marry a girl and they can carry on together. So for your own health, for financial benefit, for helping to win the war, and for solving after-war ' problems, stay on the Farm. • “MRS. A.M.,” Wanganui.

Second Prize CERTAINLY! If they wish to, and have the urge to get. into the swim of things rather than rusticate in the back-wash of the j backblocks.

There is too much altogether of this sentiment abroad. / ■ “Country’s country and Town’s town, and never the twain shall meet,” to misquote Kipling! If a farm girl has the farm “in her blood,” nothing on earth will induce her to leave the farm. If she hasn’t, then it is better for everyone that she leave the farm at once a square peg in a round hole is useless to everyone, including herself. • I- z So to the “Farm Girl” I would say, “Go where your bent leads you! Don’t stick on the farm now just because it’s wartime. If you feel you can be a better car-conductor than farm girl, go to it, and let the city girl who has a sneaking longing for farm work, take your place.” The only good work that is ever done in any job is done ,by the one who loves her work in all its ramified details. Therefore, if you love the farm, stick to it, and then the More Production Campaign becomes not a mere catchword, but a Living Reality. 7 “ALTER EGO.” Clinton. f

7, • Highly Commended

WHAT is the answer of the farm . girl’s own conscience to your question? Self-interest might easily' tempt her to exploit the present abnormal situation created by the war to her own temporary advantage, but if she is the sister, or the, sweetheart of a lad who has offered everything, even life itself, in this conflict between good and evil, freedom and the grim spectre of a world-wide application of the infamous “New Order”well I think she will “carry on” like the true civilian soldier she is, where her training and experience can be utilised to the fullest national advantage,, on the farm. In the cities there are still a large number of people employed in luxury and non-essential occupations and people of independent means, and I think that the ranks of recruits. for essential war work might well be augmented from these sources. In conclusion, I can only pay tribute to the typical farm girl, who wears

no badge, parades in no exciting uniform, and yet cheerfully works long hours week days and Sundays, wet or fine, and I’m sure that it warms the heart of the man overseas to know that she is there at home, matching his sacrifice with her own.

“RAINBOW SEEKER” Bay of Plenty. Actually, it is the girl that counts. Some never will adapt themselves to the simplicity that must ever be farm life. Life in the country should be scheduled as are town jobs and things would be more attractive. Again, it is loneliness that is the “last ■straw” in many a girl’s life, and if a group system could be arranged where the girls could meet twice a week for sports, twice a week for merely social evenings, and twice a week for lectures modernising all our duties, then life would be so full that none of us girls (old or young). would have time (or excuse) for lamenting our lot. Personally, I vote for country every time, but not everyone thinks like that, and to attain successful running of our producing area, many changes are due. If others “pay” at forty hours why don’t we?

“MRS. VEE,”

Waikato.

OFTEN, I > think, there is every reason for farm girls to follow some profession, if necessary leaving home to. do so. So many girls on the other hand, after perhaps a year or two’s secondary school training at the nearest town, return for a year or so at home and soon lose contact with the city and become immersed. in country life once more. Life on a farm is certainly a continuous one with plenty to do, but there is rarely enough work all the year round for more than two women, at any rate,, and where there are two or three daughters, there is every opportunity for the less domestiically inclined to go elsewhere. Nursing or teaching for . instance would both be useful in after life, if the girls eventually settle on a farm.

But now it is different. It is wartime, and everyone is urged to fill the position she is best suited for. There are still the attractions of bright lights, companions, pleasant work, and better openings that ' city life, affords, but some of these can be partly gained in the country. At the present, there are certainly more openings available in town, but some of these positions are only for the duration, and are being kept open as far , as possible for the men who return from the war. Perhaps there are vacancies in factories or

in offices, but I wonder if such positions would appeal long to country girls. As they are away from home, there is always board to consider, and sometimes that is not so easy to obtain. In the country there is the shortage of ... domestic help, since so few girls are willing to leave town just to do housework. There are the cows to milk, and at present there is little excuse for the women not to do such jobs as that. . And out in the field, in spite of the need for increased production,' it seems almost probable that some crops may rot away through sheer lack of labour. Men have grown to prefer the forty-hour week to the strenuous occupation of the farmhand and now,

with the application of conscription, the country people are bearing the brunt of it. One man can mean such a difference to the day’s work on a farm, and yet some must go. And it is here that the girl can offer. There is plenty of lighter work with the tractor or the horses, and she need not assume complete responsibility give the farmer a hand. If the women of England can do it, those of New Zealand are equally capable. And there is always the V.A.D. training to fit them more for real war work, if they desire it. -'. ■ ■ „'. '.. , ■ “TOWN GIRL,” Wellington.