INTERVIEW WITH A DISTINGUISHED SUFFRAGE WORKER.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 272, 18 February 1918, Page 4

INTERVIEW WITH A DISTINGUISHED SUFFRAGE WORKER.

We have been privileg'd to huvr an interview with Mrs Kinrton Farkfs, one of the hne band of women who have been hghting for the Suffrage in the Old Land. Mrs Parkes was a member of the Women Writer*’ Suffrage *s<h lety, of the Churrh League for Woman’s Suffrage, and also of the Women’s Freedom League. The subject in England is so vast that different workers were told off to different branches of the work, to the social, financial, medical, and other aspects of the question. This led to the women specialising in different subjects, and Mrs Parkes was a specialist on taxation. There were active retnten to the law—the militants—and there were also passive resisters, and to the latter branch Mrs Parkes belonged, and founded “The Women's Tax Resistance League." Thev refused to pay taxes on the constitutional ground, admitted by the r.overnmcnt themselves, that there »houlu be "no taxation without representation.' I he attempt to*vioi.te this principle of sound government by the statesmen of George 11l ’s day cost England her American colonies. The attempt to violate it in our own time drove hundreds of hne women to become Tax Resisters. These ladies were therefore Constitutional Militants. On the outbreak of war vhese passive resisters, by a majority vote, derided to pav taxes, and so come to the aid of the nation, and putting aside all propaganda work, to devote themselves to war work for men and women. These suffrage societies were magnificent!) organised, and there is no finer story than the one which tells how they threw the whole strength of their splendid organisation into National Wat Service. Mrs Rineton Parkes being trained in Suffrage work, and a specialist on its financial side, she was chosen to take charge of the finances of the Women’s Kmergency Corps (the largest war organisation in London),, and eventually bee ame its secretary. To hear this lady speak upon the F.mergency Corps and its wonderful work is like listening to a chapter from the "Arabian lights." How they met and grappled with a difficult situation Mrs Parkes told in her own charming manner. Our visitor

intends to lecture upon this subject, and our readers will have the opportunity of hearing this most fasc mating story. The first work to be done, and which really called the Emergency Corps into being, w i-> to deal with unemployment among women. At the outbreak of war many firms, for the sake of retrenchment, gave their female assistants a week’s notice, and these girls came to the Women’s F.mergency Corps to find them work. They sprang into the breach; on the one hand were people wanting help, and on the other people able and willing to give it; and this organisation brought them into touch with each other. Women lent houses to be converted into homes and hospitals for wounded soldiers; they lent their motor cars to aid in the work; women who could speak several languages went to the railway station to meet refugees from the Conti.*";!. Any woman wanting to do war work was sent to the Kmergency Corps, whose business it was to suit her capabilities to the work most urgently needed. They started industries, such as toy-making, to provide em ploymcnt for women requiring it, and by their advice other women started to train for special services, and this foresight on their par. provided skilled workers as time wr.it on. Many instances could be given of the work done, by Suffrage l nions and workers all over Kngland. The Actresses' Franchise League collected the money to establish the Star and Carter Hospital, and the Women’s F.mergency Corps also owed its origin to their initiative At the head of the Military Hospital in London the Government have placed two leading suffragette doctors. The National I'mor. for Woman's suffrage, the oldest Woman s Suffrage Society in the world, has organised a great deal of invaluable war work. Their Edinburgh branch inaugurated the Scottish Women’s Hospitals, which did su< v . fine servic e of which mention has oeen made in our columns before. Their London branch has on'* of the most efficient employment agencies in the country. The stoiv Mrs Parkes has to tell is a thrilling one. To use her own words, thex "have had the war at their back door" all the time, while we have reviewed it from afar. White Kibboners who take the opportunity of hearing Mrs Parkes’

lecture will be brought into close touch with the atmosphere breached by our women workers who are in close touch with the trenches.