Evening star., 1918-01-13

direction of the governments war
agricultural committees.
I'VE felt 1t essential for the sake OF
both the women and the farmers to
offer this training. 1t is not very long
roughly. two months-but it gives
the women very good idea of the
work they are undertaking and en-
ables us to test the suitability of can
didates. There are about sixty farm
schools in different parts of the king
dom. where they may go for this train
ing free of cost. In many cases they
are established on the home farms OF
our big estates, where there is ample
house accommodation for them. Uni
forms. consisting of breeches. long
tunic and high boots, with soft hat.
are provided by the board of agri-
culture. The women are learning
everything agricultural, even operating
the motor tractors which were sup
piled our government by the United
States last year.
I'm the ordinary industrial pursuits,
outside of munitions. we have 1,250,0 900
women directly replacing men. They
are to be found in every department of
work. In our banks women have re-
placed men to a very large extent and
many women are now taking bank ex-
aminations fitting them for positions as
tellers and other important posts. In
England these days one sees only old
men holding bank positions. The
women have taken the positions of all
men At for the fighting lines.
In transport work women are play
ing an increasingly important part.
They are to be found everywhere as
conductor on trains and street cars:
on delivery wagons they are used to
very large extent: almost exclusively
on bread and milk carts. and the r
services are employed as chauffeurS.
They are used very largely in the pos
tai service for the Office work and for
the delivering and collecting of mail.
IN the government departments We
have $4,000 women altogether. nearly
half of this force new since the begin
ming of the war. In these departments o
they are doing most of the stenographic
and typewriting work. with telegraphy. :.
telephoning and secretarial work. Tho
Our women are to be found in very
important executive posts, such as CO.
directors with men, in many OF the
large committees.
The director for our woman's ma
tional service is a woman, Mrs. H.
Tenant. and this work is largely de.
centralized. We have never appealed to
women to register en- Elasse, but have
appealed to women to register for some
specific class of work. such as munitions
or agriculture. When workers are need
ed we issue posters saying. we want
100000 women for munitions or. we
want 10000 women for the land and
the request is made tina. the women
register through the employment agen-
ctes Of the government which have
been established In every town. These
employment exchanges transfer the
workers to the departments of the gov
ernment where they are reqired.
Another invaluable institution we
have in England is a full register of
professional women, who are thus read
ily available for the higher posts. This
registration was secured with the as
of the universities, colleges
and head mistresses of high schools.
With this bureau as q clearing house
the government has times without
pumber found the special woman for
the special position in its service.
Il must tell you a little about our
food control committees which havs
been set UP In every town throughout