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WOMEN AT HOME AND ABROAD Bravo, Amy!
THE VOTE
The Women's Freedom League offers Miss Amy Johnson (Mrs. Mollison) its most enthusiastic con- gratulations on her triumphant achievement in breaking the record for the flight from England to Capetown, set up last March by Mr. J. A. Mollison, of four days seventeen hours by ten and a half hours and that despite nine hours lost at Benguella owing to lack of oil pressure, due to sand getting into her engine while crossing the Sabara.
The King sent his hearty congratulations on her splendid achievement,
Last May Miss Amelia Earhart achieved lasting fame as the first woman to fly the Atlantic alone, and she was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross by President Hoover. We hope that our own country will be no less generous in bestow- ing on Mrs. Mollison a suitable honour. University Woman's Appointment
Miss A. Margaret Tillyard, M.A., has been ap- pointed by the chief officers of the Halls of Resi- dence as one of their representatives upon the Court of Governors of the University of Manchester. Woman Chairman of Health Committee
Miss K. M. Worrall has been selected as chair- man of Birkenhead Health Committee. She is the first woman in Birkenhead to occupy that position. Woman's Advertising Post
Mrs. Simmonds has been appointed as their ad- vertising manager by Messrs. Wolsey, Ltd., the British hosiery manufacturing firm. This is said to be one of the biggest appointments in the world of advertising. Mrs. Simmonds for some time previ ously had been conducting market research for this firm. She was formerly private secretary to Sir William Crawford, head of one of the big London advertising agencies.
Woman Sculptor Wins Again
Miss Helen V. Mackay has for the second year in succession been awarded the £100 prize given annually by the Feodora Gleichen Memorial Fund for the best piece of work by a woman sculptor. Women to Make Films
To-day's Cinema " reports that an organisa- tion of women has just been formed to produce films. The company is being registered as the British Women's Picture Corporation. The presi- dent will be the Dowager Lady Raglan.
WOMEN LAWYERS
Last week six women were among the ninety- one successful law students called to the bar in the hall of the Inns of Court. They were; Mrs. Alice G. Morrice (Lincoln's Inn); Miss E. I. Froggatt (Inner Temple); Miss Ursula B. C. Newell (Middle Temple); Dr. Flora H. M. Calder (Middle Temple); Miss Marie M. Delage (Gray's Inn); Miss Mary R. Tabor (Gray's Inn).
Miss Newell was called at the same time as her elder brother, and is the daughter of a retired County Court Judge. Dr. Flora Calder, M.A., M.D., Ch.B., Edin. Univ., D.P.M., Royal College of Phy sicians, Eng., is an assistant medical officer of the County Mental Hospital, Winwick, Warrington. Miss Mary Tabor is a municipal officer of the Nor wich Corporation. She has been in the city engin- cer's estates department since March.
The following women were among the successful candidates at the Intermediate Examination of the Law Society (for solicitors), held on November 2nd and 3rd. A candidate is not obliged to take both parts of the examination at the same time:-
Passed: Mabel Harold.
The following passed the legal portion only: Hilda M. Charbonnier, Freda Gaukroger, Dorothy Hedges. Agnes W. Knight, Annie D. Litten, Joan L. S, O'Connor.
The following passed the trust accounts and book-keeping portion only: Anne E. James.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1932
THE BEGUM SHAH NAWAZ The Begum Shah Nawaz, the only woman among thirty-two Indian representatives appointed to at- tend the third Indian Round Table Conference, ar rived in London last Saturday. She then stated that she hoped to help to do great things for India, and particularly for the women of India. Things were improving, she said, but there was need for much further advance.
The Conference entered upon its detailed work at the House of Lords last Monday.
A NEW CECIL HOUSE
The thrill of a fifth Cecil House for homeless women is the hope of the immediate future. To col- lect funds for this a meeting was convened by Mrs. Cecil Chesterton and her supporters at the Cambridge Theatre (London) on November 18. It was marvel- lous, for there were nine speakers and more, and not a touch of dullness! The aim was its own plea. A warm glow of generous love seemed to flood the packed theatre, and every word from the platform increased it. Already a site has been found and secured across the river-in Tower Street, S.E.1. To set it going £5,000 is needed, towards which a credit- able sum was raised.
There were two M.P.s-Mr. Adrian Moreing, a Londoner, in the chair; and Mr. D. G. Somerville, who, with Miss Helena Pickard, ably raked in cheques and "promises," and new subscribers. Both members shed all the trappings of Parliamentary clo quence and became inspiringly human and direct in this heart-warming cause. Mr. Louis Golding made a tender, poetical speech, paying special tribute to the old women uprooted in the storms of life, to whom the Cecil Houses are such a boon; of their charm, and their subtle spiritual relationships. "All things they have in common being so poor." Miss Sheila Kaye Smith followed, with what he had called her
Green Apple
eloquence, and spoke of what it meant to every woman to come back to a bed after a long, tiring day-even more than it meant to a man: "Women must have what they call a home.' It is essential to the feminine nature."
And at a Cecil House it is home" with bed, warmth, and food for 15. a night. No forms to fill in the need of shelter passport enough. But some have the shilling and can't get in. Mr. J. B. Priestley, intro- duced by Mr. Moreing as a Good Companion,” also said a few sympathetic words.
f
>>
"
Mr. Ernest Milton, who had been over two Cecil Houses, said how much he was struck by their bright- ness of colouring, and by the atmosphere of con- fidence and friendliness and self-respect. He de- scribed the attitude of the matrons as more like that of " a pleasant buxom hostess of a solid provincial hotel."
When Mrs. Chesterton entered a house with a cheery "Good evening, ladies," she came as a woman and a friend,
The Chairman presented Mrs. Chesterton as the heroine of the work." She spoke in moving words
of what could be done for the down-and-outs" in giving them back their self-respect and fighting spirit. And she told how at the Harrow Road House they were getting new recruits of a different class: trained nurses, girl clerks, and others, unemployed and cut off by poverty from their own kind. Dainty Miss Pickard related a personal experience of being stranded in Hanley (Staffs) when on tour, and how she had longed for a Cecil House.
E. M. E.
SIXTEEN WOMEN MAYORS! Alderman Mrs. Keynes, Mayor of Cambridge, points out an omission in our list of Women Mavors Mrs. Carr, Mayor of Godmanchester. This brings the number of women mayors up to sixteen-six of whom are in East Anglia,
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1932
Child Marriage
THE VOTE
IN PARLIAMENT
MISS RATHBONE (Ind., Eng, Universities) on Nov- ember 14 asked the Secretary of State for India whether the Census Reports for 1931 are sufficiently available for him to supply figures showing whether and to what extent, the practice of child marriage in India has decreased since the previous census.
SIR SAMUEL HOARE: I regret that I am not yet in a position to supply this information.
MISS RATHBONE asked the Secretary of State for India (1) if he will supply figures showing the num ber of prosecutions that have taken place under the Sarda Act in Restraint of Child Marriage in the years 1930, 1931, and 1932 respectively; (2) if he can now report the result of his inquiries on the ques- tion whether, and to what extent, the provincial governments are carrying into effect the administra- tive measures recommended by the Joshi Committee three years ago as being necessary for the successful enforcement of the Sarda Act in Restraint of Child Marriage.
MR. GEORGE HALL (Lab., Aberdare) asked the Secretary of State for India how many prosecutions have taken place under the Child Marriage Restraint Act, No. 19 of 1929 (the Sarda Act), and with what result.
SIR S. HOARE: I am not in possession of figures showing the numbers of prosecutions and convictions under the Sarda Act, but I will obtain them. The result of the inquiries made of local governments re- garding the recommendations of the Joshi Committee have not yet been received, but I will inquire how the matter stands.
MISS RATHBONE: Does the right hon. gentleman not think that there has been great dilatoriness on the part of the provincial governments, inasmuch as it is two years since the inquiry was circulated and that a year ago he undertook to remind the provincial governments of it; and, in view of the fact that the
NIGHT EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN "The Times " reports that the Permanent Court of International Justice recently delivered its advisory opinion on the following question, sub- mitted to it by the Council of the League of Nations at the request of the Governing Body of the Inter- national Labour Office':
Does the Convention concerning employment of women during the night adopted in 1919 by the International Labour Conference, apply, in the in- dustrial undertakings covered by the said Conven- tion, to women who hold positions of supervision or management and are not. ordinarily engaged in manual work?
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By six votes against five the Court answered this question in the affirmative.
The
The question had its origin in a difficulty which the British Government had encountered for several years past in the application of Article 3 of the Convention: “ Women, without distinction of age, shall not be employed during the night in any public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed." British Government regarded this provision as ap plying to all women, without exception, employed in industry, but at the same time they considered that an exception ought to be made in favour of women occupying posts of supervision or manage- ment. They therefore proposed that the Conven- tion should be revised in that sense.
The Court rejected arguments which had been put forward to show that the natural meaning of the Article might be disregarded. The first of these was to the effect that the Washington Convention, being a Labour Convention in the sense of the Labour portions of the Peace Treaties of 1910, ought to be interpreted as applicable solely to manual workers. The next was that the circum-
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Act was passed with the strong approval of the Government at Delhi, as being necessary to remove
a great and corroding evil "I think those were the words does he think that the provincial govern- ments are showing enough zeal in seeing to it that the Act is not made a dead letter?
SIR S. HOARE: The hon. lady knows that the Act raises many important questions, and I think she would not expect me to express an opinion as to the attitude of the provincial governments. I am having compiled for her the information for which she has asked, and, as soon as I have it, she will get it.
Maternity and Child Welfare (Grants)
MR. PARKINSON (Lab., Wigan) on November 15 asked the Minister of Health what grant will be made towards maternity and child-welfare services during the current year; and what was the amount in the year 1931.
MR. SHAKESPEARE (Parliamentary Secretary, Min- istry of Health): Under the Local Government Act, 1929, separate grants for maternity and child-wel- fare services, other than the training of midwives and health visitors, ceased to be payable in respect of any year after the financial year 1929-30.
The amount of the discontinued grant formerly paid by the Exchequer in respect of these services was in- cluded in determining the loss on account of grants under the Act.
House of Lords
MR. MANDER (Lib., Wolverhampton E.) on Nov- ember 17 asked the Prime Minister whether it is the intention of the Government to introduce legislation dealing with the reform of the House of Lords on the lines of the report recently issued, or on other lines.
THE PRIME MINISTER: The Government have not considered this question.
stances in which the Convention was adopted in Washington furnished adequate grounds for re- stricting its application to women engaged in manual work, more especially because the Washing- ton Convention was merely an extension and appli- cation of the Berne Convention of 1906, an instru- ment which was concerned solely with women per- forming manual work. Lastly, there was the argu- ment that the Convention of Washington did not cover women occupying posts of management, be- cause in 1919 such cases were very few in number, and therefore were not under consideration,
WOMEN'S WORK IN THE CHURCH In his first presidential address to the Southwark Diocesan Conference, held recently, Dr. Parsons, Bishop of Southwark, referred to the problem of the shortage of trained women workers in the Church.
He said that at present a commission which had been appointed by the two archbishops were consid- ering the matter. Personally, he was convinced that the life and work of the Church would never be as healthy and as efficient as it should be until edu- cated and specially trained women were given scope and opportunity for their talents and ministra- tions in the Church's service as full and free as was given to men of similar education and training.
It was a matter of very grave concern that at a time when larger opportunities of service and of influence were opening out to women in so many other directions, in the Church, just when a supply of women duly qualified to serve it was forthcoming, the demand for that supply should be diminished.
YOUNG WOMEN AVIATORS' ENTERPRISE Miss Joan Page, daughter of Sir Arthur Page, and Miss Audrey Sale Barker, recently flew to South Africa, where they carried consignments of Cow and Gate milk food to introduce to South Africans.