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The Seaforth News, 1943-02-18, Page 6Thirteen Women Of Parliament BY Megau Lloyd George, About eighty years ago Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote: "How ex- quisitely absurd it just strikes me would be any measure , , , which should introduce women to Perlia- ment as we understand its functions at present. How essentially a retro- grade measure!" Those were the views of one of the most distinguish- ed and courageous women of the nineteenth century, It is now twenty-one years since the first woman was elected to Par- liament—an American citizen by birth., British by marriage, Today there are thirteen. Considered against the historical background of thousands of years of "enforced do- mesticity"--I call it that for want of a better term -I "suppose you might argue that progress has been rapid. Considered from the point of view of the pace of revolutionary tendencies today, it is pretty poor going, I remember when I first came into the House thirteen years ago, wo- men members were still regarded as phenomena—not to be encouraged, more than once challenged her party Now, mercifully, they have .. lost on issues on which she feels strongly. something of their novelty; but that She has recently been throwing all does not mean the prejudice against her energies—which are considerable women candidates has considerably, —into a campaign to induce the 'Go - abated. It has not. It will take years vernrnent to grant the same compen- of hard work, and perhaps even a little dynamite, to dislodge that deep seated prejudice. To argue about the value of wo- men in public life as an abstract pro- position gets us nowhere. We can only judge by the practical work they do. Therefore it might be inter- esting for a moment to watch the women Members at work inside Bri- tain's House of Commons. First, let us enter the public gal- lery, and look down upon the Cham- ber. It is question time—that hour at the beginning of parliamentary busi- ness when ministers, from the most junior undersecretary to the Prime Minister, are subjected to a merciless cross-examination. On this particular day, Miss Irene Ward, Chairman of the Woman- received in deputation by them—an Power Committee, rises from her innivation which has been proved seat to ask whether the Secretary of successful and of the utmost value. State for War is satisfied with the There is, over and above this, a present tank program. By this it will consultative committee, appointed 'be seen that the women do not son- by Ernest Bevin, the Minister of La - fine themselves to matters merely bor, to advise him on matters eon - affecting women. The answer does cerned with the registration and call - not satisfy Miss Ward. With charac- up of women for the forces, industry teristic pertinacity she pursues the and all forms of national service. On point. She is member for Wallsend, this body of nine, there are three a shipbuilding and mining constitu- Members, Miss Ward, Dr. Summer- ency on the northeast coast, whose skill, and myself. interests she serves with vigilance Miss Wilkinson has had to tackle, and a real understanding. She has a in co-operation with her chief, Her - direct and fearless approach to prob- bort Morrison, the provision of air lems and ministers, and makes vig- raid shelters, She was indeed known arous and distinguished contributions for some time as the "shelter queen". Now she is up against another task even more exacting—the organiza- tion of the fire services, and the working of the new order which makes fire -watching compulsory for women up to forty-five years of age, She is diminutive, but has dynamics sufficient for twice her size. Down the floor of the House, rad- iating vitality and 'a joyous combat- iveness, walks Lady Astor,•and takes her place in the corner just above the front bench, from which strate- gic position she snipes at anyone and everyone who comes within range of her wit. She is the senior woman member. She has always been active- ly concerned with questions in which women are more particularly inter- ested. She is perhaps the most ex- clusively feminist in outlook of all her colleagues, She is also strenu- ously opposed to alcohol both as a beverage and as a political force. For the past two years she has been performing her arduous duties as Lady Mayoress of Plymouth—one of the most heavily bombed cities in Britain—and has shared in the haz- ards and dangers with the same spir- it of courage and invincible cheerful- cuted, whether they be in Poland, ness as her fellow citizens. Czechoslovakia, or any other part of In this country every minister has the globe. She has a lifetime of pub- , a parliamentary private secretary lic service to her credit, and particu- who is also a member of the House. larly is she associated with the move- They are the liaison officers between. ment to secure family allowances— their chiefs and members. Mrs. Ad- a principle which has now been ac- amson discharges this function for cepted by the three political parties. - the minister of pensions. She is one Opposite to her on the government ' of the few women who has presided bench sits Mrs. Cazalet Keir, an ex- over the deliberations of the Labor eellent organizer, able, efficient, and Party Conference—a post of honor brimful of vitality. She has recently ! given only to those who have rend- been serving on the Markham Com- ered conspicuous service to the move- mittee which made an investigation ment. She is downright, uncontprom- • into the amenities of the women's ising, a good campaigner. services—a remarkable and distur Well, there are my colleagues. I guished inquiry which has earned the do not think I put it too highly if I admiration and gratitude of all sec- say that they are making a valuable tions of opinion. I contribution in Parliament, doing a Then there is Dr, Edith Summer- , good practical job with exceptional skill—a vibrant personality—and ir- ability. I believe that their example repressible. A practising physician . will do much to break down that she is naturally interested in health questions, the provision of clean milk, the incidence of tuberculosis, maternal and infant mortality, But there is another side to her activities. She has been organizing the Wo- men's Heine Defense movement for the training of women in the ,use of rifles in the event of invasion—a project which at first was strenuous- ly resisted, but which, largely through her eff'or'ts, bus now been accepted: On the front bench, sits Miss Flo- rence Ilor'sbrengh, second in corn.: mand at the Ministry of health, and. Miss Alen Wilkinson of the Ministry of Home Security—both doing out- standing jobs in the government. Miss Horsbrugh's activities center on the evacuation and health problems, and the provision of war nurseries to accommodate the children of part- time factory workers. Her Labor colleague, Mrs. Hardie —sister: in-law of Heir HHar'die, who shocked the House of Commons for- ty years ago by entering it in a cap instead of the traditional top hat— is one of the most conscientious Members in the House. She has also a most delightful humor, which adds great zest to her shrewd speeches, and above all does she possess that rare gift of the gods—common 'sense. Then there is Mrs. Tate, who rep- resents an agricultural and mining constituency in the West of England, Although a Conservative, she has sation to women who are injured in air raids as to inen—a campaign which she has conducted with tacti- cal skill and force. And last, because she, was the last arrival, is Mrs, Wright, American - born, who brings a fresh mind and a new approach to many of the prob- lems which face women in Britain today. In addition to these individual ac- tivities, there is the Woman -Power Committee, of which Miss Ward is chairman, where we all combine with women from outside Parliament re- presenting other points of view, in the consideration of all problems af- fecting women in every sphere of the national effort. As a body we make representations to ministers and are to debates in the House. Early in the war, Parliament set up a committee of members to keep a check on the vast expenditure of public money now made necessary. Their investigations cover a wide field—Supply, Admiralty, Air Min- istry, War Office contracts, Estab- lishments. Transport, Shipping, Coal. The strength of this committee lies in the fact that they have power to summon witnesses to give evidence at their meetings, held in secret, the proceedings of which cannot be div- ulged even to Ministers, and that they report direct to the House of Commons. There is general agreement that this committee has made an import- ant contribution and published a number of reports which have been of great assistance to the nation. Miss Ward and Lady Davidson, inde- fatigable, thorough, clear -minded and capable, are both highly valued members and give a great deal of their time and abilities to its work. From another bench rises Miss Rathbone, Independent in -polities and in nature; a redoubtable cham- pion of the oppressed and the perse- THB 5BAFORTH N PW$ Thwarted Invasion of' September 1940 By „1, M. Spaight The combined operation against Dieppe and discussions' about the opening of the "Second 'Front" in Western Europe have served to draw attention to the' change in the situs- don which bas been brought about by two years of war'.. Tliei'e were "invasion scares" two years ago, as there are today, but the positions of the parties have been reversed. In the autumn and winter, of '1940• 41 the people of Britain were expect - lug a German descent upon the Is- land. Now they are looking forward to, and eagerly awaiting, a British - American invasion of the Continent. Britain is no longer alone, or on the defensive. She is poised for the spring, Today the powerful air force of the United States army is aligned with her own, and large forces of Aineric- an troops are present in the British Isles, To assert that all danger of a Ger- man assault has passed would be un- warranted. To claim that the chances of a successful invasion would be far more Blender today than they were two years ago is merely to state self- evident truth, History is an. incorrigible self- plagiaist. Nearly 140 years ago there stood waiting at Boulogne a great army, assembled for the overthrow of England: great, that is, by the standards of those days. It' number- ed 155,000 men and 2,293 transport vessels had been mustered for its conveyance. That plan went awry' when the ;Wrench Admiral Villeneuf, atter hav- ing lured Nelson away to the West Indies, on his own return found that the western approaches to the Eng- lish. Channel had been blocked by Admiral Calder's fleet at Ferrol. Nel- son's subsequent destruction of the combined French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar was the finishing blow which wrecked the whole project. In 1940 it was an army more than ten tines as great. There were nine- ty (including nine Panzer) divisions of the German Army in France and the Low Countries to be drawn upon for the attempted execution of a task which had baffled Napoleon. ' For its transport, a. still greater volume of shipping than Napoleon had assembled was waiting in all ports from Amsterdam in the east to Cherbourg in the west. There were 3,000 self-propelled barges alone, with carrying capaoty of about 1,000,000 tons, and, in addition, mer- chant vessels whose tonnage was about four times as great had been. raked up. At Le Havre alone forty- five big ships were standing by at one time. This latter-day project too was foiled like the first by strokes delivered before ever the great Arm - prejudice of which I have spoken. Their service will, I hope, foster a desire in the powers -that -be to give women greater opportunities and a larger share in the vital work of the reconstruction of Britain and the world after the war, 5 THURSDAY,, P1SBIWARY 18, 1948 Boy Scouts of Ottawa have been most active in a salvage campaign for medicine bottles ,to completely maintain the supply for medical centres in the Dominion capital. Since they started this drive nearly a year ago Military medical centres have not had to purchase a single bottle, thus saving several hundred dollars, Here are shown Ottawa Clubs and Scouts at a theatre matinee the admission to.which was medicine bottles and magazines. The slogan "Help Bottle the Axis" aided in securing man y Hundred of bottles in this single effort. ada was able to put to sea. It was a terrific gamble, that in- tended invasion of September 1940, but it might have, succeeded. An im- mense issue was at stake. Some peo- ple believe that I-litler ought to have risked it. He missed his only, chance of 'winning the war, they think, when he balked at the Channel water jump. Troops—Without Equipment Certainly he could never have caught his British foe so unprepared as then to meet the massed assault of his legions. More than half the total equipment of the British Army had been left behind in ?Prance. There 'were plenty of troops in Brit- ain, but they lacked the essential armor and artillery without which the Panzer divisions, had they once effected a landing, and had had ade- quate air cover, could not have been stopped. Britain would, indeed, have been hard put to it if her moat had been crossed. Think how the German jug- gernaut crunched its way into the depths of Russia, and remember that the Soviet forces had no lack '''of armor or guns or, of course, men. Given only the successful negotis- tion of the blue water tank trap, and reasonably adequate air support, it is. difficult to see how Britain—the Is- land—could have survived at that time. Preparations of the most thorough and detailed kind had been made for invasion, 11 couldn't be kept a secret. From the end of the month of Aug- ust 1940 it was perfectly well known to British authorities what was in the wind. By the middle of September the concentration of barges and shipping in Channel ports was practically complete. The purpose for which they had been assembled was clear. It could be for nothing else than the conveyance of a huge expeditionary force across the narrow sea. On' - September 11, Mr. Churchill issued a grave warning to the nation. "No one," he said, "should blind scale invasion of this Island is being. planned with all the usual German thoroughness and method, and that it may be launched at any time now upon England, upon Scotland, upon Ireland, or upon all three." THE BAGPIPES SKIRL - IN GERMANY Sassenachs Supply 200 Sets to British War Office • Stands Scotland where she did ? To -day London is malting bagpipes for the proud regiments of Caledonia. It is, indeed, an old story, although Probably the Scots Guards have never heard of it. For as long as 28 years, tite 1st, Ind . and 32.d battalions of that regiment have had their pipes made up Kentish Town way, No fewer than 200 sets have rec- ently gone to the War Office for is- sue to Scottish regiments. The ivory used for the fittings cost £500. The sheep of the Scottish Highlands sup- plied the skins for the bags, clad later in their appropriate tartan. The wood for the drones and chanters which send out the pipes' wild and melancholy notes comes from darkest Africa — African blackood arriving as rough logs to be cut in Kent- ish Town, The reeds are from ish cane, Span -vas The makers made their first set of bagpipes for Queen Victoria's piper 'in a London backroom sixty -sin years ago. Their founder's son started the Pipe bandof the London Irish. They have supplied bagpipes for the Royal Irish Inniskillings, They make flutes for the Grenadier Guaids, for the young women of the ATS., for the Army Cadets and the lads of the Air Training Corps. , And their -bagpipes are even now skirling among the Nazis. They have sent 12 sets into the heart of Germ- any — through the Red Cross to prisoners of war. Want and For Sale Ads, 0. week 28c *i, Younter Chcck Books • We Are Selling Quality Books Books are Well Made, Carbon is Clean and Copies Readily. All styles, Carbon Lea and Black Back. Prices as Low as You Can Get Anywhere. Get our Quotation on Your Neat Order. • The Seaforth News SEAFORTH, ONTARIO,