This is the women's age, as was said a few days ago, at a meeting in this city, by Miss Barnes, the national travelling secretary in Australasia of the Young Women's Christian Association.
It is an age that, not in one or two countries only, but in many lands, has been marked by a growing recognition of the value of the service which may be rendered by women in the administration of local affairs.
In our own district we have as yet had but a modest experience of the participation of women in public life.
In the presence of this fact the fear that ''the pendulum might swing too far'' in the direction of the employment of the services of women in public positions is one by which we need not be disturbed.
The robust common sense of the people as a whole may, indeed, be regarded as a sufficient safeguard against the possibility of the realisation of any such danger.
The more intelligent women in the community themselves, we have no doubt, perceive that there are limits beyond which the services of members of their sex could not be very advantageously employed.
The public activities in connection with which the advice and influence of women may be beneficially exerted are unquestionably those that are concerned with education and with the administration of charitable aid and of hospital relief.
The services of a woman as a member of the Education Board have not yet been utilised in Otago, although the bulk of the work of teaching the young is performed by women.
The initial term of office of the women who have been the first members of their sex to occupy seats on the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is, however, now drawing to a close, and the electors will have the opportunity next month of declaring whether the policy they adopted two years ago of electing women to that body shall be continued, and whether, also, it shall be extended - for, we understand, Miss Williams, daughter of Sir Joshua Williams, will be a candidate besides those who will be seeking re-election.
The work which women are capable of performing on a body like the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is largely of a kind that does not come prominently under the notice of the public, but is nevertheless of a value that is not to be despised.
Quite plainly, much of the business that has to be performed by a Hospital and Charitable Aid Board is of a nature for the transaction of which their sympathy with human suffering not less that their practical experience and their almost intuitive ability to combine efficiency with economy in domestic management give to women a special qualification.
• The late Mrs Garvey, whose death was announced a few days ago, will be remembered by many people in Otago as the wife of Mr J. F. Garvey, for many years clerk of the court and mining registrar in various parts of the Otago goldfields.
When Mr Garvey left the Government service in 1895, with his wife, he decided to build a home for the accommodation of tourists at the head of Lake Te Anau.
The house was finished in 1896, and named Glade House, where, under the capable management of Mr and Mrs Garvey, it will be recalled by many visitors who made it their starting point for the walk to Milford Sound.
The late Mrs Garvey was a second cousin of the late Lord Sherbrooke, formerly better known in Australia and New Zealand as the Right Hon. Robert Lowe. - ODT, 1.3.1915.
• COPIES OF PICTURE AVAILABLE FROM ODT FRONT OFFICE, LOWER STUART ST, OR WWW.OTAGOIMAGES.CO.NZ
