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Johnston's
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ElliOtt & ['HOU
SAUSAGES
Opticians
and
Piccadilly Arcade, Perth
FRANKFURTS
Tel. B7988 PERTH, THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 1942.
NO. 3,038.
PRICE THREEPENCE
SIXTY-NINTH YEAR,
Widespread Protest Saves Young Mothers
from. Employment in Munition Factories
"United Clwall Action Drams Ministerial Reassurances . . . Success of blow struck in common in defence of the family ARCHBISHOP MANNIX. "I would regard with deep suspicion and with grave concern any Government policy that would draw young mothers away from their homes,"
The strong campaign of protest by the Catholic newspapers of the Commonwealth against the rumoured extension of the public nursery system to attract mothers of young children into industry and against advertisement designed to secure the same end, has been crowned with immediate success. Two Federal Ministers have given assurances that this policy will not be pursued. The offending advertisement has been withdrawn from Melbourne newspapers, A notable feature of the campaign was the support which was given by the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne (Most Rev. J. J. Booth, D.D.) to the public protest voiced by the Catholic Archbishop (Most Rev, D, Mannix, D.D) against this policy. Dr. Mannix declared: "If women have to face war work it is a regrettable necessity. Surely the last women to be called on, or to be
accepted, for any work that takes them away from their homes are young married women with families, "I hope Australia will set her face resolutely against any further attack on the sacredness of family life. I would regard with deep suspicion and with grave concern any Government policy that would draw young mothers away from their homes and their children and embark on large-scale provision of nurseries and creches for children." In an interview with the Melbourne "Herald" on the following day, Dr, Booth supported this attitude in the following words:
For Value and Service
"There must be special circumstances where a mother was compelled to earn her livelihood, when she must offer herself for employment at the best posBut as a general rule, it sible rate. would be entirely wrong for the State to deprive children of a home, with the care and attention which, in my opinion, only a mother could give." "I hope the Government will avoid any compulsion in this matter, if such a thing is in its mind:' the principle Commenting upon which has been raised by the two Church leaders, the Minister of Munitions (Mr. Makin) declared that he fully concurred with the attitude that the mothers of young families should not be separated from their children by reason of work in factories. The attitude which had been taken up by the two Archbishops was followed by a protest of the members of all denominations of Queenscliff ("V.) to Mr. Dedman, who is not only Minister for War Organisation of Industry, but the Federal Member for Corio, in which Queenscliff is included. The protest was thus worded:
"That this meeting, representative of Queenscliff, Christian Churches in strongly protests against the employment of married women with families on war work, and views with alarm the suggestion that children should be left in the care of other people. The home is the basis of Christian society, and can never be substituted by the creche. Not until all other avenues of employment in domestic service beauty parlours, luxury trades, and non -essential services have been thoroughly combed should mothers be asked to leave their homes and children. This meeting further protests against the practice of employing wives of our soldiers to work in factories to supplement their pay allotments. If their allotments are insufficient, Christian justice demands that they should be given a proper family allowance, and not be called upon to undertake outside work incompatible with their duties to home and children. As our parliamentary representative, we hope you will do all in your power to uphold these Christian
principles, and would respectfully ask that you bring this matter before the proper authorities." In his reply, Mr, Dedman claimed that the Government's intentions had been misunderstood. He declared: "The munition factories which have been accepting married women for employment on munition work, have now
Christians of all denominations will note with satisfaction the effectiveness of the blow struck in common in defence of the vital institution of the family, In accepting Ministerial assurance in this matter, they will realise that the utmost vigilance must continue to be preserved since, as the columns of our daily papers so effectively prove, there are in every State "advanced" prophets of destruction who will continue to urge this catastrophic policy upon the Federal Gov-
ernment,
Canterbury Defends Right of Churchto be heard on Social
Problems . . .
"The home can never be substituted by the creche." decided that, in future, they will not be employed by them," In addition to these Ministerial assurance, the advertisement inserted in Melbourne papers by the Women's Employment Bureau, in which married women with children were encouraged to enter industrial employment, was replaced by another advertisement in which the offensive feature was removed.
From a non-Catholic source appears a vigorous defence of the Church's right to be heard in relation to social and economic problems. Says the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr, William Temple: "The claim of the Church to -day to be heard in relation to political and economic problems is no new usurpation, but a reassertion of a right once universally admitted and widely regarded," "Economics," says Dr. Temple, "are properly subject to a non -economic criterion." Radically anti -capitalist, although not Marxian, Archbishop Temple has aroused considerable interest in Britain with his trenchant utterances, Many of these are in striking accord with the Social Encyclicals of the Popes. Some of them seem to have been devised with a special view to upsetting certain traditional British complacencies, as for instance his insistence that any poor boy in England should be free to attend the (heretofore exclusive) Public Schools, In any case they are symptoms of the profound social revolution that is taking place across the seas.
Guitoyle s Hotel Australia Registered at the G.P.O., Perth, for transmission by post as a newspaper.
Murray St., Perth Est. 45 years