Our £5000 "Campaign Comforts" Fund.
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We Enter Upon the Period of the Last X1090 on the Income Side. The Total of .E5000 is Estimated to Last Until the End of July Next.
Patroness; H.R.H. Princess Arthur of Connaught.
We are obliged to cut down the space at the disposal of our " Comforts Fund," owing to pressure, increasing weekly, of other demands. The Editor has had pleasure in adding his own name to the list of donors of one per cent. We shall hereafter publish the additional gifts, both in cash and kind, monthly. There has been a temporary suspension of packing, owing to the recent welcome Easter holidays, andsas one consequence no addition to our summary of totals that was included in our last issue. We, therefore, save the space that is usually so occupied. There will, by next week, have been large additions to the despatches of comforts.
LIE t of Gifts in find (301h March-6th April). Mrs. E. .Sheldon, Bury (1 muffler, 1 pair mittens, 4 boxes ointment).
Mayoress's Sewing Party, Rawtenstall (2 pairs mittens, 2 pairs kneecaps, 43 pairs socks, 6 pairs gloves, 1 body belt, 12 shirts, 27 mufflers). .
British Red Cross Society, Birkenhead (10 pairs mittens, 6 pairs gloves, 7 jerseys).
C20 Mrs. Fox, Hampton (2 helmets, 4 mufflers, 4 pairs mittens). Soldiers' and Sailors' Clothing Depot, Gloucester( 16 cardi gans, 12 shirts, 36 pairs socks, 40 pairs mittens, 18 mufflers). Mrs. Allen, Potters Bar (I cardigan, 1 pair mittens). Mrs. Copland, St. A_nnes-on-Sea (5 mufflers). Castle Douglas Pariah Church Work Party, per Miss M. Vane (30 pairs socks). Mrs. R. Mitchell, Glasgow (6 pairs socks).
Mies J. Watson, Glasgow (2 pairs socks).
Mrs. A. Sharp, Glasgow (3 pairs socks). The Women Students, Glasgow Provincial Training College (13 mufflers, 2 helmets, 2 pairs mittens, 1 money belt, 8 shirts, 20 pairs socks). Whitehaven Relief Fund, per Mayoress (5 pairs mittens, 7 mufflers).
Mrs. Macdonald, Elgin (1 pair socks, 6 mufflers, 1 pair mittens, 1 pair cuffs). Lawn Tennis Association (104 tennis balls). Odharns, Ltd. (bundle of "Passing Show "). Publishers (bundle of "London Opinion"). Publishers (bundle of "London Mail"). Miss Whitehead, Broadstaira (4 handkerchiefs, 5 pairs mittens).
Our ;recent suggestion for the formation of a National Volunteer Armourers Corps has, we intimated in our last issue, aroused very considerable interest, and we have been enabled to get into communication with one or two other people to whom ideas of a similar nature were suggested as the result of the recent Ministerial pronouncement concerning the shortage of labour in munition and other factories. If there is anything in this scheme, other than a laudable desire to be of assistance, and to place what *kill one has at the best disposal of the nation, if at be found possible to weld this body of volunteer aesistEtnts into the intricate and complicated organization of productive methods as they exist at the moment, then, indeed, will it be found that the Government particularly, and the country as a whole, has at its disposal a very useful and very valuable reserve for its industrial army. At first we were blind to the difficulty of employing such voluntary, although skilled, labour efficaciously. Part time assistance at the best is a difficult problem. Therefore, before even we venture the suggestion that the scheme can be elaborated, so as to be of practical use, we are taking every possible step to consult those who are in the -best position to form an opinion as to its ultimate success. We have reason to believe that Lord Kitchener's advisers on this question of munition production are considering the proposal very seriously, and if anything can be done with it, our readers may rest assured the powers that be will not be slow to take advantage of the proposal.
In the meantime, we have received a considerable number of interesting letters from men who are in a position to offer help in,commercial vehicle and other munition factories. For the time being their names have been added to the list, and an intimation has been sent to them that they will be communicated with if and when the scheme develops into a really practical one. There is a renewed assertion in Trade Union circles that the men who are working /eng hours during weekdays must be given adequate rest, and especially do they claim that -Sunday werk for the ordinary mechanic should be dispensed with so far as possible. Commenting on the suggestion for the formation of a National Volunteer Acmouress Corps, the statement has not infrequently been made within the last few days that the scheme may possibly result in the relieving of the strain to which so many workers are subjected at the present time. A case which is likely to be historic in this connection occurred last week, in which a clergyman, acting as a voluntary worker in a shell-making establishment, with strong trade unionist proclivities, has had to join the Union in order to avoid friction with his co-workers. As to the necessity of members of the proposed corps similarly becoming temporary members of a Union, there must be divergence of opinion, and that is one of the many problems which has to be considered at the moment. We are not without hope that this very considerable reserve of skilled help will be found to be capable of manipulation in such a way as to help the nation in its present difficulties.