This experiment has succeeded so well that it is a wonder that it was not repeated. Considering the enormous disproportion in the old country between the number of men and the number of women, it would seem a comparatively simple matter to assist female emigration, especially when a Colony is young and able to absorb any number sent. Nor need any Colonial Government Department be alarmed that the worthless will be sent. There are plenty of useful and excellent women who would be glad to go. As yet the only woman contingents that have been sent out are the few dozen teachers who have proceeded to the concentration camps. A party of these hailing from Toronto and Ottawa were lately in England on their journey to the Cape. Every one who met these ladies was struck with the earnestness they showed and the ability they displayed in conversing on the subject of their hopes and expectations. They seemed a lot drafted from the best women instructresses in some New England State. But Ontario can well afford now to be compared with the best of the New England States in regard to her public instruction. Her schools of all kinds are excellent. A “send off” meeting was held in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey for a party of fifty. They were addressed by Mr. Chamberlain and Lord Peel. Now that peace has come and the camps will have been broken up, these women will doubtless find equally useful employment under the Education Department in the New Colonies. The Government here have a large “reservoir” to draw upon in the women who are employed in the telegraph and postal service in Great Britain. Any of these persons would immediately find a sphere of activity in the new lands. The population of these countries is certain to increase rapidly with the opening of the old mines and the successful exploitation of new. There are large centres of industry where there is no want of water, where there is a certainty of good mining success, and where communities will grow up anxious for good schools, and well able to pay for instructors and instructresses.
Photo: Wilson, Aberdeen.
It is a curious thing that while at the Cape and elsewhere you find in the hotels plenty of Swiss and German and some French waitresses and housemaids, you find few English. Why? It must be only from want of organisation. At Grahamstown, not far from the bay called Algoa by the Portuguese (whose thoughts went to Goa in India, and named Algoa and Delagoa as calling places for Goa ships) there has been an institution for instruction lately founded. Let me cite here the work of the South African Expansion Committee in their own words.
This Association is established to promote Protected Emigration, due regard being had to the interests both of the Emigrants and of the countries to which they go.
The Association pledges itself:—
(a) To Emigrate only such Women and Girls as are of good character and capacity.
(b) To select only such Men and Families as are suitable to the requirements of each Colony.
(c) To secure for them proper Protection on the voyage, and adequate Reception on arrival.
(d) If possible, not to lose sight of them for a year or two after their Emigration.
(e) To raise a Loan Fund for necessitous cases, repayment being secured on detained wages.
It is recognised by prominent statesmen of all parties that the future of our South African possessions depends on their colonisation—not only by the large bodies of active and energetic men, who at the close of the war will find permanent employment there—but also by trained and capable women. Many situations and professions are already awaiting them, and as the country becomes more settled, fresh openings of all sorts will arise.
Women of proved suitability are prepared to go, when the right time comes, but a great barrier to all extensive development of this essential movement is lack of funds.
Financial support is needed for the following purposes:—
(1) The establishment, on sound business principles, of Hostels at Cape Town[1] and at the chief centres, such as Durban, Pretoria, Kimberley, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Bulawayo, Salisbury, &c., where women and girls can be received for a few days on arrival, and where, if they have daily engagements, they may reside permanently. Each of these Hostels would be also an employment Bureau for every kind of women’s work, and would require a capable salaried Lady Superintendent to manage the Home and the Employment Bureau, and to act as correspondent between Employer and Employed.
(2) Provision for the proper care and guidance of women throughout the journey from the British Isles to their final destination in South Africa.
(3) Grants in aid of passages from the British Isles to South Africa when the traveller cannot afford the whole cost, or loans to be repaid within a given period.
(4) Preparation of women at the Leaton Colonial Training Home, Wellington, Salop.
(5) Secretarial Expenses.
British men and women must alike desire for our new territories, and for South Africa generally, the same ordered, wholesome, law-abiding traditions as are to be found in the Old Country; and these can only be built up on a lasting basis, by rendering life possible there as here for suitable women, whether as teachers, nurses, secretaries, typists, telegraph or telephone clerks, sempstresses, or household assistants.
We would appeal for funds not only to help those who go to earn their daily bread, but also to enable the wives, the daughters, and sisters of settlers to join their belongings in the new country. Many a man could make a home for his wife or sister but for the initial cost of her passage and the difficulties of the journey for inexperienced women. Openings in the new territories are declined by men at the front, because they cannot bring out those dependent upon them at home. They need that the ocean be bridged for them by kindly forethought, by experienced and economical organisation, by suitable protection, and by carefully adjusted financial assistance.
It is surely not much to ask that those to whom domestic comfort is a matter of course, should contribute in these ways to make a home life possible for those upon whom the future of South Africa depends.
The Lady Knightley, of Fawsley, in regard to the preparation for women going to South Africa, says:—
“In laying before the public the scheme for assisting the emigration of women of all classes to South Africa, the Council are specially anxious to enlist the active co-operation of ladies in all parts of the country, and with a view to securing this assistance, they desire to draw the attention, of those who may be disposed to help, to various methods of forwarding the scheme, in the hope that some one or other of them may prove feasible.
“Ladies could insure that those desiring to emigrate should have the opportunity of fitting themselves for their new life by helping to provide instruction for them in various departments of practical life.
“1. Cooking, Dairying, Poultry-keeping.
“2. Breadmaking, Laundry-work.
“3. Needlework, Cutting out.
“4. Gardening, Fruit-packing, Bee-keeping.
“5. Ambulance, Nursing, Health teaching.
“In some parts of the country this will be best accomplished by arranging for attendance at County Council Classes for Technical Instruction, or by putting people in the way of gaining the Scholarships which some County Councils provide for dairying, others for nursing, &c. In other districts, where such Classes or Scholarships are not provided by the County Council, or where the Classes are inconvenient of access, it might be arranged for such instruction to be given in a country house. Good, old-fashioned, upper servants, of whom there are some left, might in some cases be glad to help in this way.
“An even better plan would be to arrange for girls and young women (especially those from towns) to pass a month or two in a farmhouse, where, under a capable farmer’s wife, much of the required teaching would come naturally in the routine of the household. In this way a foundation might be laid which would render the traveller of far greater use on her first arrival in South Africa than would otherwise be the case, and also more able to acquire further knowledge should she obtain a situation on a poultry or other farm.
“The improved methods of poultry-keeping inaugurated by the National Poultry Organisation, 12 Hanover Square, should, if possible, be studied. Ladies might supply intending travellers with copies of its valuable leaflets.
“Some knowledge of gardening should be acquired, preferably through the medium of the Swanley Ladies’ Horticultural College. But should this prove too long and expensive a training, a good deal might be learnt from a head gardener if ladies would make it easy for such instruction to be given. The best methods of packing fruit should also be acquired, and in towns, ladies who are large customers of fruit salesmen might make interest with them for giving instruction.
“Ladies who are Members of County Bee-keeping Associations might be able to obtain for intending Emigrants some instruction from the Expert usually attached to such Associations. Mr. Theodore Bent has pointed out that in a country where wild bees do so well as they do in South Africa, tame bees ought to succeed, and as butter at present is somewhat scarce, honey might become a valuable article of food. The same remark applies to jam, and jam-making should be included in the subjects to be taught.
“If possible, intending travellers should attend some ambulance, health, and nursing lectures, which would prove a valuable possession in their future lives. Of course, such instruction would be a good deal better than nothing, but regular Ambulance Lectures, with an Examination to follow, would be far better, and in many instances ladies could use their influence in the country in getting such lectures arranged, not of course specially for Emigrants, but to give them the opportunity of attending. They might also, in some cases, pay the necessary fees. There are many ladies, especially among the younger ones, who have acquired a considerable knowledge of nursing, and who might do invaluable service by imparting to intending emigrants some acquaintance with, at all events, such rudiments of nursing as are comprised in changing sheets, improvised cradles, bed rests, and the hundred and one little dodges—if they may be so termed—which make the whole difference in illness, and which so many people are utterly ignorant of.
“It is hoped that it may be found possible for nurses to go out on the same ships with parties of emigrants, with a view to their giving nursing and ambulance lectures on the voyage.
“Ladies may also help by contributing to the libraries for use on board ship and at the Hostels, which it is intended to establish for the reception of emigrants on their arrival at Cape Town, and also in other South African Centres.
“Another form of assistance would be to undertake to pay for the instruction of emigrants in South African languages. Miss Alice Werner (20 Dry Hill, Park Road, Tonbridge) is holding classes for the study of the Zulu language, and also for Taal or Cape Dutch, at King’s College, Strand. Besides these, she is prepared to give lessons in some of the languages spoken in British Central Africa.
“Clothes are not unfrequently needed for intending emigrants. Working parties could be organised to provide new underclothing, which could also be purchased from institutions and bazaars. These working parties would also furnish a valuable opportunity for making known the scheme among the daughters of the farmers and tradesmen, who are just the class most likely to prove desirable denizens of the new Colonies.
“Useful but fashionable slightly-used clothes for middle-class women might also be collected.
“Ladies with friends in South Africa may also give valuable assistance by writing to tell them of the scheme, being careful to enclose a prospectus issued by the Association, so that there may be no mistake as to terms, conditions, &c. Ladies in Cape Town should be asked to confer with Mrs. Bairnsfather, Grange Avenue, Rondebosch, Cape Town, and with the Committee which has recently been formed.
“It should be known to all who are kindly willing to interest themselves in this undertaking that a Colonial Training Home has been established at Leaton, Wrockwardine, Wellington, Salop, the object of which is to give practical training in domestic work to ladies and girls wishing to proceed to the Colonies, to join their families or as Mothers’ Helps. The training given is of the most thorough description, and no servants being kept, the pupils do all the work of the house. The course lasts for three or six months, and the terms are 15s. weekly for a single bedroom, 10s. for sharing a double one. But as only twelve pupils can be received at a time, it will be impossible by this means only, to train the many girls who, it is hoped, will be willing and anxious to avail themselves of the advantages offered by this scheme; and therefore it is that the Council confidently appeal for help on the simple but practicable lines indicated in the foregoing pages.”