There is hardly any sphere of public activity into which women are better qualified to enter than that connected with the administration of charities.
The voluntary agencies that exist in our midst for the relief of distress, for the alleviation of suffering, and for the protection of the weak were, as a matter of fact, mainly organised and are largely controlled by women, and the record of their management is worthy of warm commendation.
In this city, as in other cities, there are a number of public-spirited, noble-hearted women engaged in philanthropic and charitable work, any of whom, if they could only be persuaded to submit to the ordeal of a public election for membership of the local authority that controls the administration of hospital and charitable relief on behalf of the community as a whole, would prove valuable members of the Board.
The experience they have acquired in the voluntary service they have performed in the past and the insight they have gained into the complexities of the problem that is involved in the efficient and discriminating administration of relief furnish them with an equipment which might with distinct advantage be placed at the service of ratepayers.
The monumental report last year of the Poor Law Commission, which itself included three women - Mrs Bosanquet, Mrs Sidney Webb, and Miss Octavia Hill - in its personnel, makes frequent reference to the importance of the service that may be rendered by women and one of the recommendations of the Commission is that in future the members of the local authority should be nominated from amongst men and women.
In all the circumstances the candidature of Mrs Blair and Mrs Gibson Turton for seats on the Otago Board as representatives of Dunedin City and West Harbour is to be welcomed.
• ODT, 9.3.1910
