PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 445 



for the same work as the men, and that when the men return the women shall 

 give place to them. 



That there was little ground for alarm as to the influx of women can be 

 realised by a consideration of a few facts and figures. The majority of men 

 who enlisted were workpeople of one sort or another ; of these, unhappily, 

 some have been killed in battle or have been rendered incapable for work. 

 Even so, the majority will come home requiring occupation. What opportunities 

 will they find ? 



To answer this question at all satisfactorily it is necessary to consider sorne 

 determining factors. Thousands of men have left indoor occupations and their 

 accustomed town life, and have been trained, drilled, and disciplined under open- 

 air conditions. They have lived, worked, and fought in the open country in 

 some cases for many months. The new experience has had potent effects. 

 Physique has improved, the outlook on life has changed, in many cases new 

 hopes for the future have been formed. Inquiry shows that there is a division 

 of opinion as tO' the extent to which disbanded members of the Forces will decide 

 on making a radical change in their mode of life. Yet the experience of what 

 occurred after the South African War warrants us in assuming that considerable 

 numbers will only return to indoor occupations and town life if there be no 

 alternative. It is too soon yet to form an opinion as to what opportunities 

 there will be for land settlement. But it is known that offers will be made 

 both at home and in various parts of the Empire. A moderate estimate of those 

 accepting these offers, and of our losses of killed and permanently disabled, 

 would be at least one million. Then we shall undoubtedly require, at any rate 

 for some years, a much larger standing Army. Even on a peace footing this 

 at a moderate computation may be put at a million men. These two figures, 

 and neither of them errs on the side of exaggeration, will absorb two million 

 men who will be permanently lost to the old occupations. 



Moreover, there is good ground for anticipating that if the war concludes 

 before our resources are unduly strained, and there is every prospect that it 

 will, there will be a period of good trade. We have to restore our own depleted 

 stocks of goods, our mercantile marine demands a large amount of new tonnage, 

 railways and other transport services will require much new equipment. Turn- 

 ing to the Continent, parts of France, Belgium, and other of the Entente 

 countries will need reconstruction works of considerable proportions, and in this 

 work we shall play a great part. World markets, too, have been kept short 

 of many manufactured goods. We shall be in a position both to finance and 

 carry on a greatly extended system of industry and commerce, for not only is 

 our banking system prepared to face this, but our man force has been greatly 

 improved, and our industrial equipment to a great extent remodelled. 



Reverting to the somewhat thorny question of the women who have been 

 engaged on what were men's occupations, I see no cause for alarm. Many 

 women came forward from motives of patriotism and will gladly resume their 

 former state. The question, I believe, will rather be, how can we obtain the 

 labour necessary to cope with the postwar demand ? 



Tlie new equipment of our factories will place us in a position to increase 

 very greatly our output, and this should enable us not only to face a possible 

 labour shortage, but, if the recommendations made by this Section of the Asso- 

 ciation meet with a favourable response, our labour force should enter upon a 

 new period of prosperity consequent on a remodelling which has been rendered 

 possible by a reorganisation of our industrial machinery. This new epoch for 

 labour would include higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. 

 To effect these salutary advances both employers and employed need to exercise 

 sanity of juidgment, frankness in mutual discussions, and a recognition of the fact 

 that the prosperity and material well-being of each is bound up in a common 

 effort to maintain and develop our industrial and commercial position. 



The following Report was then presented and discussed ; — 



On Indusirial Unrest. — See Eeports, p. 274. 



