§ 87. Mr. PETOasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he is aware that the training 1215 school for women farm workers at Shaw, in the county of Wiltshire, has been closed by the Wiltshire War Agricultural Committee; whether the reason for the closing of the school is that the country and farm work grew too monotonous for town girls to put up with; and whether he can make any general statement of the success or otherwise of schemes for training women for agricultural work?
§ Mr. ACLANDI am glad to have an opportunity of correcting the erroneous impression which has been created by some of the published statements on this matter. The training school at Shaw was started by a private committee, not by the Wiltshire War Agricultural Committee, and it was decided to close it for the winter, mainly because of its isolated position and because the matron could not continue her services. Some few of the girls found farm work too hard, but the majority have been placed and are doing well, and there is no ground for the current impression that the experiment as a whole was a failure. It is obvious that careful selection of girls for farm work is necessary, but where this has been done the results have been almost uniformly successful, and the Board have numerous instances of town girls who have been trained as milkers, etc., and who are proving of the greatest possible assistance to farmers. The success of women in farm work has considerably surpassed general expectations.