IN PROTECTION OF WOMEN. [To TEE EDITOR OF THE "
SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—May I again claim your kindness to express my cordial thanks to your readers for their generous contributions to the Port and Station Workers' Fund of the International Guild of Service for Women ; which help, I am most glad to say, has ensured the second £70 necessary for the support of a second worker for one year ? Over £57 of this was sent to me personally and over f17 to the Secretary of the Guild at 161a Strand, who will always most gladly receive any further help specified as for this object and is specially grateful for
yearly subscriptions.
It may be news to many, as it was to me, to find what numbers of foreign girls arrive yearly in England seeking work. In the reports of one society alone, out of 2,603 girls recorded as helped in one year (1908-9) by Port and Station workers, no fewer than 600 were Norwegians; there were also 21 Austrians, 2 Armenians, 43 Belgians, 31 Danes, 50 Swedes, 15 Dutch, 18 Finns, 377 French, 380 Germans, 2 Hungarians, 15 Italians, 2 Japanese, 4 Poles, 67 Russians, 1 Spaniard, 246 Swiss, besides British girls. This will give some little idea of the difficulties met by the Port and Station workers, for very many of the foreign girls do not know the English language, some have nest to no money in hand, and others no reliable address to go to.
It is therefore easily seen how very large must be the number who would be likely to fall an easy prey to designing persons.
I do not know how to estimate the numbers of our own girls who in one year move about Great Britain, nor of those who go abroad ; but the same society alone, in that one year, 1908-9, made inquiries regarding employment at home or abroad on behalf of close on 1,000 English girls, and this number does not include the thousands who are for ever
travelling about to all parts of the world on their own account, without inquiry or knowledge of the places they go to.
At a moment when all thoughts are turned to the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act through Committee in Parliament, it is vividly brought to one's mind that no efforts and no expense can be too great to secure the safety of inno- cent (though often ignorant or wayward) girls, both British and foreign, at our great " doorways," i.e., the ports and stations of Great Britain and her Dominions and Dependencies. All who know even a little of the risks yearly involved to thousands of girls pray that their countrymen, in and out of Parlia- ment, will keep in mind the urgency of their claim for legislative protection. Those who may still doubt the need of it have only to read through the painful reiteration in the record of narrow escapes, and, alas ! too often of disaster, in the, yearly reports of the National Vigilance Association (whose office is also at 161a Strand) and of the Travellers' Aid Society (3 Baker Street) to convince them- selves that facts not only come up to, but far exceed, report; and I am sure—if I know the English character—that such doubters, once convinced, would become the very ardent and constant supporters of every means of help.
Every one, too, who cares for the safety of girls in the great cities and on the great waterways of our Islands and our oversea Dominions will, for the sake of these girls, literally pray that nothing may be allowed to weaken or abbreviate the powers sought in the Bill now in Committee, which was specially framed, in consultation with the most experienced workers, for the defence of the ignorant, the foolish, and the friendless.—I am, Sir, &c.
67 Westbourne Terrace, W. CATHERINE F. FRERE,
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