The meetings of the National Federation of Women's Institutes at
the Albert Hall this week has been a very notable success, not the least element in which was the contribution made by the Queen on Tuesday. The clearness and simplicity of her speech (as, for example, "what we do at our Institute at Sandringham ") marked hci as essentially part of the movement and little, if at all, a royal visitor honouring the meetings with her presence. One feature of the gathering—whether it is a regular feature or not I don't know— was the way in which the delegations were mixed up, a Home County finding itself next to a bit of North Wales or the West Country and so on. The discussions, moreover, were refreshingly practical—on rural schools, regarding which the Women's Institutes can speak with as good authority as anyone ; on a scheme for giving milkers one day off in seven by enlisting relief milkers who will travel round half-a-dozen neighbouring farms, putting in their own six-day week that way. The Institutes brought ,to London stimulating evidence of the vigorous part they are playing in the maintenance of rural life. •
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