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one influences which divide our people. Any movement which tends to bring together the people of the various provinces, of different opinions, politics and beliefs, will be patriotic in its aim and in its work, and divinely blessed in its results.

Again and again during the past five years have I had the opportunity of seeing packed halls of earnest-faced women-Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Liberals and Conservatives, rich and poor, sitting side by side, listening eagerly to explanations of the Council's aims, or to reports of the work carried on by different bodies in different districts, or descriptions of work which is needed to be done; and bending together in silent prayer to our common Father in Heaven to bless and direct our various labours. Must not the mere existence of such gatherings so constituted tend towards the unity which we have set before us as our ideal?

But it may be asked whether there are any actual results from the work of the Council in Canada which may be quoted. There is no difficulty in answering this question.

Here are a few illustrations :

(1) It obtained the introduction of manual training and instruction in domestic science in the public schools of Ontario, and the training of teachers so that they may be able to give instruction in these arts. It has also initiated or stimulated the same movement in other provinces.

(2) It has obtained the appointment of women factory inspectors for factories and workshops where women are employed, in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

(3) It has obtained the extension of the provisions of the Factory Act to the Shop Act in Ontario as regards the supervision of women workers.

(4) It has obtained the appointment of women on the Boards of School Trustees in New Brunswick, and the amendment of the School Act so that they may be elected in British Columbia.

(5) It has brought about very desirable changes in the arrangements for women prisoners in various places, notably in the city of Quebec, where matrons are now in charge of the women, and young girls are sent to a separate institution.

(6) It has organised in various centres boards of associated charities or other systems of co-operation in the relief of distress.

(7) It has established hospitals in some of its smaller centres. (8) It originated the Victorian Order of Nurses, and has taken a leading part in its establishment in different centres.

(9) It has organised cooking schools, cooking classes, and at Quebec is helping in the formation of a training school for domestic servants.

(10) It has spread sanitary knowledge, especially by means of health talks for mothers, given by physicians in Montreal. This has

been specially successful both among the French and English mothers.

(11) It has held an inquiry all over the country into the circulation of impure literature, and has been able to do something to lessen it already, as well as to warn parents and teachers as to the very great danger that exists in this direction. It hopes to be able to do more by legislation and by the circulation of healthy and interesting literature. It also inaugurated in Canada the Home Reading Union to promote habits of good and systematic reading.

(12) It instituted inquiries into the conditions surrounding working women in various centres, and urges on its members various methods whereby they may work for their amelioration.

(13) It conducted an inquiry into the Laws for the Protection of Women and Children, and has laid certain recommendations before the Minister of Justice which it hopes he will adopt when amending the Criminal Law.

(14) It is at the present moment earnestly concerning itself in the care and treatment of the aged poor.

(15) At the direct request of the Dominion Government, it is now engaged in drawing up a handbook regarding the women of Canada, their position, work, education, industries &c. for use at the Paris Exhibition of 1900.

Having had the privilege of closely watching the development of the Canadian Council, I am glad to witness to the essential good which may be expected from the development of the Council idea, joining together in the golden bonds of a united sisterhood the women workers of each town and city and district and country, and afterwards going out farther and uniting together in the same way the women workers of the world.

The possibility of making a practical reality of the International Council will be tested by this Congress. Many who think the National Councils desirable and feasible consider the International Council impracticable, because of the difficulty of creating a bond between women so distant from each other, and between responsible officers scattered over the globe.

We believe, however, that this Congress will prove the possibility of our aims, because it will again prove the great stimulus that can be imparted by mind acting on mind, and spirit on spirit; and because it will also show that those who have taken hold of it believe so implicitly in the essential spirit of our Constitution that they are determined to govern its every step by the Golden Rule of that Constitution.

Thus there will be no strain, for the different countries joining us will be allowed to develop according to their own ideas, not ours ;

and each will form its own council or union of women according to the genius or spirit of its people. So, it is hoped, the International Council of Women will become a blessed reality, and a centre from which all women may seek inspiration and guidance to work for the good of their own country first, and then for our common humanity.

ISHBEL ABERDEEN.

THE OPEN SPACES OF THE FUTURE

THIS article deals with a subject which has only of late years occupied public attention; but the very rapid way in which the interest in it has increased shows how naturally the sense of its importance reveals itself under the changed circumstances of modern life. It was only in 1865 that the first Society for securing Open Spaces, the Commons Preservation Society, was founded. Not till 1875 was its attention directed to the importance of small London gardens, although Mr. Harry Jones had previously laid out and opened as a garden the burial-ground of St. George's-in-the-East. At a much later date those interested in the subject considered that there was no hope of preserving any land except such as was protected by common rights, that the cost of buying land near London was prohibitory, and they used to hope that the day might come when Londoners would care enough to buy land, but thought it far distant.

When public interest began to be more fully aroused, and when the disposal of the money available under the Parochial Charities Act was before the public, several of us were very keenly desirous that a large part of it should be used for the provision of open spaces. It seemed a suitable use for the fund, as the land was sure to be permanently a valuable possession; the need also was likely to be permanent and felt by all the poor; the purchase was urgent because sites were getting built over, were rising in value, and only very large sums could meet the requirements.

We were also desirous that the provision of such additional larger open spaces as it might be decided to secure should be selected, as far as possible, in proportion to the population of each part of the metropolis.

A Paper appeared in this Review for February 1888, accompanied by a map showing the proportion of population to open space within the four-mile radius from Charing Cross, and within the six-mile radius.

The figures in 1888 showed that there was in the Western Semicircle one acre for every 682 persons, while in the Eastern Semicircle there was only one acre for every 7,481.

The map proved how hopeless it was to rectify this disposition

any more within the four-mile radius, except in the case of Parliament Hill and Clissold Park, the black masses showing how thickly houses stood. It was urged that the attention of those having the disposal of the money should be directed to the six-mile radius, where it might be still possible to secure considerable areas nearest to the most crowded quadrants. Several of these were named, and the importance of the hill-tops was pointed out.

Since 1888 a large number of acres has been added to the heritage of Londoners, most, if not all, of those then pointed out as important, as well as many others. These have been preserved by a very interesting combination of private donors through the medium of the Open Spaces Societies, local bodies, the City Parochial Charity Commissioners, and the London County Council, to the liberal and far-sighted policy of which latter body with regard to open spaces Londoners owe much. Since that map was prepared there have been, by such co-operation, secured, among others, Parliament Hill Fields, Clissold Park, Hilly Fields, Brockwell Park, The Lawn, Church Yard Bottom Wood and Golder's Hill. Two spaces have been given by private donors; one of these, Telegraph Hill, by Mr. Livesey, and twenty-eight acres adjoining Epping Forest by Mr. Edward NorthBuxton.

My friend Mr. Stenton showing the new additions.

Covington has prepared a fresh map There are now in the Western Semicircle 3,415 acres, and in the Eastern only 1,941 acres.

Thus, though the disproportion of open-space acreage to population in the two semicircles has been slightly diminished by the areas acquired since the earlier map was made, it has not been rectified.

This appears to point to the importance of some central body choosing the areas to be purchased in the future. Hitherto the custom has been for individuals in a locality to move about the purchase of a given area, to get donations from residents, votes from the Vestry, and then to approach the London County Council. Has not that method had a tendency for the richer districts to originate more schemes than the poorer? All the schemes have been helpful, all have benefited the poor more or less, but I could wish for a body with a wider outlook to take the initiative in selecting areas for purchase.

Open spaces may be classed under three heads: (1) The small central garden or playground; (2) The park, common, or fields in or near large towns; (3) The country common, or wood, or footpath, or roadside waste.

To deal with the smaller areas first:

Anyone who has lived in the country at all knows how the garden is the complement of the house. Anyone who has watched the life of the workman's family in a London street knows how sorely that complement is missed. Good rooms are something, are

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