Our woman labor has been found to be quite mobile and girls have moved
in thousands from one part of the country to another, and the munition
girl travelling home on holiday on her special permit is a familiar
figure.

The registration, placing and moving of our workers is all done by
our Labour Exchanges, now renamed Employment Exchanges and transferred
from the Board of Trade to the Ministry of Labour.

When the National Service Department was set up, a Women's Branch
was established with Mrs. H.J. Tennant, and Miss Violet Markham as
Co-directors, and they made various appeals, registered women for the
land, munitions, W.A.A.C. and for wood cutting and pitprop making.
A great demonstration of "Women's Service" was held in the Albert
Hall in January 17, 1917, at which Mrs. Tennant and Miss Markham,
Lord Derby, Minister of War; Mr. Prothero, President of the Board of
Agriculture, and Mr. John Hodge, Minister of Labour, spoke and at
which the Queen was present. It was an appeal to women for more work
and a registration of their determination to go on doing all that was
needed. The men's message was one to equals--they asked great things.
A message from Queen Mary was read for the first time at any public
meeting and it was the only occasion on which she has attended one.

The number of women now in our industry directly replacing men,
according to our latest returns, is over one and a quarter millions.
This does not include domestic service, where our maids grow less and
less numerous and Sir Auckland Geddes, Director of National Service,
tells us he is considering cutting down servants in any establishment
to not more than three, and it does not include very small shops and
firms.