SLUMP IN DOMESTIC SERVANTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 128, 26 November 1907, Page 8

SLUMP IN DOMESTIC SERVANTS

, ■ . ■■ ■ ■«>■' MANY WANTKD-FEW APPLY. "Thr world's full of g' l ' 3 who are good and true,"' declared a, .sentimental song which had a vogue not long ago. The mistresses do not believe it, and keepers of registry ofliees shout in derision at t lis allegation. Wellington is piifjuirinjr for "generals'' in Christ church, and poor Christchurch has none to give! She is looking to Wellington for commanders of the kitchin. "The girls don't exist now," exclaimed a registry lady to-day. "It is almost usebss Lo enquire for 'generals,' and there is no other domestic help available. The telephone bell tinkled. The mes-fc.ig-e was — "Have you any girls who want places as geneials?" The agent remarked that sh& ccild place- thirty straighf. away. She had just written lo Tsismania offering to take twenty girls n. we-?k. Women in flawkes Bay, clespauing of ever getting a servant in the local labour market, had formed a syndicate, ami they had already imported fifty girls from Great Britain, said the lady of tho bureau. The consignments* had brought gladness to households which ha.d been plunged in gloom. All the girls, except ono or two, had been tVc-.i- j sures, and the syndicate was consequently intending to bring out a fuither shipment of twenty. Feminine cooks and waitresses seem to be as scarce as "generals." Advertisejnents offering wages of 35s to 50s for women who con cook have failed lo draw suitable applicants, and waitresses cannot be tempted out to nice country houses for £1 a. week. A wealthy lady at Ahuriri.'an ideal employer, gave an agent authority to "offer any money 1 ' for a cook. An attempt was made with £2, 1 then Uie figure advanced to £2 ss, £2 10s, and still an accredited cook did not come forwaid. Women did offer their services, bnt they were not cooks. ! Girls apply for positions as waitresses in Wellington, but arc doth to leave' the city. "They will stick to Wellington,'' stated tho registry agent. "They may havo hardly a penny in their pockets, and no clothes to speak about, 'but they won't go out of Wellington. When star- | vation stares them in the face they may depart for threo or four weeks, but back they come to Wellington. I can't s«e' what they see in Wellington."