DEARTH OF DOMESTIC SERVANTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7732, 27 February 1909, Page 1

DEARTH OF DOMESTIC SERVANTS

OHRISTCHUIICH, February 25. A meeting of' those interested was held this afternoon for the purpose of considering what steps should be taken to deal with the present difficulty in •fhe way of obtaining domestic servants. There was a very large attendance, and Mrs Oracroft Wilson presided. Mrs Cracroft Wilson said that the idea was to petition Parliament to restore the free passage system for women domestics. The whole success of the scheme would depend upon the way it was carried out by the Government.- Girls from Scotland and some parts of Ireland were considered to be the most suitable for sending out, while the Scandianvian girls had been recommended by the Hon. Geo. Fowlds, but objection had been taken, to the importation of any but English girls. An j important reason why the Government should give free passages to single women was that the girls would be j under more authorised supervision; they would have a special part of the ship arranged for them, as in the early days, and would have one or more matrons to take charge of them on the voyage and also on arrival. Mr Fowlds has said in answer to a deputation from the Sheep-owners' Union that he foared the liability to be incurred in finding employment for* the domestic helps as soos as they landed, but she did not think that difficulty would last very long. She had been told by captains of stops that they received letters on! getting to Hobart to engage suitable people who were coming out as passengers, to the great embarrassment of the- captains sometimes, and on other ships the passengers engaged servants who were on their way to New Zealand before they landed. Mrs Hawdon, who had inaugurated the proposal leading' to the holding of the meeting, moved that the women of New Zealand §hould petition Parliament to restore for some time at least State free immigration to single women suited for domestic s.er* vice. The motion was seconded by Miss Colborne Veel, who said that she thoroughly agreed with the views of tlie previous —«aker. The school of domestic instruction was giving instruction to the girls in the upper standards, but of the girls trained very few went into domestic service, and those were i not always the brighest; the others went into factories and shops. The motion was carried, and a committee set up to bring the matter before women in other parts of New Zealand in order that a representative petition / might be presented.