English Mistresses Won't Be "Badhged" Good

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 270, 13 November 1937, Page 5 (Supplement)

English Mistresses Won't Be "Badhged" Good

By . . . NELLE M. SCANLAN

LON'DOX, THE domestic servant question is a 1 world-wide one. and yearly becomes more acute. Now Mr. Ernest Brown, the Minister of Labour, is making a tour of England to gain accurate information from various districts, with a view to taking drastic steps to solve the problem. We all wish him luck. But to jret hack to our domestic servants. One reason for the shortage is the lower status accorded them, and until that is remedied many girls will prefer shop and factory. Another is the long and irregular hour.s of work. A third is a constant friction in the home. Mr. Brown seems to incline towards the view that there are many bad mistresses; women who arc hard and unsympathetic, and do not treat their inaidM with consideration. One of hi-s solutions is to attack the problem from this end and form a League of Good XI if tresses. Membership of this league will be open to all employers of servants who accept a minimum standard of living conditions for their staff. The Good Mistresses will be given a badge to display in their house, and it is presumed that a "badgod house" would have no difficulty in attracting servants.

This suggestion has started a storm of protest. In old days the servants were expected to produce references from past employers, giving an assurance of honesty, sobriety, respectability and efficiency. Now the mi-stress will be asked to show her credentials to the prospective maid; to exhibit her badge. Even the acute shortage of domestic servants has not converted many women from their often offensive attitude towards their domestic staff. To invite these women to join a League of CJood Mistresses, to lal>el them with official approval as it were, is a crowning insult. The League of (iood Mistresses is now filling the newspapers with indignant outbursts, and a fine controversy is in full spate. Some of the points raised would indicate that such a proposal is unworkable, especially if the mistresses are going to be "difficiilt"-abont it. It is all in their hands, and I can imagine many a stiffbacked old dowager snorting with rage at the mere suggestion that she must have a label put on her to show she is a suitable person to employ domestic labour. Suppose such a league does come into operation, and suppose also that its principles are readily and widely accepted, and employers are compelled to join % in order to get servants, there will naturally lie the same old crowd, good, • bad and indifferent mistresses, with the 1 mere difference that they have a badge

because they have joined the league. Of course, they must sign an undertaking to keep the terms of their charter. That is a simple thing to do, and most mistresses, even the worst, are convinced that they are the most considerate employers in the world. There will be no difficulty in giving the badges, but the trouble will arise when the servant complains that her mistress has not kept faith with her league pledge. To whom must the girl complain? Who is to decide between mistress and maid? Will the police come and remove the badge. Will some anay of inspectors be employed to nose around in hourien and see that the mistress is treating her staff according to the rules? A fine old set of complications will then arise. Will the inspector take the maid's word or the mistress', for there will seldom be corroborating witnesses, and in any case the family will stand by mother, and the other servants with the maid, or at least in nine cases out of ten. Loyalty to one's family or class still exists. Will tribunals be set up to investigate each case? Will the matter be thrashed out in the kitchen with some league official as arbitrator? Under what conditions will the badge be removed from the bad mistress? Will the league keep a "black list" for the guidance of servants? As one woman who has spent 2."> years in domestic seivice fKtints out. it is not ■ only what is said, but how it is said, that often causes the trouble in the I kitchen. The actual words spoken may I

have many meanings; they may look quite harmless on paper, but may be highly offensive when uttered, in a certain way. One domestic servant says that "the key of the front door" should be the badge —the badge of liberty. She suggests that if domestic servants had the same regular hours as factory and shop workers, and the same liberty of action when their work is done, there would be little trouble in attracting maids. One difficulty you know little of in New Zealand is the stairs bogy. Most of London's homes for many generations have been built four-storeys high, owing to the cost of ground, we may suppose. The usual plan was to have the kitchen and maid's room in the basement, which got little or no sun or daylight, and was often damp and extremely cold. On the ground floor was the drawing room and dining room, a hatch was raised, and the food came up on a lift through the floor from the kitchen. On the first floor were the principal bedrooms and bathroom. Up one more flight and you came to the nursery floor, with day and night nursery, nurses' room, bathroom, and perhaps a small kitchenette. Four flights of stairs! This adds much to the work of running a house, and is one of the most tiring features of it. Since fiats have come into vogue, many of these houses have been reconditioned inside, and each floor i 3 now a flat. Having less room, many people with small families are content with a daily maid, who ajeeps at home. These old houses provide more spacious flats than the modern boxes which are going up in their thousands, but they often lack the conveniences that you are asked to pay so highly for in the new blocks, such as central heating, refriI gerators for food, etc.