THE DEARTH OF DOMESTIC WORKERS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13792, 22 July 1910, Page 6

THE DEARTH OF DOMESTIC WORKERS.

Striking testimony to tho existence cf a large and unsatisfied demand for domestic workers is supplied in the reports from the Women's Employment Branches of tho Department of Labour, which appear in tho Department's annual report. The woman officer In charge at Auckland, for , instanco, reports that 002 applications for "generals" were received from employers, and only 162 women offered themselves for'this class of work, "thus ".showing the acute nature of tho "domestic problem." In Wellington "it is not unusual for the number of "employers seeking domestics, to outnumber the girls offering by eight to "one." Nelson reports that fifty cr sixty good generals could be placed at once, and in their absence numbers of people are going into smaller homes or having their meals at hotels or restaurants. Tho Christchurch office "cannot nearly meet the dema.nd" for domestic workers, and it is mentioned that difficult as it is to get them in or near town, "it is almost an impos- " sibility to get them for the country." Farmers' wives with families experienoe great hardships on this account. In Dunedin the "very keen demand for "general servants'' has increased, and the applicants for that class of work havo considerably diminished. Besides thus recording the state of the domestic labour market in their various districts, several of the women officers in charge of employment bureaux make interesting comments on the situation. The Auckland t officer points out that it is in homes where general servants are j needed that the scarcity of domestic workers is most severely felt. "TCeither," | she adds, "can I see a way out of i " the difficulty unless some means can " be found for bringing a much larger " number of suitable girls from Eng- " land." On the other hand, the officer in charge of the Wellington bureau evidently thinks little of this idea, remarking that good and capable girls can command ready situations in England. She takes no account, however, of the higher wages and generally easier conditions of life in New Zealand, which would act as inducements to young women to come out here. In her opinion the girls " are available in " New Zealand," a remark which completely ignores the consensus of opinion that the supply of domestic workers in j the Dominion is quite insufficient to ! meet the needs of the country. The i statement that "the remedy lies with "the employers" accords with the arrant nonsense that is talked by somo newspaper correspondents as to the treatment meted out to domestic servants by employers. We do not believe that the housewives of Wellington treat their helpers any worse than those of Dunediu, of whom the local officer reports that many offer " good wages, " numerous outings, and even assistance " with the household duties," and yet " the securing of domestic workers is "difficult in the extreme." All over New Zealand wages for domestic service have advanced steadily for years, until they have now reached a point which many people cannot afford to give, even if the labour were available. The fact that in. spite of high wages and vastly

improved conditions, the demand far exceeds the supply, is surely the strongest evidence that additional supplies are needed.