WANTED A COMPANION HELP

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21686, 21 January 1936, Page 15

WANTED A COMPANION HELP

TO THE EDITOB OF THE •PEESS. Sir,—The return of a Labour Government, the right royal Christmas bonus to the unemployed, my identity with the lost 10 tribes, and even *the behaviour of women teachers on holiday, are mere trifles to me, and my friend, ,Miss Verity Anne. We live together in a comfortable home, and our pooled income makes just sufficient to live on if vwe are,not extravagant. Because of age limitations we * are desperately; in need of a capable, understanding woman as companionhelp. Of course, that means, what.my mother 50 years ago called a servant, but naturally a mother of 50 years ago wis old-fashioned, and I, her elderlyi; daughter, having lived to this new age, desire a companion-help—-that is someone to live with me, share the comforts and privileges of the home, do the cooking and light duties, and receive a salary, not wages, for doing so. Alas! for the fulfilment of the desire. Your paper reports the secretary of the Home Service Association as saying tnat there is a lack of suitable women for the many positions offering. There is just a hint in that", word "suitable" that accounts for so many workless women being ! really tuiemployable, because they fail 1 to adapt themselves to the conditions of the homes open to them, or because they are mind wanderers and cannot grasp details, or because their own viewpoint is the only one to be considered. The Hon. E. Semple declares that work must be found for the 24*000 young people thrown, on the labour market every year, some pf whom have never had a. job. Perhaps there is a reflection of unsuitability or unwillingness on the part of these young folk to seize a job and do. it, when they meet it Sorrell's • slogan was: "It is not the job that matters, it is how you do your job that counts." - -To an earnest seeker after a com-twnion-heJp. your,, report of the women's unemployment committee was' illuminating. It stated there were a number of women and girls having

their rent paid, receiving a Christmas bonus, dainty underwear, and various Christmas, luxuries. Miss Verity Anne and I discussed that committee report, and* a gleam of hope came into being that amongst these outs of work there might be a suitable one to. meet our needs—one who would rather earn her living than live 1 in a room someone else paid for. The remarkable thing about the unemployment question is the number of women who answer an { advertisement, and when an interview is arranged for, fail to keep the'appointment, or when a reference is desired, have none to show 4 If their services are accepted they will go away promising to take up duty at a certain time, and that is the end of the matter; One sees them no more. Am-'I just a voice crying in the wilderness? Oh! for a companion-help, willing and able to co-operate with me and Miss Verity Anne in making our comfortable little home an abode of oraerliness and content during theso hurrying sunset days of our life.—Yours, etc., RACHEL ANNE. January 20, 1936.