Scottish Farmers’ Wives Work Hard

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29974, 8 November 1962, Page 2

Scottish Farmers’ Wives Work Hard

Milking is a woman’s job in the east of * Scotland, and about 50 per cent, of housewives in the area still make their own butter, according to Mrs E. S. Fraser, of Kelso, Roxburghshire, Scotland. Mrs Fraser is in Christchurch with her husband, Mr Hugh Fraser, who is judging Suffolk sheep at the Canterbury ; centennial show this week.

• Yesterday, Mr* Fraser • S escribed some of th* dif- • ferencea between the lives at i Scottish and New Zealand . fanners* wives. Th* main thing was that tn Scotland . farmers’ wive* did not spend th* time on the farm that , their New Zealand counter- • part* did. ■ This she attributed to the » difference* in the sizes of ' the farmhouse*. Most Scot- > tish farmhouses were large » and old, requiring a lot of

time for their upkeep and running. Mr* Fraser’s own home, typical of most farmhouses, is of stone and ha* three storeys, with three public room* and seven bedrooms. It is 400 year* old. “Electricity wa* the biggest benefit we've ever had,” she said. However, she still cooks on an anthracite stove, makes her own butter, and employs a woman to milk the two house cows. Her only other home help is a woman who come* part-time. The farmhouse* were large because they had been added to in prosperous times when families were bigger and domestic staff readily available, Mrs Fraser said. Most farm properties employed nine or 10 men, who lived with their families in cottage* on the property.

Much of Mrs Fraser's time is taken up with entertaining prospective buyers of her husband’s stock. Visitors to her home have included Americans, Russians, Italians and Norwegians, and last year she spent an afternoon entertaining—in French —th* wife of a Portuguese buyer. Since her son. Mr Hugh Fraser, jun., came to New Zealand about five year* ago on a Young Farmers’ Club exchange. Mrs Fraser has also been hostess to many young New Zealander*. She spoke highly of the girls in particular—“they are so go-ahead and independent." Mr and Mrs Fraser have been in New Zealand about a week, and will leave for home about December 12.