Hiring A Cook In London

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32164, 6 December 1969, Page 24

Hiring A Cook In London

(Specially written for "The Press" by R. C. LAMB)

It has recently been reported that the Go-vernor-General (Sir Arthur Porritt) is advertising in London newspapers for a second cook for Government House, Wellington, and that a single female aged 30 to 35 is preferred for the job.

Ninety years ago the Canterbury Club decided to advertise in London for “a really first-class female cook.” The club’s chairman at the time, John Ollivier, wrote to Walter Kennaway—secretary to the New Zealand AgentGeneral in Landon—to enlist his help in procuring such a cook. “She must not be too young—nor too old—not too good looking and not too ugly, but a real professor of her art,” wrote Ollivier. Both he and Kennaway had in earlier years played a prominent part in the affairs of the Province. Ollivier had been leader of the Canterbury Executive Council and Deputy-Superintendent. Kennaway (who was later to receive a knighthood) had been Provincial Secretary before leaving Canterbury in 1874 to take up his London appointment. Like Ollivier, he was an original member of the Canterbury Club which had been founded in 1872.

He naturally warmed to his old friend’s letter in quest of a cook, and was fully alive to the Importance of making a wise choice. “It is a great responsibility”—he wrote in reply—“you could have hardly put upon me a greater one; the appointment of a Com-

mander-dn-Chief, King, Emperor . . . are nothing to it” Printed Forms Kennaway lost no time in placing advertisements for the position in the four principal London newspapers, namely “The Times,” the “Standard,” the “Daily News,” and the “Daily Telegraph.” He also had a number of application forms printed, specifying the qualifications required of suit able applicants, and setting out the duties involved and the terms of engagement

The wording of each form was as follows:

To be eligible for the situation the candidate must be unmarried or a widow. She must be highly skilled in the art of cooking and in the management and control of servants, and other matters connected with a club or large household. Thorough, practical experience and efficiency in cooking, and in serving up dinners, both to small and large parties, and the possession of a good'judgment in the selection and management of meat and other articles required for culinary purposes are all essential. The cook for the club was also to be ' its housekeeper and to superintend the work of the female servants who comprised a kitchen maid, a housemaid and a scullery maid.

As to the terms of engagement, the selected candidate was to receive a free passage to New Zealand, and was to reside at the Club. (In the case of the successful applicant for the position at Government House, an assisted passage to New Zealand

“under which the migrant pays about $55 and the New Zealand Government pays the rest, will be offered by the Labour Department,” and she will have free board and lodging.) Fifty Replies The salary of the club cook was to be £BO for the first year, £lOO for the second, and- £l2O for the third. As to catering requirements, the application form stated that “from 30 to 50 members lunch daily at the club, and from 12 to 20 dine.” Mr Kennaway's advertisement drew more than 50 replies. None of the applicants had had cooking experience in a club. The reason for this was that in most English clubs a male cook was employed.

From the 17 applicants who returned him completed forms, he selected four with whom he held personal interviews. One wonders how he found the time for such careful selection of a candidate, as the work at the AgentGeneral’s office was very onerous, and the correspondence handled there was enormous.

After returning from three days recess at Easter that year he had found 2500 letters waiting to be opened. It took four clerks three hours just to open them; and for a period thereafter Kennaway had to work from 5 a.m. till 10.30 p.m. until the volume of work assumed more manageable proportions.

Kennaway, having sized up the applicants for the situation at the Club, finally selected Miss Martha Cole who was unmarried and 32 years of age, and who carried a warm testimonial from Captain G. C. Adams, R.N., in whose country residence near Coventry she had worked as cook-housekeeper for the past four and a half years. The captain pronounced her “a very good cook” and testified to her being “very steady, sober, honest and very respectable, with pleasant manners and intelligent” Matron In Ship On November 9, 1879, the necessary “articles of agreement” were signed by Mr Kennaway and Miss Cole at the New Zealand Office, 7 Westminster Chambers, London.

Although the club was prepared to pay Miss Cole's fare to New Zealand, it was saved this expense, as Kennaway arranged for her to be appointed matron on board the ship Westland which sailed from Plymouth on November 27, with 309 passengers bound for New Zealand under the Government’s immigration scheme. They included 75 single women. When the Westland berthed at Lyttelton on February 21, 1880, the report of her surgeon-superintend-ent, published in the local papers, noted how particularly well-behaved the single women had been—a fart which he attributed in large measure to “the judicious control and management of a very able matron—Miss Cole.” May the Governor-General, in his search for a cook, be as fortunate as the Canterbury Club was in procuring such a good one, 90 years ago.