DOMESTIC SERVICE. TO THE EDITOR.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 147, 22 June 1904, Page 2

DOMESTIC SERVICE. TO THE EDITOR.

Sir— ln reference to tlie troublesome and much discussed domestic, seivunt pioWem, will you a'.loi\ me space in your paper "for a few words on tho subject? ■Our minds linvo uuen for a long time past much c\eici«ed as to' why it is. bo difficult to obtain domestic help, but 1 think tho chief reason for this lies in tho compulsory education system nl pmenl in force. Nowadays, every one must be educatod, but learning does not tend to a love of cleaning floois, range*, etc. The compelling ot certain of the poorer classes to attend school against the parents' wishes, or when,. they cannot aiiord it, after a certain age, or until they have passed a high standard, unfits them for duties they would bo well capable of fulfilling, wliile forcing on them on amount of that class of knowledge useless to them in after life, when they have not tho intellectual ability necessary for them to utiii&o it. Plenty of strong, able-bodied vtuugmers of hard-working parents, while not profiting in the lefthl by the supeifluous information imparted to them nt school — foi history, drawing, brushwork, etc., though very nice iv themselves, will not heip a girl to look after a house — would make splendid servants. But the style of education they receive gives them ide.is detrimental to houscworKers, and in after life, rather tlum earn their living as- miuds, they crowd into factories, shops, and hotel bars, any where that will leave their evenings free and not necessitate their being called general servants. The supply of school teacher?, too. I think, is greater thnn the demand ; but \\ hat else can one expect after such tnJning n« 'he ;cho\/]s give, them? v Of course, it may bo verj' nice to have aii people woll educated, but one must not be surprised if, after it, girls will not enter service unless the conditions of a servant'? life are veiy much altered. It is not very uleasaut for a ciil, tired after

a haid day's work, to have no other place lo sii m but a. big, bleak kitchen, ! th-prciuhy if, as sometimes happens, trial room hns to bo used ixa arying room for tho week's clothe*. Lines full of them, drawn up by pulleys, the larger articles almost touching one's head, a clothes hoise aioui.d the fire with more of them.; and where is there any comfort for tho girls who iiave to pufc up with that? And yet, I believe, tuch is the cate, and pcuple wonder at their inability to got, or at least to ktep, servants. I know of a house in JJunedin, that of a leading doctor there, where the servants Vcre r.ob expected to iemain in the kithhen, when thero work Wes finished. Alter tlie doctor's hours for seeing patients at his houke were over, and they hud gone, the waiting room was at the disposal of the maids. It was a comfortable room, with couch, easy cbahs, and tables — a cosy sittingroom ; acd with a nice lire in winter time very pleasant evening* could be spent tUere. Is it uot possible that something of this sort could be done for the v. orkers m other households? Why should not they too have a comforlab.e room, in which to sit and take their friends after their day's work"? Another influence, too, I think, bearing greatly on the minds of giris towards domestic service is literature. They are taught, of course, that cultivation of the mmd is very necestary, so they icad — some of them a- great deal. It all helps to show them the level of gins "m sci vice," even if they do not find that level by practical experience. Servants are considered quite outside the ranks of polite society, losing all change of social intercourse unless of a common older with their fellow-creatures on taking up kitchen duties. Therefore, it la nob fair to expect an educated girl to become a general servant, and since all are to be educated, what is to be done? Take the comic illustrated papers. In them we constantly see servants — "slaveys" as they are sometimes elegantly termed— he.d up to ridicule. The cook, big and fat, always with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, is to be seen in the encircling arms of an amatory policeman. Tho nurse or housemaid, much befrilled about tho apron and be tailed about the cap, walks out to meet at the gate another specimen of amatorial masculinity in uniform. I believe the uniform is supposed ! to be the attraction with many girls. The general tone of Ihe illustrations is such I as to low<t tlie status of the servant girl i in the public mind, and especially in the ' mind of any refined girl, who having her own living to earn may think of doing sf a<s a cook or other maid. — I am, etc.,' LOOKER-ON. Wellington, 18th June, 1904.