DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24, 30 January 1911, Page 3

DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,— l cannot think why there has been no reply to the letter of "A General" of the 17th. It is a question full of interest to the indispensable domestic of to-day. Is the mistress not compelled in this well-governed colony to give her maid or help one afternoon off a, week ? _Will not some kind person tako the mauer up and relieve any doubt on the question, and inform us if we cannot legally lny jdaim to the much-cojfet-ed "afternoon off?" I can speak 'from experiences that are many and varied out here in the capacity of a so-called "lady help," who does not seem Ab bo supposed to claim as much liberty as a' general. I for my part have stood one position for just six months, and not once was I relieved of cooking the evening dinner or having a rest from the domestic round. As for a Sunday oft'— oh ! Never. Yet the colonial housewife complains of tho difficulty in getting domestic help. And every Home boat brings its share of girls", who, I feel sure, must soon feel di.v heartened with the work and duties expected of them. As a rule, I say, the colonial lady employer is one oY the most "having" people on the earth. She cannot get enough out of the help she employs, and will do as little as possible to relieve or to make tne life of the worker in her home a less drudging or a happier one — and with only ona exception have I met to this rule in my two years experience. Until she learns th© proper and a more humane manner of treating the domestic help employed, the colonial housewife courts all her domestic difficulties and deserves no sympathy. Cannot we form a union for domestic helps, and compel our rights and stick together to fight our own cause. — I am, etc., • A WELSH REBEL. Wellington, 29th Jan., 1911.

The Wanganui Herald comments as follows on the school syllabus:— "Dissatisfaction with the school syllabus which the faddists of the Education Department have fastened upon the Dominion has been frequently expressed, and according to a teacher of twenty, five years' experience, to whom we spoks on the subject to-day, there is considerable ground for the statement that the syllabus is over-loaded. Paper- folding, for instance, ho said, was all very nica in its way, but a couple of hours a week at it was of little use considering the number of hours a week spent at some homes in surroundings which would effectually quench any artistic iristinots or manual skill which it called forth- In faot, considering the nature of tho homeo in which some children were brought up, it would, he thouffht, be Tar preferable to substitute a subject like hygiene for paper folding, and the same r'tmark applied to various other subjects which were of no practical value ana goott for nothing except to waste tim- '<■ <■•■