EMPLOYMENT OF GIRLS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 6, 6 July 1935, Page 8

EMPLOYMENT OF GIRLS

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l was amazed to read in last night's "Evening Post" that the Rev. Ficlden Taylor is turning away girls earning 15s to £1 a week, but who I were apparently without homes or means to provide accommodation. In the light of our own experience this statement struck me as particularly interesting until I realised that apparently the reverend gentleman is not aware of certain conditions in this city. There are hundreds of housewives seeking domestic help which seems quite impossible to obtain. Girls taking up these positions receive fair wages, good homes, and are taught the essentials of good housekeeping. Apparently, for some reason or other,

girls will not take .up this class of work, notwithstanding that there must be hundreds of girls in this city who can do the work satisfactorily, and would find the employment profitable. Unfortunately, the experience of most housewives is that the majority of girls who apply for these positions do so because they are more or less up against it, but have no real desire to work or earn the money which is paid to them. This being the case, how can one sympathise with the numerous girls which the Rev. Fielden Taylor says he has to turn away because they cannot obtain board and lodging. These are the girls who should be doing good, honest housework and helping harassed housewives to bring up their families, instead of which they apparently, prefer to work in factories and shops, although they cannot earn enough to keep them. If there are so many girls up against it, as is indicated by the statement, and if there is so much general hardship in the city, I feel sure that if the matter were tackled the right way a large number of girls would find profitable employment and conditions would be made much easier for mothers of families who can afford to pay for domestic help.—l am, etc., ' FATHER OF A FAMILY. July 6.