MAINLY FOR WOMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 January 1931, Page 3

MAINLY FOR WOMEN

ITEMS OE INTEREST (Notes by Marjorie)

SERVANTS’ CONDITIONS. MOVE FOR REGULATION. Details of the Labour Party’s campaign 'to organise the domestic servants of the country on trade union lines have been given at a special meeting in the House of Commons by Dr Marion Phillips, Labour M.P. for Sunderland, who is organising the party’s manifesto and questionnaire which has been sent to servants. There are considerably over 1,000,000 women and girl domestic servants in Great Britain, all of whom are voters or potential voters. A proposal to send inspectors into the home, to inquire into the accommodation for servants and the conditions of work, is among the points in the manifesto. After pointing out that there are more domestic servants than miners, and twice as many as textile workers, the manifesto continues: —“To-day all domestic servants over 21 may be voters, and if they use their votes in an organised way they can have a great influence in Parliament. In some wealthy constituencies, such as Westminster and Kensington, they make from a quarter to a third of the women voters. Why should not the M.P.’s elected in these areas represent them as effectively as the miners are represented by theirs?” One of the first demands made in the manifesto is a 48-hours week and an 8-hours day for them. The manifesto .says: — “Early morning tea and late dinner make a long day. In other occupations the work finishes at the close of the shift, and most workers have free evenings. This is difficult, but is it impossible for domestic workers?” Higher wages is another demand in the manifesto: — “The wages of the hardest-worked servants, the generals, are about the same as adult women under Trade i Board industries, i.e., in formerly

sweated trades.” It is also suggested that the domestic servant has a grievance if she has no sitting-room other than the kitchen: —' > “The sitting-room accommodation is usually the kitchen, and there may be little comfort there. What should be the standard of accommodation? Should people who cannot provide it have resident servants?” Furniture in the maid’s bedroom, the manifesto says, is “too often the ‘throw-outs’ from other rooms.” Another proposal is that domestic servants should come under Unemployment Insurance, and thus be eligible for the dole. The rejhedy proposed for all the alleged evils of domestic service is the forrpation of a trade union and the setting up of a “Joint Council” which would lay down conditions for file domestic servants’ work. Organised domestic workers would only take jobs if . council conditions were gjven.

FRIVOLITIES THAT CHARM. It is a long time since the dress designers have allowed us to be frivolous (writes the London correspondent of .the “Sydney Morning Herald”). Now that they are doing so, we cannot have too much frivolity, and are only too pleased to welcome every new manifestation of our return to feminity. What could be more frivolous, for instance, than the new rest gowns, which can be worn as pyjamas or negligees, just whichever we feel in the mood for at the moment? They come, of course, from Paris, and they are made of white chiffon. The trciisers are very wide indeed, and are often finely accordion pleated, the tuck-in blouse bodices are sometimes made in backless style, and are generally finished at the neckline with a scarf of one of the new cowl collars. Over this blouse you w'ear a brightlycoloured coat, just by way of a cheerful finish. And then, if you feel more like a negligee, yon simply add a longskirt of white clvffon, which is made with a yoke, and you must tie this round the waist, the ends fastening in a soft bow in the centre front. This is certainly a novel idea, and Parisians are delighted with it. The little new round capes, for evening wear are the essence of femininity. They are edged with fur, and sometimes they are the same length all round, and at others they prefer to be uneven, and, although they just coveithe arms, they dip quite deeply at the waist. Velvet evening coats have a perfect, passion for capes, which swing from Ahe shoulder and are heavily weighted by deep bands of fur. Gar net red and pale pink is a most fash ionable colour combination in Paris at the moment. Women are wearing soft p’ink chiffon dresses under magnificent fur-trimmed coats of garnet red velvet, and if you can afford to match your jewels with your frocks, ■then you should wear garnets and diamonds with such an ensemble.

We pay a good deal of attention to skating fashions these days, since the fashion for ice skating became more and more popular. Pleated skirts have been revived for skating, and are so much in favour now that we see them chosen for street wear as well. All the new ones are fairly long, and are set into well-fitting hip yokes. In Paris ■the latest skating suits have fallen for the charm of the basque, and are often carried out in black cloth, made with a pleated skirt and the short, basqued coat collared and cuffed in black astrakhan.

A great deal of play as made this season with scarves and collars. Some of the new little woollen dresses have their crossover bodice bordered with fur, and others, adopting another new idea, have a scarf of velvet or pique folded over and worn straight down the front, in the way we used to wear fur and satin ties. Long chiffon scarves in bright colours are now being worn with white or black evening dresses, and if you are very fashionable you have the ends falling down at the back. Sometimes these scarves are finished with a band of fur which edges one side only. And for the daytime there are scarves of tweed, unlined, and worn also with the ends hanging down the back, for the designers are paying more attention to the back of a frock than to the front.

I CHANCE TOO LATE. FOR HOUSEHOLD WORKER. Domestic services as an alternative employment for suitable cotton opeiatives was strongly advocated by Miss Margaret Bondfield, Minister of Labour, at Manchester. Mistresses, she urged, should try by greater thoughtfulness to make domestic service more attractive to intelligent girls. If the term domestic servant” had repugnant associations for young women, they might be described as “household workers” or by other more appealing names. She continued: The problem of finding alternative employment is one of the serious that the country has to face, and for women there is one great alternative

domestic service. In domestic service there is an unsatisfied demand. There are more women employed in domestic service tlian In any other inclustry, but there

is a high “married mortality,” and there are always vacancies. I can understand the objections raised by cotton operatives against the idea of leaving their own trade to go into this other occupation. Much praise is due to those pioneer girls who have changed from industrial life by taking domestic situations. Many .of the disadvantages and objections to domestic service are greatly exaggerated. A point is raised in a letter from a girl on why she left domestic service, notwithstanding that she had good conditions and hours and time off. She complains that, except on a few days, she had from morning until night no opportunities for intelligent conversation.

Mistresses where only one domestic worker is kept should try to look at it from the other point of view and try to understand what it means for a girl, who has always had people to talk to, to be boxed up in the kitchen and h e spoken to only as an inferior.

SOME NEW IDEAS. The small wardrobe must sacrifice variety, but not an atom of chic, contends a well-known film star. "A woman can be smartly and properly groomed for all occasions with a five unit wardrobe,” she asserts. “Two street or daytime costumes should be incorporated, a top coat, one semi-dress frock that can be utilised with equal chic for afternoon and inifcrmal evening events, and one gown that will meet the demands of dininer engagements as well as formal gatherings. The daytime outfits should comprise one trimly tailorcl suit, and a one-piece frock to be worn in cool weather with a top coat. The small wardrobe chart should ad hereffo harmonising tones in suit and frock so that both will blend with the same coat, hat, shoes, gloves and handbag. The suit offers an opportunity for variety with the addition of blouses and vests. ®

“'One silk frock with lingerie touches and soft lines will see you through a full season for afternoon and evening theatre parties. It should he selected in a colour that will not grow tiresome and one that will blend with the coat, used for the daytime costumes. Black chiffon is the most suitable shade for the evening gown, and as flowers are used in abundance this season, they are a boon to the femall wardrobe, since by adding a cluster to an often-worn dinner frock, one creates a bit of chic variety and newness to the garment.”

GOLDEN TURKEYS

Nine years ago Mrs. W. A. Freeman, of Ardenode, Alberta, in a raffle won a pair of bronze turkeys. i To-day she has the largest turkey ranch in Canada, and this year has mad© out of it a profit of £2OOO from the sale of eggs, hens for breedingstock, and table birds. Mrs. Freeman expects that, next year she will raise her income from turkeys to £3OOO.