COMMUNAL DOMESTICS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 30 May 1914, Page 12

COMMUNAL DOMESTICS.

At two houses in Hampstead, London, twenty-eight persons are living a communal life, which, among other things, solves the "domestic" problem. This dea was, indeed, the original purpose of the founder, Mrs Melvin. "It is not every woman," she says, "who is born to be a housewife. It seemed to me that a house such as this, where people could be waited upon by a staff of servants, with regjai'd to whom they have no responsibility, would be weicomed. My staff has been specially selected, and without this, me might anticipate just as much trouble collectively as would otherwise be the case individually." For the servants Melvin House is almost ideal. There is not a bell in the place. Every girl has two hours off duty every day, and work is finished by 8.30 p.m. The method of service which has been adopted is .that tenants engage a maid for* their work at 6d per hour.