KITCHEN PRINCESSES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIV, Issue 1180, 1 December 1924, Page 11

KITCHEN PRINCESSES.

TRAINING IN DOMESTIC SCIENCE. LONDON, Oct, 16. “Domestic servants, their training and their status,” was one of the subjects discussed at the National Council of Women at Brighton. The question, arose on a motion by Lady Matthews (Tunbridge Wells) endorsing the opinion of the Domestic Service Enquiry Committee that training in domestic science should form an integral part of the education of every voting girl, and urging that there should he increased development of instruction in practical domestic science in elementary and secondary schools. Lady Matthews insisted that the teaching now given was not- sufiiciently concentrated and vocational. Domestic work, site said. had. always been looked upon as unskilled, and until lately ill-paid, and, in the case of married women unpaid. The work hud been described as the ‘‘Cinderella” of the professions Women were supposed to understand domestic work by instinct, and supposed to pick it up a-s they went along. “We have women,” she continued, “who enter upon married life and openly hoast that they know nothing of domestic matters. We want it, to be realised that cooking is nothing but applied chemistry, and that scrubbing and scouring are nothing loss than the science of hygiene put into practice. We hope the time will come when we shall see established in our Universities a domestic science tripos. That is a dream, but we hope it will not always be a dream. We should clothe the domestic in a garment of honour and show what she is, not a drudge, but a princess.” (Cheers.) Miss Mary Tudor said that when thero was domestic inefficiency in a poor home the woman was stated to be a bad manager. When the rich woman was ignorant of domestic knowledge she was a woman of artistic temperament, ADVICE TO MIGRATION SOCIETIES. The resolution was seconded by Mrs Fothergill, whose opening sentence, That the conference had reached its most important question, was greeted with warm applause. Inefficient domestic work was, she said, alfecting the whole nation, tor England was built upon its homes. What was now wanted was a better class of young woman to enter upon the work, for that would bring about a sense of eolleagueship between the mistress and the maid. At Brighton, as Miss Basdon pointed out, the educational authorities had established a high standard of training, and. as site reminded her hearers, the University of London had established a course at King’s College women’s branch that fulfills the most advanced requirements.

A new and interesting note was struck by Mrs B. .Tames (Australia). “We find,” she said, “that the girls who come out front England are doplorubly ignorant of household work. Could you not get your overseas settlement and emigration societies to put them through some . good practical training before you send them io us?”

Miss Basden, a Brighton medical worker, urged the institution of a national scheme for examination in domestic science and the sumo status for the “profession” as for nursing and teaching. The resolution was carired by a large majority.