WORK AND WAGES: A REPLY TO MRS. ALDIS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9241, 19 December 1888, Page 6

WORK AND WAGES: A REPLY TO MRS. ALDIS.

TO TIIE EDITOR. Sir,—A letter signed "M. Steadman Aldis," reprinted from the Englishwoman's Review, in yesterday's issue of the Herald, seems to me to be a tissue of assertions without facts. _ Mrs. A. begins by saying " there is no opening at all" for women in the colony. Is she going to ignore the hundreds of ladies employed in teaching? Milliners, dressmakers, those females employed in telegraph offices, printing houses, and photographic studios, are not women I suppose. She instances a case where a lady had thirty applicants for the position of domestic servant, but does'not state how many of them were fitted for the work, nor what the remuneration was to be. Now, I could mention several nanies of teachers who have done, and are doing, well in the colony, and who are well content with their success, getting from £100 to £200 per annum, with in some cases board and residence in addition. True, they do not receive equal pay to the sterner sex. Can Mrs. A. mention the advanced country in which we are on an equal footing in this respect? Some of our lady telegraphists receive from £100 to £200 per annum, unless during out' late retrenchment they have been reduced. Many of our young girls are receiving; from 20s to 30s per week as milliner. Good domestic servants can still command from 10s to 12s per week. When all else fails there is the washtub! And if a girl brings nothing to the colony but a pair of good strong arms why should she not " make her pile " out of them. Some may smile at the supposed impossibility, but I could give an instance where comparative independence has been attained by the washtub. The average man or woman can only accomplish average work, and must be content with average pay, and this must be admitted to be fairly good here. The marriage paragraph is too absurd for reply. "Then as to men, all town occupations are overstocked." Of course they are. It has always seemed to me the extreme of folly for gentlemen to rush to a new colony, expecting it to be formed out of clerks and professions. Does not common sense tell us that the chief employment in a new country must be manual and laborious? White-handed gentlemen must be at a discount until a certain stage is reached. Even then the demand is limited. But farming and fruit growing have seldom ended in disappointment whore sobriety and industry nave been combined with the requisite skill to carry it on. The " sad story" related by Mrs. Aldis is sad on account of the want of ordinary judgment displayed. Too often new arrivals with money have nothing else to boast of. They rush into the first speculation that offers, or loaf about hotels until all is gone, and then abuse the colony. I have known many who, on arriving, have been advised to deposit their money in the bank, and go to work until they have gained colonial experience. Such advice, when followed, has seldom been regretted. Mrs. Aldis seems to complain eveu of the richness of our soil, for she says " things do grow luxuriantly hi cleared land, but then, that includes weeds." Dear, dear, that is sad ! Can no one find fertile soil that will only grow such tilings as we would like ! Why, even paradise would not come up to Mrs. Aldis' ideal; for Adam was placed in the garden " to dress it and to keep it." Milton says— '"Till moro hands aid us, Tho work under our labour grows," etc.

Our laws are not perfect, and our House of Representatives might be reduced by onehalf without detriment to the country, but it soems to me an ungracious return for the wife of one of our Professors to complain of the taxation of the colony, as much of it illicit come under the heading "school bills." In that ease teachers of every grade would be in a worse position than even now. All our young men cannot be Professors; all our girls cannot be wives of Professors. Some must do the delving and the sowing, and it ill-becomes those who reap to despise those who produce the crop. After 28 years of experience m the colony I assert, without fear of contradiction, that industry and perseverance, combined with common sense, will produce satisfactory results. 1 hope, Mr. Editor, my scribbling is not too long for your paper, but it always rouses my ire when I hear my adopted country so unjustly assailed.—l am, &c., Amy Daldy.