NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11040, 18 April 1899, Page 3

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN.

I * | The National Council of the Women cf New ' - Zealand resumed sitting yesterday afternoon ' I at half-past two o'clock. There was a full 1 1 attendance of delegates. I A letter was read from the secretary of the ; J Single Tax League, complimenting the Council . on the earnest desire shown by them in their j deliberations to forward social reform, and ' suggesting that a deputation from the league : should wait upon or address the Council un the land question am! social reform. After some discussion, it was decided to thank the writer for the letter, and to inform hull that, : owing to the great length of the nrogramme ■ it would be impossible to receive the deptital tion. I i THE TRAINING OF DOMESTIC SERVANTS. ! . Mrs. Gibson presented a paper on the i raining of Domestic Servants." in the ■ coursei of which she said:-In writing a paper i on ' the Training of Domestic Servants," I i leel myself rather at a disadvantage, for, although the welfare of a class of women and inns whom I consider the hardest-worked, I »<-rst-treate<l, and poorest-paid members of I file community has my wannest svmyaih.-. , ih„ '."..' 5 - X think, apparent to imM people , mat it the present system mil inbiiiii.ui me I to my mind) under which domestic servants ; labour he continued, in another lo vears, or -ess. there will tie no domestic wants to tram. the wholesome, health}-looking maidservant of to-day will have disappeared, the sickly-looking yellow man of the East will have taken her place here, as he ha- already < ! ™?. m '!><> Western Slates of America, and, ;; Mr. W. T. stead has prophesied he will 1 o ■ ere long in England. It rests entirely in ; the hands of women-all sorts and conditions ; oi w'omen-whether or not this trauMJrmai 5 su'ill take place '" the United Kingdom ' fhint .1 C , 0ln ! 1 ", Ke iiro su accustomed to think that the thing that is must he right : ,i! !' ery cw y°" ,< '"' kind-hearted and wel!- ! meaning though they may be, ever give a • 'nought to the unnatural existence their i dependents in the kitchen are forced to lead. A ' S™ V, me , ! 'f°. a " ,eetill « w:,s held in Lonte * Ue,deil , - by ll " cl "'*ses and countesses. ««„ ii of f '^'." on .' ;,ml l:ulies of hi ' h «<«fw ' era ' h The harden of their complaint "as an the; same— the dearth of domestio ser- ,'"'• \ hi \t could it possibly mean, and ™,™ l(1 ' he poor, misguided girls of the ■ 1. .m, n day he thinking of? .Many of them anally prefei to work in factories at starvation wages to a comfortable home and good "ages in service. So one of the countesses b. Kl. And unfortunately there was no woman hiesent possessed of yaiileient common sense ' vo L !"j UP «"<« say ' "You. and the system , oil and your progenitors have created are h '.™. If , domestic servants were hehnir, "" Ua ', l l,em - ' " 0( " s 'no 11 ? 1 ' 'hey : » ll, a ? S|,C(,ies ' if J' o " mistresses would treat them as you would be treated ;wm. ?' ' ve shoul(l lle:lr ""tiling of this ' d • via f, rV;,,Us - ■■■ • Then, as to holi- -'■■';, I' fe a f? mistresses who give their ,',V L „ ,lf "'"'" :lJ ' ever '' *"**■ '" their ' 1. bo it said; (here are others who give 1 irhicc! 1 ' V" m K 'fee is no law on the. si. 1 eel. . It » entirely optional on the part! "f the mistress. Our Government which has ? n 9 J t V f i er '""' '" l "'" ,ef ' and'ensure the c,m ort of almost eery other class of female f'' n -'.' le -. has ' "'/" i!e many promises, so I.i! left the domestic servant severely done Vn enpioyer run also halt starve her servant should she so choose. When some of u< s„„o I |.iie -.go moved in ilie direction of iiniuciiig, •he Oorernment to take up the qnMinn of a rompnlsory weekly half-holiday for domestic ' servants, we were actually told Ir. woiti-n : I lilt it. would he an impossibility, because if i anyt ling in the nature of inspection were de- i creed it would destroy the "sanctity of the' home, winch means that we are to allow ' tile girls to be starved and bullied and worked ' to death hut, in the name of all that is "erred ! guard the sanctity of the home. If wo wl«h to keep this avenue of labour own to women I it is necessary not only that the servant of th" future receive a. careful and complete' training, but also that the conditions of her I wrvico be radiralli changed, so that she can I take lik- pleasure how she chooses, and have some liberty and leisure, not once a cock or once a month, hut every day. I will therefore give my ideas, not only of the manner! in winch a servant should he trained, hut also ' as to the change which ought to, and must '■ lake place in the near future. To begin with I I must say candidly that I r.in=idcr ninnv ! mistresses stand ooito as much in need of training as their servants. There tire two sides to every qiur,li..u. and we all know that while there are good servants and servants who do nut seem 1., understand the- use of a broom, there are good mistresses and also • mistresses win ought not to be allowed to have a dog under their control. The first ■ step of my training; would he to teach every ' girl in the colony—the future servants anil I • the future employ?rs-the true dignity of I labour. ! would nicks them understand' that no honest labour, however menial, can pos- 1 ' sibly he degrading; that the -en-nut in the I kitchen and the ploughman in the Held mar he quite as refined and true a lady and gentleman as the Governor and his wife, if ■ they so eh mwc. Idleness doe- not denote i gentility I would din this f:-ct into their: . ears morning, noon, and night, until they ! thoroughly realised it. I would also point out I In them-tne fti'tire senants and the future! nostressps. and also. I think, their mother*- I that the men and women who go to church I or, Sundays and w..r«hi|i .lesus Christ. t';« ! carpenter .if rreth, end. coming home ! look down on •niron* on account of their : '■■■rial pcsilinn or -il'itnr are fraud- and hum- 1 bugs, an it stand" to reason had these nejple lived 10 centuries ago t'aev would have con- i Mileretl themselves liin far above the Carpenter I and His fishermen commies to have had any dealings with them. Their religion, there-! ; fore, is so much can'. He. the Man thev pretend to worship, lived up to the age of 30 years as a common workman, and how dare anyone, then, who calls him or herself a Christian, look down upon the working class of to-day. When the rising generation thoroughly realised that social position was uo criterion of either intellect, morality, or refinement, lint merely a matter of wealth. the foundation stone of mv traiiung would be laid. The servant would not be ashamed of her position, the mistress would not assume any airs of superiority or patronage. Then I would have all the girls taught the ordinary routine of housework, and I think the best teachers id this respect and those who have the most opportunity are the mothers of the girls. A wise mother will open her oyes in time, and if her girls' tastes lie, as many and many a girl's tastes do lie, in the performance of domestic duties, then let her train that girl to be a servant, and a good one. so tfent she can command the highest wages going, and. to a certain extent, pick her situations. Many mothers will not take the trouble to teach their children how to do things properly. Every girl, however slovenly and careless she may be naturally, can bo made neat and painstaking in her mode of work, if she be carefully watched oyer by her mother in the early stages of her tuition. Cooking I would have taught in the public schools. This has been objected to by many people, who consider that srhool teachers have more than enough to do under the present syllabus. and nerbans they have, though whether it would not be wiser to teach girls the way to cook good plain food than to cram their heads with a lot of mathematics that nine out of 10 forgot three weeks after they leave school, and the vast majority have no earthly rise for all the remainder of their lives, is an open question. The Wellington Board of Education has, however, taken a middle course in engaging Miss Millington. formerly of the Auckland Technical School. She is supposed .to travel round all the schools in the district, and instruct the girls in cooking—rather a large order for one nerson. to my mind, but the idea is an excellent one, and is at least a beginning, (lirls of very poor parents have no opportunity of learning the cooking required of a servant in their own homes. As to the change which is absolutely necessary in the treatment of this class of employee, it seems to ine that a stated hour when the servant's work shall cease for the day should be fixed for a time -at which timo she would be absolutely her own mistress, to spend the remainder of the evening how she thought fit. in or out of doors. If this hour were fixed at six o'clock, she would still have worked 11 or 12 hours-long enough, in all conscience— it is only reasonable to suppose she would be in need of a rest without the possibility of being called any moment to do this, that, or the other thing. . . I think every mistress should look upon her servants as in some degree under her charge, and hold herself to a certain extent morally responsible for their well-being. That. I believe, was the fashion centuries ago. She ought to remember that if her, own daughters were so circumstanced, it would be some comfort to her to feel that their employer was taking a kindly interest in them, and this, of course, without undue interference with their liberty in their spare moments. A woman can do so much to influence a young girl's career if she only have a little tact: She might talk to her, and arouse her interest in so many subjects outside the gossip of the neighbourhood; she might lend her books—good books, though not necessarily religious works-and discuss them with her; she might, in short, exercise a motherly influence over the girl under her roof—an influence that would be all for good, and which would tend to establish a mutual understanding between employer and employed, for the girl would naturally regard such an employer not only with respect and esteem, but also with affection. Until something of this sort be done, and more especially until there is an hour fixed at which the domestic servant's labour ends for the day, yonng girls will not go to service except as a last resource. I have heard people advocate an eight hours day for servants. I do not see, myself, how such a thing could be fixed by law, nor do I think, for the matter of that, that my plan of fixing a settled hour for the ending of their daily labour could be legally enforced. The only plan that I can suggest is for domestic sen-ants to combine and form a union. They could then insist upon employers granting them a certain number of hotir3 to be absolutely at their own disposal every day or evening. But there are many difficulties m the way of this being carried out. Servant girls are so isolated that the greatest difficulty would be experienced in getmg them together. Nevertheless, something of the sort must be done if the maidservant of the period is to survive another generation. Mrs. Kirker then moved, "That in. the opinion of this Council, domestic servants should be legally entitled to a weekly halfholiday." Speaking to the motion, the mover said she thought servants were entitled to a half-holiday equally with girls in factories and other similar positions. Mrs. Talker seconded, and supported the granting of the half-holiday. Considerable discussion ensued on the status of the servant in a household. Mrs. William- ; son said tho question of what was a fair day's I work should be defined, and then there was the question'of overtime. A proper industrial training system was needed. ! Mrs, Siovwrigtit thought what was wanted J was social culture—a levelling-ap, so as to

I elevate the position of servants to a profesI sion. She wanted municipal kitchens, muni- ! cipal laundries, and municipal kindergartens. i The half-holiday was necessary, as a matter . of course, and the status of the domestic ser- : vant should he improved as much as possible. v Miss Koyil contended that a servant girl n should not he required to work on Sunday, 1 ami she shculil lie paid overtime. She thought the minimum wage far a domestic servant should be tiled at 8s per week for girls just e going out. She considered some legislative '1 protection for servants was necessary, r ' After further discussion the motion was I adopted, with only two dissentients. 0 . EVENING SESSION". i i At the evening session there was a large atr tendance of the public, especially ladies. e' the chamber being crowded. Mrs. , Wells presided, and announced that the busi-1 lie*.* ,if the meeting was the discussion of Mrs. . Sievwright's paper on "' Parental Kesponsil'ibilily." • Mrs. Hutchinson, adjutant of the Salvation ; .' Anr.v. spoke at some length on the work of 1 that hod} in the e-tablislimenl of homes and ;: reformatories. It was not. she said, that ■ llencr.i! B—ith wished to t: ke over the homes . and reformatories in the colony the Salva- ': tion Arnii' merely wished to assist a» far as ' ' lay in their power, in doing good work. i l i - PARENTAL i:i>i't:Nsiim.rn'." ! ■ I The paper on " Parental Responsibility" I I was then read In Mrs. Sievwri-iht. ! • ' In the course of which she said -Of all the ; diflriiit prolie.ns which our evolving hit- -, inanity has to face, probahlv that of evoking ' ' I a widespread sense of parental responsibility ! ■ ! is not the least. Men and w men of all sorts I I I and conditions unite themselves to-day. be it : •■ within the bonds of matrimony or outside I ii those bonds, with almost as little considers j I : iion of the t.insequetices of their act as if i thev were inviting each other to cine out ! . : for a stroll tin the beach i-r a row on the! I river. Mnrri.ige—the esiato of holy matrii. mony. as in many cases it can be called but l i | in terms of the purest irony—becames the ex- ■ j case for a licentious sensuality which sheds its I I bitter fruit wholesale over this suffering i ' ■ planet. Not yet. surely, hath it entered into , I toe heart of man to conceive what should he. j • or what shall be, when men grow out of their i present affinity to lower natural propensi- ' ties, and stand forth men tilled with the spirit ! of the .Most High (tod. These propensities j • may be natural to our animal nature, but man is endowed with reason, spirit, and the i knowledge of good and evil, that he may conquer nature and become her master. It is . j natural for me to eat. hut that is no reason i why I should become a glutton; it is natural i for me to drink, am I therefore to becme a drunkard? It is natural for me to wish to . reproduce myself, am 1 therefore to become a. sex maniac? Responsibility is the precious , fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good . and evil, that apple which Mother Eve of old-1 . world story-first missionary and leader of evo-lution-plucked and handed to her husband . Parental responsibility is but the accentn- . ated responsibility of every human being, hecause every human being is cither an actual , or potential parent, and many men and still more women who have never known the actual joys, or, it may he, pangs, of parentage, . have assumed responsibilities as such, and . been nobly true to them in some cases, ignobly perfidious and vile in others. With the discovery of fire, perhaps, began division of labour. Men went forth to hunt for food, and to drive off and make inroads on hostile neighbours; women, no doubt for physiological reasons, stayed to guard the fire, to discover, originate, and invent everything social, civil, and industrial. " Man." says Professor Stow, "has been the inventor of every murder-US art. Woman, the inventor of all I the peaceful arts of life." " Woman," I says Karl Pearson, " was the pioneer of al l civilisation." Later, there came a state of I society in which men began to lead industrial lives, to assume the role that had been j wanuiu's alone, to have property, and to j think it worth while to own their daughters. | Here began father-right, inaugurated by the • law of might and monogamy. Here began i marital oppression, the notion of possession ' ill the captured wife, of authority over her person and property, whence there gradually i grew up around woman a code of canon and ; civil law debarring her from pursuits ■ and activities she had. hitherto unj questionably followed, excluding her from I positions she had hitherto unquestionably ocI copied, and relegating her to a sphere circumscribed, undignified, and childish. . . . 1 Till wi man is emancipated in every sense of | the woid. man is. and must continue to be, I a slave: a slave, too, to the most tyrannical ! mask']' the World has yet prrduced—his own | lower, degraded sell'. Having now unveiled j the souro? of most of the miserable evils in the presence of which the stilt o* the earth of e.ri'.v land at this moment stand aghast. I would turn, without further preface, in earnest appeal to the enfranchised parents of New Zealand, and ask them to take up their great responsibility. First, their general responsibility to alter conditions which at preI sent, unless in exceptional cases, bar the j way of all attempts to lead the higher life. I Second, their personal responsibility as parents. How are we to alter conditions? First of all by inducing people to think. The I whole life ami teaching of Christ was a plea i for the thoughtful, spiritual, esoteric life. " Mary." lie said. " hath chosen the better I part." And Paul says, "Whatsoever things i arc honest, whatsoever things are just, whatj soever things are pure, whatsoever things arc ; lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, i if ibeie be any virtue, and if there be any i praise, think on these things.' It has often j bean attempted to collide women from the l world of thought. The crime, however, appears to he not in her thinking, but. wonder- ! fill to he said, ill her thinking her own i thoughts; .iid, worse than all. in convincing j men that her own thoughts are good and I worthy as men's are. Such cavillers forget that the souls of g-,od woiue.i will express i the female side of the Divine, just as tho I souls of good men will express the other. Jesus, the Chnst, is usually understood to ! have expressed both; and so grand, so lofty, so diffirent from all others was His gentle, selfless, devilled life, that, He has been almost universally accepted a3 (lot! incarnate. He died, and His so-called followers, for what purpose, or animated by what feelings, it is now hard to discover, set to work, if not to exclude women from the Church, which has established itself as the guardian of religion and morals, at least to accord them only a very secondary and subordinate place therein. The Reformation (lid nothing for women. The great secular Revolutions, both of last century and of this, did nothing, though woman, it is well known, bore a noble part, and her full share in the struggles of those times. Oh. that we could crown the departing century with a grand, peace-bringing, healthful, healing revival of thought, of true missionary zeal to preach the gospel of justice to women, of women's right to an equal share in work, wages, responsibility, mental rest, and culture. And to this end we only ask men and women to think the question out. But to do this is the whole difficulty. A large number of people are made to feel that to think is the one unpardonable sin; and if anyone ventures a remark more or less original or unconventional, that person is marked, and to be avoided as a blue stocking," or, socalled, strong-minded person. Thus is ignorance fostered and thought stifled. Again, a large number of people have to expend so much energy in the struggle to make a living, that they do not have time to think; and others, owing to their home training, are simply afraid to think. They instinctively feel that they must either cling blindly to the old moorings, or drift helplessly away from them. Good, my sisters, drift; anything is better than stagnation. One of the chief objects of our National Council, meeting as it does annually at a different centre, is to rouse others, especially women; parents -especially mothers— press forward to the goal of the ideal. The paper went on to deal with the great responsibilities of the female sex. more particularly with regard to motherhood, their fitness and unfitness, emphasising the necessity for cultivating selfcontrol and teaching the lesson to their offspring. Mrs. May then read a poem on " Motherhood." Mrs. Williamson said that it was not very often that she thought of criticising adversely anything that came from Mrs. Sievwrtght; but, although she found fault with her last session for being too ideal, she felt that on this occasion she had been too practical. The majority of people in matrimony were just as happy as people unmarried. (Applause.) The same faults and failings were in us, and would come out, whether we married or not. Mrs. Sievwright had quoted an Oxford man, but a man might have a great many letters to his name and yet he deficient in common sense. She felt that the tendency of the present day was to indulge in sports, which improved the physique. One great means of coping with crime was for the churches to unite and make attractive places for children to spend their evenings, by way of libraries and gymnasiums. Mrs. Sheppard said that she thought Mrs. Williamson was very ungrateful. She agreed with Mrs. Williamson that the paper was written in a minor key, but they needed half-a-dozen papers to give a good idea of the state of things. With regard to the marriage service, there were several objectionable phrases, such as giving a woman away. Why should a woman be given away, or why should not the man be given away ? It was very one-sided, too, for a woman to be asked to obey. She thought that girls , about to be married should have these things expunged from the marriage sorvice. Heredity was a potent factor in forming character, but environment was still stronger. They should look at the hopeful side of things, and hope that children bora under adverse circumstances would grow up to be useful citizens under favourable surroundings. Children should be taught physiology in schools, for often knowledge would prevent them from falling into disgrace. Every girl should have a calling in life, and she would not then have to accept an offer ot mairiage when there was no love in the question. Mrs. Daldy said that she was so well known to an Auckland audience that her views were pretty well known. She thoroughly agreed with Mrs. Sievwright's paper, and thought that there was little to be said in favour of the environment theory. Mrs. Tasker said that she admired Mrs. Sievwright's courage in the manner in which she had dealt with the question. Thcv must acknowledge that larrikinism was at the bottom of the whole thing, and environment often made the criminal. In many cases the mothers had no choice, and really sold themselves to the highest bidder. So-calleci modesty in the yonng was very much to be deplored, and was often the cause of misfortune. Mrs. Hutchinson said that the cause of many girls leading immoral lives was that their homes were no homes at all. If things were in such a condition at present, what would they be in the nest generation ? She believed that many children of immoral parents had a " mental twist," and were immoral lunatics. With regard to-the | marriage ceremony, she was old-fashioned, and believed that a good and true wiie'vhuld in many cases choose her husband's -tpiiion. I in preference to her own. The work ey . had to do was with the young, and if the 1 young; were looked after they wotud hate no I diihcalty with the old. , .-ft., , '..- ~;..;

Miss Boyd said that she td'k a diflweßt I view of the lessons taught by the paper. The • children who went on the streets were limned I enough, and those in charge of them should Ibe dealt with. ", * I The .Chairwoman announced that this exiiI ing a paper will be read by Mrs. Stella Hen- ] derson, LL.8... of Christchurch. on The Re- ! inoval of Disabilities of Women." .