HIGH LIFE IN THE KITCHEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14906, 3 February 1912, Page 2 (Supplement)

HIGH LIFE IN THE KITCHEN.

LADY. -HJ»IX?JON AND HER S EBf.VANTS. MAIDS* WHO SMOKE. Ix a libeV action brought by Miss Eleanor Steves, vi cook against Lady Pearl Hanson, her former employer, the jury found that the stateme nts complained of by Miss Steggles were 1 true, but that Lady Hanson was actuated by malice. They assessed the damages at £5. Miss Stegglea complained that, after her dismissal, Lady Hanson wrote to Mrs. Bulkeley Johiu son stating that she had been dismissed for improper behaviour and for drinking an d smoking in a public bar. Lady Hanson gave in tho witness-box yesterday her version of high life in tho servants' hall. Very handsome and tall, •with dark auburn hair massed under a black hat, sho made a striking figure. She. wore a. black .satin dress, and had no jewellery except pearl drop earrings and a red intaglio ringj, She showed no lack of self-possession even in encounters with Mr. Stewart, the. opposing counsel. When sho wished to emphasise a point alio thumped a dainty fist on tho ledge <>!' the witness-box. She told of tho constitution of her household at Eastloy End. which she had taken after the death of her husband. Sir Francis Hanson. There were 13 servants in. all. "There were scleral tramps' about the place?" said -Mr. Hume Williams, her counsel. '"Yes,"' she replied, "the hedges had bean broken down, and the pigsties slept in. And one© the drawing-room window was cut with a diamond. - ' Burglar Hunts. As*a consequence thera were burglar hurras after dinner. Mr. Miles, the doctor who visited her. would go round the garden .and see that the pkxo was properly shut up. There was no truth, sho declared!, that these hunts used to continue till tvo-or three in tha morning. Lady Hanson gave "her version of the incidents that led to the dismissal of the cook. The housekeeper had been given notice, And Miss Steggles was put in command, with instructions that the servants were to-ho in bed by 10 o'clock and the lights outsat 10.30. The first trace of smoking Lady Hanson j found was a burnt cigarette in the ser- '■ vants' hall. The cock told her that it had been smokedvby Deliiege (Mr. Miles' chauffeur). "I hadn't the leaist idea the maids were smoking themselves," declared Lady Hanson, "or that they were playing cards. I should certainly »ever have allowed it." She first heard of Miss Steggles's behavknurwhen Bartle tt, the head gardener, told her that he had dismissed Cook, the third giudener, because he was "in the house all hours of the day with the cook." Finally Lady Hanson, accompanied by Mr. Miles, made a voyage of discovery. She told how they went downstairs after the lights were out v and:they each carried an electric torch. "There was no one in tho servants' hall" she stated, "and as I was coming out I heard footsteps. I said 'Who's there V There was no- answer. "I said again, 'Who's there?' Deliege replied, 'It's only me, my lady.' He was stooping down, trying to loosen the "bolt of the door. " ' What are you doing at this time of night?' Basked. ' I'm only having a cup of tea,' ho replied. Then Mr. Miles told ' him to stop there, and we went into the : kitchen, where, by the light 9! the fire, " the cook was sitting with the housemaid " 'Elizabeth,' I said 'what are yon • doing here?' They both stud, 'We're » having a cup of tea.' I then said, 'The rules of my house are for servants to be , in bed at 10.30. I forbid you to take an 1 early cup of tea to Deliege, as I am told i yon do.' " ... Next morning the cook was dismissed.

" Duty." Lady Hanson said that she had no malice against Miss Steggles," but she considered it her duty to inform a registry officer and Mrs. Bulkeley Johnson of the facts. . "I'll leave it to the jury to think tor themselves," Lady Hanson stated when Mr Stewart asked her whether she had been fair in omitting to say in her letter that the housemaid was in the kitchen with the cook. , . .. " Have you a great horror of cigarettesmoking?" asked Mr. Stewart. ■' Do you mean by my servants, or other people?" answered Lady Hanson with dig"Take it generally," Mr. Stewart urged "Isit an objectionable practice? •' As regards my servants, it is." "A mere servant may not smoke a cigarette?" . . ~ •* Not when they are in my service, Lady Hanson said "decisively. " You have no prejudices against port wine?" , , . ... "It depends whether the servant is ill or not. She must not go into a publichouse." . " I am not seeking to be offensive, but have vou been at the Bridge House Hotel at Staines with Mr. Miles and partaken of refreshments?" . "That is not at all offensive, Lady Hanson said sweetly. " I have been very often." , ' ... " Including, of course, such a mud indulgence as a cigarette?" "Yes on occasions when I went down to East'ley End and had no other place for my meals." . " Now do you think it an unfair way of putting ;.i to say that as the Bridge House Hotel at Staines is to the mistress, so is the Swan at Chertsey to the maid?" "That's a sum in proportion," observed Mr. Justice Darling. .Mr. Stewart put some delicate questions to Lady Hanson about her determination. "•When you're angry," he said, insinuatingly, "it's not very safe for anyone to differ from you." " I don't know what you mean, retorted Lady Hanson in a distant voice. "If you mean that I strike people— Deportment. Servants followed to give corroborative evidence. One of them, Fanny Walklett, incidentally spoke of deportment for servants. "It is not proper." she said, ''for a servant to smoke and to turn the servants' hall into a taproom." Emily Benfield, tinder-parlourmaid at Eastley End, said she saw the cook sitting on tho third gardener's knee and kissing him. She also saw her sit on Deliege'a knee with her arms around his neck. Fanny Morgan, tho present cook, also told of tho "kissing and cuddling" that fool: place, and finally Edward Cook, onelimo third gardener, 'but now a stoker in the Navy, went into the box in his sailor's uniform and confessed. that when he was in Lady Hanson's service he often went into ho kitchen. "What for?" asked Mr. Hume Williams.

Cook grinned sheepishly. " Come on," said Mr. Hume. Williams. "They don't mind it in the Navy." "She used to sit on my knee," said Cook with another grin. "How long used you to sit in that happy position?" Cook's grin lengthened. " Well, as long as I could," ho said, and the judge joined in the laughter that followed. " She came on the Thursday, and I kissed her on the Friday," he admitted to Mr. Stewart in cross-examination. "Do they issue notices before you come ashore?" asked Mr. Stewart sarcastically. "Well, they dress him up, so that ho can be- noticed," remarked Mr. Justice Darling. After counsel had addressed the jury and the judge had summed up the verdict recorded above was returned.