HOME SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23101, 28 July 1938, Page 17

HOME SERVICE

Sir,—ln a recent leading article yon stated that " KlT'icir-nt home service. if it were availahl<>. would contribute more to health, happiness and general welfare than ninny other loudly trnmptcd reiorms." Then you pointed out thai such serious matters as our low hirth rate and high maternal mortality were largely caused by mothers being overworked. oil also showed that in spit* l of the need lor domestic help, there was such a prejudice against this work that lew intelligent and ambitious girls were taking it up as a vocation. and you declared that this attitude of mind was lixed in the schools, where "subjects bearing on homecraft take a subsidiary place in the syllabus."

Evidently the remedy for Ibis state of tilings is to give this subject its proper place in I lie schools. Mr I'Yaser M inister of Health, says on behalf of the Government : "We want to give the girls a fundamental training in housekeeping and niol hercraft, which is the natural and potential avocation of every girl. ' 'lbis could be done by giving every girl who has passed the sixth standard, or reached the age of fourteen, two years' training in the theory and practice of homecraft, before allowing her to go on to a secondary school or to begin to earn her living. The practical part should be learned in actual homes, not in technical schools. The Government should appoint home service superintendents and assistants in every district, to whom overworked housewives could appeal for help. Knob ease would be investigated, and suitable ones would be passed on to the teachers of homecraft in the schools, for them to use in training their pupils. The homecralt teachers would take the girls to the various homes each morning and set them their tasks. The teachers would go from home to home, seeing that the girls were doing suitable work, and doing it well. In the afternoons home science lessons would be given in the schools.

Young girls develop very rapidly during their early teeus. and often show signs of strain if allowed to over study. Home-training would be n wholesome change from other duties, and would increase their knowledge of life, and enlarge their sympathies, as well as teaching tliein the dignity and value of honieina king. It would also mean a great deal to a tired young mother or ieehle old lady, if a bright-faced young girl caniD into her home several times a week to give her a helping hand. Many of the girls would no doubt take lip homecraft as a career—at first as home service assistants under a superintendent, working in homes unsuitable for the younger _girls, and studying advanced home science and nursing. They would, of course, lie Government employees. Alter a few years they might become homecraft teachers in the schools, or go as home service workers to the back blocks, while others might accept private positions in well-to-do homes. A. Fountain,