SCIENCE AND THE HOME.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6313, 13 September 1907, Page 2

SCIENCE AND THE HOME.

Science has not so far done its duty by the home, and the reason is not difficult to explain. The' average speculative builder does not admire science, and does not encourage the introduction of “fads.” His only desire is to put up something which looks like a house as cheaply as possible, and “fads” cost money. The great majority of British homes (writes Mr •L. Chiozza Money, M.P., in the London “Morning Leader”) are draughty and costly to keep up. They are makers of work and wasters of work. Science is but just beginning to penetrate the building industry; but if it had any encouragement it would make rapid progress. The awful burden of the coal bill is felt in every home. It might speedily be reduced if the builder did not stand in the way. His object is not the householder's object. When ho comes to stoves, the builder buys the cheapest he can get. ( He puts In flashy “tiled hearths” because they help to sell or let the house. lie does not put in a coal-saving grate, because, although it costs only a few pounds more than the coal-waster, it looks very much tho same, and does not help to sell tho house, since few people know on© kind from the other. • THE POOR MOTHER.

I know of no greater noed in the work of the world than of devices to save the life and work of tho poor mother. The majority of British mothers are poor. The census returns call them, with a magnificent irony, "unoccupied. " As a matter of fact, their life is an unrelieved round of varied toil. The man does his eight, nine, ten, or more hours a day. Wo call him overworked, and with reason, if he works twelve hours. But what of his wife? Her work begins at early dawn, and continues without intermission until bedtime. Buyer, carrier, tailor, dressmaker, mender, washerwoman, cook, waiter, cleaner, soullerymaid, nurse, . . . mother. All these, and many other occupations, have to be pursued with the worst, of appliances, in a home which “makes work/- and largely wastes what little money is available. As for the single “general" servant, she is in little better case than the poor mother. It is a great subject, which is worthy the attention of, statesmen. It is a problem affecting millions, which is left to the blind 'workings of chance and the speculative builder. We neither train the girl for her work nor train the builder for his work. Given a pro-perly-constructed home and a well-train-ed woman, and 50 per cent., at least, of the toil might disappear, THE BAEE BOOM.

The "bare room" idea must go. A room should be in great part "furnished" when it leaves tho hands of, the builder, and it should be beautiful. Almost the'only furnishing which the ordinary home yet affords is a scanty kitchen "dresser", of poor design and equipment. Sometimes a cupboard ' is added. It is not costly so to construct a room that the window requires little or nothing in the way of blinds or curtains, and it is, easy to clean. A beautiful window costs no more than an ugly window. To add a window-seat is a trifling thing. To provide proper shelves and fitted cupboards should be regarded aa a matter of course. The range or stove should compulsorily be constructed not to waste coal, and to save labour. An economic gas-cooking . appliance should be installed. The washing and bathing arrangements should be ample and simple. The floors shonld be solid. Very little furniture or ornaments should be needed to make the house comfortable. The room, stripped of its movables, should be shapely, and should approach completeness.- It is a mistake to suppose that great cost is necessarily involved in carrying out these ideas. In such a home work is saved because of the simplicity of arrangement, because draperies are few, and movable furniture reduced to a minimum. Yet how few, even of middle class or upper middle class homes, embody such ideas. The majority of them are composed of ugly enclosed spaces, which need to be draped and cloaked and "furnished” in order to hide ■ what should never have been constructed. SCIENCE AND UTENSILS. And domestic utensils also call for improvement. There is, as yet, very little ingenuity or even thought displayed in the manufacture of domestic tools. The Americans .have applied their brains to such things as oread knifes and corkscrews, hut much remains to be done. It is strange that invention has not vigorously applied itself to the consideration de novo of every domestic appliance. I am glad to note some signs of awakening in this direction. Tho child’s cot, the fireguard, the heating apparatus, the teapot, etc., are at last becoming the subjects of patents. The arrival of the vacuum cleaner is a. happy sign of the times. At present used only by the rich, such appliances ought to become universal within a generation. Beyond all these things lies the need for economy in labour through co-operation in domestic economy. But that is a wide subject into which I cannot enter now.