DOMESTIC HELP.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10505, 13 July 1910, Page 6

DOMESTIC HELP.

IMPORTATION URGED. POSSIBLE FREE IMPORTATION. By Telegraph. (From Onr Own Correspondent.) Wellington, July 12. A largely attended deputation of Wellington ladies and medical gentlemen was' introduced to the Prime Minister bv Mr (i. AY. Russell to-day, with a request, for Government assistance in the importation of domestic help from other lands, the arguments used bemg that the shrinkage of the birth-rate and the reluctance of many wives to become mothers owing to the lack of assistance had made the domestic problem one of urgency which was accentuated by the increasing- inclination of girls to adopt factory work in preference for domestic employment. The' Prime Minister made a comprehensive replv, in which he emphasised the need for greater education in domestic economv, and while outlining the difficulties in the, way of importation, suggested the possibility ultimately of free importation of girls. —A Lady Doctor's Dr Platts-Mills said Hhat the birthrate problem was closely bound up with the supply of domestic assistance, without which women could not be expected to have more children than they could do justice to, and they could ,not be blamed for that decision. Maternity became a kind of two year's, penal servitude for women, and those with six or seven children were unable to obtain assistance at all. She could tell of children who were deficient in many ways because the mother was unable to give individual attention to the children. AVhat time was left for moral training, for the building of manhood or the development of true motherhood? It was worth while for the Government to preserve and encourage motherhood and supply the mothers with assistance which their own daughters did not care to undertake. They did not ask for help that they might live in idleness, but that they might obtain assistance to become better wives and better mothers and do their duty to the State; more than they could hope to do at present. Mrs Sprott said that it was not the supreme moment in maternity that the mother dreaded, but it was the carkmg worry of the household duties afterward's with the knowledge that from one week to another they were not sure of adequate help. It made them utterlydread maternity, and they were anxious not to have children. —Protecting the Immigrants.— Mrs Moore and Mrs Atkinson said that help was not asked for the well-to-do, but for those whose husbands earned from £2 to £5 a week. Safeguards should be provided against the overworking of the girls in the way of voluntary committees as boards of advice to take a motherly interest in _ the girls and prevent them from becoming indentured labor. Mrs Bowden suggested the introduction of Scandinavian girls as well as British girls with a strict -medical supervision.

—A National Problem. — Sir Wm. Steward said that the prob- ' Icm was not local but affected the whole country, and more particularly the Canterbury districts. —lndentured Labor Difficulty.— Mr T. E. Taylor said that the trouble at the bottom was economic. To bring out girls was to go perilously near indentured labor, and they would have to be physically subject to' the control of the State or they could not be guaranteed to remain in domestic employment. To bring the girls out would give relief and lead to healthier mothers and children, but it would not increase the birth-rate. There would still be many homes that could not pay for assistance. He proposed to watch the matter jealously from the point of how it would affect the workers. If anything could be done to help the mothers it should be done. Mr G. W. Russell said that if the girls were imported from orphanages they would come out under the most careful supervision and become wards of the State until they reached their majority. Mr Taylor: You cannot get that power over any girl; no Government has that power. —The Prime Minister's Reply. The Prime Minister said that after receiving a similar deputation in Christchurch he had made representations to the Cabinet and had arranged for a reduction of £2 on the passage money of suitable girls and had requested shipping companies to make a similar reduction. The High Commissioner had been instructed accordingly. The question of indentured labor could not be raised, because it was obvious that if there was an insufficiency of girls there could be no interference with the New Zealand girls by bringing in a supply to meet the demand. The problem was not so easy as was imagined. The High Commissioner must use his office to pass the girls, and it must be remembered that Canada, America, and Australia wore trying to draw domestic servants to them from great Britain, while the fare from England to Canada on the same lines was as low as £l. It. all came back to the question of having girls taught in the schools with an alteration in the curriculum and of the establishment of something akin to women's domestic technical schools independently of the schools. It was a great problem, and the best direction in which to look was for a diversion of girls from the factories. It must be remembered that the factory-owners had been improving the conditions of their employment and had been ■ drawing thousands away from the course they had been formerly disposed to go. The suggestion that there should be voluntary committees of women to look after the affairs of the girls would have to be carefully considered, for they i would have to work very tactfully. The The Government this session would submit legislation to assist the comparatively poor classes of the community in times of maternity, and the Bill he proposed to introduce would mean a financial obligation on the country to smooth the pillow of many a woman who was not able to secure assistance and provide a recompense for the time when she was unable to earn her living. After a time if the domestic trouble could not be met from inside the country he was not sure that it- might not be wise to bring in help free and have a regular supply by each steamer. The Cabinet would carefully consider the matter.