LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13985, 19 August 1907, Page 3

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

"PASSING NOTES" AND THE DOMESTIC SERVANT.

SlR,—I write- to protest against tho paragraph in to-day's issue dealing with the domestic servant. The paragraph of which J complain is headed "Extracts from a Servant Girl's Catechism." I feel sure that tho bulk of your readers will agree with jno that this is a very wanton insult to tho thousands of girls in domestio service in this country. I hold no brief for this particular class of workers. In representatives of every branch of labour are to be found good and bad. The kindly, unselfish service and the faithful performance of responsible duties by a fair percentage of girls who have been in my employ is more than sufficient to wipe out tho memory of their loss desirable sisters, and that is saying no small thing. Bo it hero well marked that the vast majority of girle who fail to give satisfaction to mistresses do so because they have never been, taught how to work as domestio servants. Add to the faithful performance of work, those hundred little kindnesses wbich it is peculiarly in the lot of sorvant girls to extend to lier employer, and l this particularly in time of sickness and trouble/and you have the foundation on which are built those feelings of mutual respect and esteem which, I am pleased to think, are a common, rather than an uncommon,, feature •of our daily life.

It is possible I may be devoid of humour. To mo thero is nothing funny in this string of questions, the answer to every one of which savo tho first imputes lying, deceit, and fraud, to tho domestio servant. The publication of this catechism must bo wholly harmful; it directly lowers tho calling of tho domestio worker and establishes thoso class distinctions so dear to the heart of the snob. I respectfully ask how you can reconcile the publication of this astonishing catechism with your repeated allusions to ihe scarcity of tho domestic worker and your leaders dealing with tho necessity for more airls to follow this useful and. honourable calling? , As a corrective to the catechism I recommend tho reading of Shylock's speech, act 111, scene I. The concluding lines are these:—"The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."—l am, etc., Clyde street, August 16. H. B.

THE AUSTRALIAN VINEYARDS. Sir,—No doubt you will bo pleased to got some reliable information about tho immediate prospects of Australia, chiefly South Australia, and we can do no better than hand you copy of a letter we have received from ono of our friends, who is the largest vine-grower and wine-manufac-turer in the Commonwealth.—Wo aro, etc., MORmsox AND Co. Dunedin, August 17.

I beg to -thank you very much for your kind letter of tho 26th ult. I have followed with much interest your exertions to have tho duty on grapes reduced, and it is gratifying that the rato has boen reduced to such a degree which will enable New Zealand to import grapes from these parts. I am ploased to say that the Slate of South Australia is still free- from phylloxera, and strenuous efforts aro being made to prevent the introduction from infested areas. The supervision of the whole of tho vineyards in the State is carried on in an energetic and systematic manner, and it is hoped in this manner to keep them clean for a long time to come. The penalty for introducing cuttings or portions cf plants is very severe, and as tho greatest precautionary measures are being adopted along our bordor, it is hoped to prevent tho trouble from which tho Victorians are at present suffering very, heavily. I am pleased to say that South Australia, in common with tho rest of tho Commonwealth, is in a highly prosperous condition, and as a consequence business is active and progressive.

The season has again opened out well. and even in our arid farming country in the far north, the crops appear, to bo finer than they hive been for many years. The comewhat severe frost during the early part of tho winter checked the growth, but at tho same time it hardened the plant, which is pro-

bably the bettor for it. Just now we are having bountiful rains, which have stretched well into the interior, Broken Hill registering about 2in. This will assure the water supply for that town during the summer, aud it has further given our tunning land a splendid soaking,

Alter tho series of good seasons which wo have had' every branch of tho industry is bound to develop new life, and with tho big track of good landi which are giadually becoming available for farming purposes there should bo a hopeful future for the lands comprising the Australian circle. _