DOMESTIC SERVICE PROBLEM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14458, 26 February 1909, Page 6

DOMESTIC SERVICE PROBLEM

IMMIGRATION WANTED. (From Oua Own Correspondent.) CHRISTGITURCH. February 25. A meeting of ladies was held in Christchurch this afternoon (o consider a proto i»oiiriun l J ariiuniont to restore the old system of free immigration of domestic servants from England. There was a very large attendance of ladies. Mrs (Jracroft Wilson, who presided, sa the whole success of the scheme would depend upon the way in which it was carried out by the Government. Girls from Scotland and some parts of Ireland were considered to be the most suitable for sending out, while the Scandinavian girls had been recommended by Mr Fowlds, but objection had been taken to tho importation of any but English girls. An important reus-, why. the Government should give free passages (o single womon Was that the girls would be under more authorised supervision. They would have a. specr part of the ship arranged for tiiom, as in the earlv days, and would have one i more matrons to talco charge of them on the voyage aim also on their arrival. Mr Fowkls had said in answer to a deputation lroni the Sheep-owners Union that ho feared the liability to be incurred in finding employment for the domestic helps as soon as they landed, but she did not think that difficulty would last very In— She had been told by captains of ships that they received, letters on getting i Hobari; to engage suitable o-i!r> who were coming out as passengers, to the great vm harassment of the captains sometimes, an-' on other ships the passengers engaged servants who wore on llnir way to New Zealand before they landed. Everything depended on the class of girl selected. There nore .'numbers of girls in England willing to coino to New Zealand. Those girls were not in a position 1o pay part of the passage money, and the present arrangement was that the Government, would pay £10 if the other £10 was paid by the immigrant or the employer. .The speaker then read a letter from Mrs Sheppard, wtio took a prominent part in the female trancliiso petition, in which she espressH her sympathy with the proposal to secure the immigration of domestic servants from England, but thought that instead of a free immigration scheme, an assisted immigration scheme, whereby the immigrant would pay at least one-half of the passago money, would ho much more likely to catch the ear of Parliament, and would meet objections that had been made.

Mrs Bawdon moved the following motionTlmt, in Hid opinion of this meeting, the women of New Zealand sliould pt'tili"!! Parlia.ment to u.t- anvrate for some time, State free immigcatirn of single women suitable for domestic .'crv.ee." Tlw Government would give the subject full consideration if a really representative petition was sent in from n ln.rj{e nnml-or o! :i!l classes of women voters. Such a petition would put clearly before the Government the urgency of the need. The scheme, if it was to be carried out. would require much energy and public spirit on the part of I ho women, for the time *.as short before Parliament assembled. The chief sufferers were the women who could only afford the wages of one servant, and could not get her, because the supply would not meet the demand. Was it not true that much of the restriction of the birth rate amongst resectable people was the outcome of that scarcity of help? Wrong as that was, who could wonder at the excuses made for it? IS'o business man would attempt any undertaking comparable with that, of a poor housewife's m New Zealand. She thought that a needles bugbear was made of the l abour .party's opposition, for could not the members of that party also be convinced of the. nocossitics of the women of New Zealand if the cry was loud enough. The motion was seconded by Mrs Colborne Vccl Miss Watastor,, sccteta, pf thft Christ-.

church Branch of tlio Y.W.C.A., emphasised the need for caution in selecting .girls. The English factory girl was quifo different from the New Zealand girl, and should not be encouraged to come. After much discussion the motion war carried by 58 votes to 1, and a small committee was set up to give cfFecfc to it.