NOTES FOR WOMEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18512, 24 March 1922, Page 8

NOTES FOR WOMEN.

UNEMPLOYED WOMEN. SOCIALISM NO REMEDY. 4 . _____ NOTffING LESS THAN THE BEST. (Fidv Ora Own Correspondekt.) : LONDON, February 1. Domestic service was the chief subjeot for consideration at a conference of women held in the Morley Hall, Hanover square, this week, presided 6ver by Lady Astor. The conference had been called by the Coneultative: Committee of Women's Organisations t& discuss unemployment among women. ' Naturally the subject of domestic service could not be avoided while hundreds of thousands of women are receiving unemployment pay, and an almost equal number of mistresses are unable to get any domestic' help. . / Lady Aster declared the Consultative Com'jnittee as a clearing-house or G.H.Q. for the exchange of ideas and mutual education. & had no policy or programme of its own. One of the most important things from the women's point of view was that oil parties in the State were looking for ■what the women wanted. Until such a time as women became divided up into political parties, it seemed essential that women should make up their minds on certain reforms and press them on all parties. IMow was the time to do this. After watching the House of Commons for two years she could not bring it home too clearly that thev should trust no party, but press their demands on all parties. She had had many letters asking why they should talk about ! unemployed women when they could not get <Jomestio.'servante. She had a good deal of eympathy with that point of view but a great many women could not do domestic wor>, and if every one of them took a domestic job it would not solve the situation. "I myself in the House of Com»nons," she said, "when some of the amiwomen men were talking about domestic servants, had often longed to go to them B 8 a domestic, because it would be a wonderful ofaance of what the soldiers called •learning 'em.'-(i/aughter.) No work, no matter qf what kind, was unskilled. Mrs Philip Snowden said the conference 'did not assemble in a spirit of antagonism to unemployed men. Publio opinion properly insisted that ex-service men and men ■with' families should be given precedence if a shortage of work. What women of was that public opinion rather forgot that there was a great number of women maintaining other people whose cases should be considered. It was 80, use loudly condemning men for taking the place of women, and it was foolish because when there was a minimum demand for work'and a minimum supply.it became s for mere existence in which the weaker went to the wall. She did not believe higfc wages were the cause of unemploymenTnor that the lengthening of hours would stop it. , , Touching the question of domestic ser•vice Mrs Snowden said it was a good deal the fault of the mistresses lat girjs looked upon it as degrading. We areteuffering from the old and bad idea that it & a thing to boast about that you never did any work and that your ancestors for man* venerations never did. The fundamental objection to domestio work was that the workers-had not their nights free and unfettered] In factories women would talk and chatter, and they strongly objected to the attitude of the mistress —especially in the single-servant home—as it implied ' a certain amount of social inferiority. ~ , "Wei must make work respectable and create ja publio opinion that it is disgraceful not to do some kind of honest and useful 'work, and that the disgrace of the worker* is to be found, not. in the :>ort of wort they do but in the way in which they do it." There was, Mrs Snowden added,;no national solution for the unemployment problem. She once thought Social>m whb the* solution. She now knew that. Socialism was not a complete solution, and that national organisation was only a beginning. At the end of last year there were 385.000 registered unemployed women and half employed. But the real Dumber was very much larger. '. In tne course of the discussion the subject of restriction of output was mentioned, and several women speakers expressed surprise that such a thing existed. Mrs Snowden ■aid that ca' canny was undoubtedly extensively practised. It was not necessarily laid down in the rules of the trade unions, but was carried on unconsciously, because the whole of industrialism was in a condition of warfare. It was to eliminate that that wpmen should combine. They must fpster the iuea that nothing less than the best would do in industry. MissiLilian Barker, speaking of her experiences in the training of domestic servants, said domestio service was a higblyiKilled occupation, and that the fool of the family should not be put into it. The girls when being trained were given physical salture and singing, which was better than merely telling them they "must not lump ■boot the house, or that their voices were awful.''—(Laughter.) But what they were doing in the way of training domestic servants v would have to stop unless there was i' fresh grant of money. There had been 5*1,8 girls put through training, and of those there were 80 per cent, still in service. Eghtyifive per cent of those were in regular- domestio service, the others being in hotels and other places. Miss, Strachey, London Society of Women's Service, declared that the unsound sconomic position of women was at the root of all their troubles. Women in the Government employment, after sufferinjr from the "comb,?' were shuddering in the shadow H an '-"axe." \Vomen_ motor drivers were terrified at the opposition of the men, and ilie. wine conditions were at work among bookkeepers and accountants. Women irpuld not be fuUy satisfied until. they se»red the right of entry into the skilled ;redes. They must, equally with men, be free.' to go into any occupation they chose ind be paid according to the value of iheir work. . Introducing Mrs Wintringbam, M -£j tjtdy Astor said that the newspapers did lot cafe fur what women wanted, but they rave a g»»ai deal of attention to things for •Web.-'women did not care a twopenny lumpi "Judging by the papers, she would think that we were nbstly frivolous, > half-witted, and hardly it for .a -vote." They had been, most foranate in.'getting Mrs Wintringbam, whose rhole heart was with women, into the Bouse of Commons. "It was really amuing," Lady Astor continued. "Some memjers said: 'Ah! whatvare you to do now?' it, much as to say I was a sort of musical iter and .had lost my place.—(Laughter.) Riey. did~not realise that I was just in the Souse of Commons as the forerunner of nany otnrsj No woman could have been bore grateful than I was to the men and •Omen who sent in another woman to the louse of| Qommons.—(Cheers.) The elecion of Mrs'Wintringhata put the dot on lie 'i.' Tjbey thought I waß chance. I was lpt not sagdianoy as they thought I wae. — LaughteiJlKThey knew very little of my fork at Plymouth.—(Cheers.) Mrs Winriiigham showed the people of the couniry that w»' were not there as a joke, but n desperate earnest."-^<Cheer«.) Mrs Wintringbam said that it had been V tremendous thing to have had Lady (Jeter in Parliament first to plough down iH the weeds that were there and neeoed » be ploughed down. She spoke of unimploynjtfftfc-' irt country districts. She said hat th#!present condition of things indilaied a weak down of their industrial machinery |pd the failure to bring together mpply jad demand. They could not found Wtooperifei on the destitution _of other naions. m spite of the remedies for unem-iloymenpt-insurance and labour bureaux in last yejjv—they found themselves face to ace witfc the same difficulties once more. Hfttat was needed was international co(peratiofci between countries which proktced. r£r material and those which manuaceur°dj;'and a restoration of credit. Miss T;Evan» (Association of Women 3erks Ijtd Secretaries), who proposed the esolutidjt; relating to the responsibilities of fee Government towards women employed n, Govef&ment departments, described the eir woSSnwho were left in the Civil Serrjee wipf responsibilities, as , exceedingly (okHent#; When the head of # one departnent wits discussing substitution) a great heer went up from the men when they Wire told that tbey hoped to retain some Romen. Thai wae a very good sign. In toother department an ex-Service man,. Eho was offered substitution for a wonian. iud,' "Nor I am single, and if I am to get pob af the expense of that girl who keeps iosrsejf knd helps to keep her sister, I am jot doing it."—(Cheers.) Since the resoation fas drafted an agreement had been ■rate to with the Joint Substitution Board, |b©, after they had heard that the resolu&iV« to be proposed, had asked whom £e women would like to have on the iHsrcL-TvCbeers.) W-: Mrs Strachey said that during the sit{nm of the Lvtton Committee; of which Irntimember, she felt Uke s baioher, jjrntu" ■every decision they took turned we est' air' another out of work. GovernSent aerVioi was not and ought not to be

ought to be one of the most highly skilled occupations, and not a place into which elderly, incapable people who could not get in anywhere else were pushed. . Lady Astor said that the committee 6 flying column had not yet got into being, but it was on its way. When members of Parliament went opposite to women s views, the flying column was to go to the constituencies and let the _ women there know in which direction their members of Parliament were going. “A member of Parliament," Lady Astor added, “said to me, ‘That is blackmail.’ ‘Nothing of the kind,’ I remarked; ‘it is education.’ — (Laughter.) The very threat of it has gingered up many an hon. member—(laughter) —and wnen it appears in the body, I think there will be less opposition to the legitimate reforms which *ll right-thinking woment want.”—(Cheers.) THE ROYAL WEDDING. DEMAND FOR “ MARY ” BLUE. (From Opr Own Correspondent.) LONDON, February 1. The Abbey has passed temporarily from its authorities into the hands of the Office of Works, and an army of labourers is busy preparing seats for the 3000 guests. Those who are placed in the nave will see only little of the ceremony, but the stands will be arranged to give the best possible view of the procession. The choir will) on the wedding day, be supplemented by 'the Children of the Chapel Royal, who do not wear the customary cassock and surplice, but uniforms of scarlet and gold. Their hats, in black and gold, and their white cravats of old tradition, will add to the glorious pictures of the past in the Abbey on February 28. It is recorded that little of the altar plate that will gleam within the sanctuary is older than the seventeenth century. None of it dates from the pre-Reformation period. There are two pairs of chalices, one plain.

the other chased, a pair of tripod candlesticks, two pairs of flagons, an embossed centre salver, two alms dashes, and a strain-ing-spoon—all attributed by experts to the Restoration and Inter years, when efforts were made to furnish the Abbey with new ware in place of the vessels and ornaments which had been wantonly broken up, melted down, or sold during the Puritan period. Most of the plate possessed by the Dean and Chapter nt Westminster is quite modern, like the painted, glass. The silver-gilt cross on the high altar was Lord Rosebery’s gift in commemoration of his daughter’s Abbey wedding. Several other ornaments are comparatively recent gifts. The Leicester Sheep Breeders’ Association have decided to offer Princess Mary a gift, of clotii woven from the wool of Leicester sheep belonging to their chairman, Mr R. Stocks, of Driffield. Mr Stocks said the “confounded jumper stuff” was killing their wool trade. Before lumpers were in vogue Yorkshire wool was good to sell to make cloth out of. The chairman said he would provide wool for the gift to Princess Mary, and would get it woven by a Yorkshire firm. If emeralds are to be the favoured gems of the near future, a soft saxe blue is to be the leading shade. It is a tone sometimes called aquamarine. It suits blueeyed women and accentuates the depth of their eyes. It is being used for floral hair wreaths and trails, many of which are being specially dyed for capricious tastes, and also is appearing in afternoon ’frocks, replacing royal blue, and struggling with hydrangea shades and cyclamen for first favourite in colour schemes. NURSES IN THE SICE ROOM. THE WOMAN’S VIEW. Tlie need to call in a nurse occurs in most households at some -time or another. In some oases the occurrence is so rare that nurse is looked upon as a strange and fearful being whose privilege it is to share the doctor’s mysteries. In other homes, in which the fiend of sickness reigns supreme, nurse becomes almost one of the family. In either case her personality and ability are vital matters to the household and to the patient. A good nurse (writes a correspondent in The Times) will fit in with the working of the house. One visit to the kitchen

er the servants’ hall will show her what she has to do herself and what she may expect done for her. It is chiefly a question of “trays.” If servants are few and the sick room is at the top of the stairs, the carrying to and fro of the patient’s meal trays becomes a matter of importance. The right sort of nurse will see to things herself and let the servants dt? their usual duties in the dining room. Next in importance is the question of hot, water. If nurse is to be kept cool, the water must be kept hoi. A nurse without hot water is as a cook without salt. If the kitchen ‘fire canftot be depended upon, provide the sick room with a kettle of its own and leave it there. For if a doctor remarks that he fancies it will rain, he must wash his hands in hot water after the remark: and if the water be not to his liking he will snap out, “Where were you trained, nurse?” Then will nurse work off her wrath upon the housemaid; the housemaid will blackguard the cook for letting the fire down; and cook will declare war upon nurse.- Thus does a house become divided against itself. TTEE IMPORTANCE OF BELLS. Bells are an important point. Unless the nurse is to be always in her patient’s company, a bell should be provided to connect the sick room with the nurse’s bedrooms. Now it hardly ever happens that there is a bell connecting these two rooms, Go you, therefore, to the nearest electrical outfitter and hire a portable bell. You will find ill provided with ■■ long length of wire which can be carried either under Carpets or outside windows from one room to the other. The battery will last as long as the illness lasts. What makes the ideal nurse—or the nurse ideal—from the patient's point of view ? • If you are wise you will give your best attention to the choosing of a nurse. In most cases the doctor is to be relied u|x>n for seltection. “I'll send along Nurse Dash,” he will say, “You;'will like her, and she is an excellent nurse.” If you can trust your doctor, vou may trust his judgment of a nurse. But if your doctor tells you just to "get a nurse in”; take care. In these days when registration is still imperfect, a reputable training school should be insisted > on. Some kind friend may say, “Ah, I know the very person. A most trustworthy and charming girl.”

You ask if she is fully trained and hoar. “I don’t think she is fully trained, but she did a lot of nursing in the war.” No doubt she did. All credit to her. But remember that trained staff-nurses and sisters were there to supervise. In your house she will' reign alone—and iodine looks very like cascara. Much depends upon (he case, of course. If surgery is to be faced, skill, care, and a light touch are the essentials. But if the patient is well in body and sick only in mind or spirit, appearance, brightness, and general tactfulness are needed. Many a crusty old gentleman has regained h:s former good humour under the tuition of a tactful nurse. TESTS OF A GOOD NURSE. Perhaps the greatest virtue in a nurse is quietness. She must handle everything as if it were swathed in black velvet. The washstand or a glass-covered toilettable is the lest. A bad nurse puts everything down with a bang, as if she expected the surface to be 2in lower than it is. Crash ! A basin meets its marble resting place. Bang! A glass powder - box comes to rest on the dressing-table top and just does not crack. Infuriating if one is really ill and still more annoying if one only thinks one is. The night nurse’s test is coal. To stoke the fire and not disturb the patient is an art. There is a way, but only the cream of the profession do it. Let each piece of coal be wrapped in tissue paper and placed in its waiting crevice on the fire by hand. Alternately, use a velvet glhve: one which easily slips on and off and may h© kept at hand near the coal-box. Iron implements are fatal and, oh. so often dropped. Then doors. How often do you hear some poor old lady cry, “Dear! dear! I do wish nurse would remember to close the door.” - A famous hospital matron was once asked what test she applied for judging if a nurse was good or bod. The test was this: “I judge a nurse by how and when she shuts the door and by the way she picks up a glass the patient has to drink from.” It sounds far-fetched; but consider. If nurse leaves the door open because she will be back in a minute, it means that she is lazy. If she, shuts it noisily, obviously she is noisy. And if she hands ,a. glass of milk pr a tooth glass and leaves a hot impression on the top-

most inch where the patient _ drinks, she is wanting in delicacy and refinement. Watch your nurse if fate is cruel and sends you illness. You will find the matron’s test works every time.