The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1911. AN OLD DIFFICULTY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 134, 29 July 1911, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, JULY 14, 1911. AN OLD DIFFICULTY.

The domestic servant difficulty—a question which is seriously affecting the household affairs of a great many people, both in town and country,— made its appearance before the Fanners’ Union Conference in Wellington on Tuesday, when bitter complaint was made regarding the scarcity and, in fact, in some places, the absolute non-existence of girls willing to undertake domestic service. A remit from Southland, suggesting that the Government ho urged to adopt a scheme for bringing out suitable female servants, gave rise to some debate. The mover said they were simply “sweating” their wives for want of assistance in the homes, and suggested that girls should go in for domestic science and eschew the “more aristocratic” employment of drapers’ shops, etc. In order to obtain a domestic; ho had offered as an inducement six afternoons and the whole of Sunday off, hut without avail. Another speaker said an acute stage had been reached. Thousands of people were willing to employ domestic servants, but could not get them ; comfortable homes and good wages elicited no response. The work imposed upon mothers was undermining their strength and constitutions, and the rising generation would hear the impress. One delegate held the last contention was a falacy—the children of hard-working parents were superior to those brought up in the lap of luxury, and another member interjected that,there was a distinction between hard work and overwork. After altering the term “female servants” to “domestic helpers” the remit was adopted unanimously. There is no doubt whatever that the country could very well do with a great many domestic helpers, but it is unlikely to get them until the problem of how to make domestic service more attractive to young women is in some measure solved.