New York’s Flats

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 837, 4 December 1929, Page 14

New York’s Flats

SOLVING SERVANT PROBLEM

City of Many Restaurants Af TER several months spent in each city, an observant traveller draws a comparison between domestic life in London and New York. It is his opinion that, in spite of New A ork’s servant problem, the housewives of that, city have more time to enjoy life than their English prototypes.

Though the domestic servant problem is difficult enough in England it is infinitely more difficult in the United States, he states. Practically no American-born girl will go into domestic service, and the foreign-born girls—Swedes and Germans for the most part—demand wages that would stagger the English housewife. To pay a girl about £2O a mouth, together with board and lodging, is a quite usual figure in New York, and even so she is extremely likely to leave one in the lurch at the most inconvenient moment. Restlessness and independence are two of the marked features of American life. As a result, many an American woman whose husband is reasonably well off is driven to do her own housework, assisted by a daily help. And this, in turn, has led to that niervellous development in iaboui’saving devices which is one of the triumphs of American civilisation. The average American flat—and most town-dwelling Americans live in flats, or “apartments,” as they call them—is a regular box of tricks. It makes its own ice, it is steam-heated, and its little kitchen is so arranged as to cause cooking and plate-washing to be things of minimum trouble. And it must be remembered that restaurant life is far more evident in New York than even in London. Many an American couple scarcely ever take a meal at home save breakfast and an occasional Sunday supper, which they buy already cooked from a delicatessen store.

New York is indeed a city of restaurants, thousands and thousands of them, and you can iive quite cheaply and well if you know your way about.

FOR SUMMER TABLES

A means of cutting down the laundry and at the same time effecting a very pretty change for the summer meal table is to use two long strips of hemstitched linen instead of the ordinary tablecloth. They should each he about twelve inches wide and overhang the table at the enct* for about the same number of inches. This style is most effective on a refectory or similar narrow table, the small space of polished wood down the middle being dotted with painted washable mats for the dishes. Fadeless coloured linens are most suitable for this purpose, and the painted mats should, of course, match the linen in colour. The strips are very quickly washed and ironed, and moreover, the table is quickly set —much more quickly than if small luncheon mats are used. » j Dates for Tenders j December 5, at 12 noon.—Ejection, openair school at. Avondale South; erection of school building- in wood at Umawera (Hokianga); erection of school building m wood at Taotaoroa (Cambridge); Auckland Education Board. December 6, at 12 noon.—Erection of caretaker’s cottage in brick on the university grounds. Roy Lippincott, Yorkshire House. December 0, at 12 noon.—Erection of wooden building on Tlcmuera-St. Heliers Bay Road. D. B. Patterson, Shortland Street. December 10, at. 12 noon.—Erection of classroom block in wood. Tolc and Massey, Shortland Street. December 10, at 4 p.m.—Erection of new post office, Courtenay Place, Wellington. Secretary, P.W. Tenders Board, Wellington. December 12, at 12 noon.—Erection of school building in wood at Matakana: erection of new school building in wood at Kaitaia. Auckland Education Board December. 12, at noon.—Erection of manual and technical school in wood at Otorohanga; addition in wood to school building and erection of teacher’s house at Te Puna, Tauranga; additions to school building in wood at Te Kawa, Te Awamntu; erection of new school building in wood at Batley, Kaipara: erection of school building in wood at Whareora, Whangarei. Auckland Education Board. December .14, at noon.—Erection of residence in wood at Mission Bay. Albert E. Williams, High Street.

Indeed, if one cares to patronise automats and cafeterias, one could keep sleek on a surprisingly small sum. It would not be very exciting, for the society is mixed and the food monotonous, but it would serve its purpose. After all, people have to cut their coat according to their cloth.

It is, of course, harder to live economically in New York than in London, mainly because rents and clothes are more expensive, but it is a mistake to think that it cannot be done. Above all, it is a mistake to think that the young wife who has to do most of the work of her own flat is a drudge. Most certainly she is not, and most certainly she has a. better time than the average English wife who has one or two servants always at hand. As often as not the husband will cook his own breakfast —well, “cooking” is hardly the word, with all the patent devices and the ready-prepared cereals and by quite an early hour in the morning her day’s work is over. Then for pleasure—endless shopping expeditions, endless bridge and tea parties, endless, endless. gossip. Or if she prefers the intellectual life, endless concerts, endless lectures, endless uplifting influences of ever> variety. The Americans are the most gregarious of people, and they are always “getting up” things together. And because the women, especially, are avid of experience and full of enthusiasm, they do not easily fe< 1 discouraged and are not given to undue introspection. Tlieir life is one of action and change, and if they soon tire of one interest they readily replace it by another.

BUILDING FIGURES

CITY'S STEADY ACTIVITY j LARGE BLOCKS OF FLATS Builders have been busy this year, j For the 11 months just ended building permits involving £1,465,169 were issued by the City Council, compared with £1,579,914 during the corresponding period of 1928. The decrease is very largely due to the fact that the permit for building the new Auckland railway station (£325,000) was included in last year's figures. The November figures were £170,133, as against £59,790 for the corresponding month of 1925. The following table compares the value of permits issued at the Town Hall during the 11 months of 1929 and 1928: 1929. 1925._ January 11123,599 1:68,051 February 141,504 211,809 March 106,441 98,886 tori L .. *• • • *. 88,994 50, *So May 105,909 103,427 Julie 302,708 159,540 luly 93,214 '96,960 August 112,176 137,926 September .. .. I-o’ofo October 4d2,818 November .. .. 170,133. 59, *9O Totals .. .. £1,465,769 £1,5*9,911 The comparative increase in the November permits has been brought abcftit by the issue of several permits for large blocks of flats in the City. Chief of these is the block of flats m Emily Place, £46,000, and another in Vincent Street, £30,000. Additions to a building in Mills Dane accounted for £27,000 and to a Swanson Street warehouse, £7,000. The actual number of permits issued last month was 212, as against 223 during the corresponding month of last year. Dwellings accounted for 32 permits, the same number as were issued in November, 1925.

POPULAR SHINE

DECORATION OF HOUSES The vogue for shiny material began with the metals because that seemed the only way of introducing the glittering element, unless beads were to bo called in. Innumerable materials are now being used in dress and in the decoration of houses, which are neither gold nor silver, but which have some of the brightness produced by their shine. Cire materials are a conspicuous instance of this desire for shininess, and whereas only ribbon used to be treated iu this way, there are now cire lace, cire chiffon, ciro crepe de chine, to say nothing of the various satins. Virtually the only silk which is not cire now is velvet, but no doubt that will be effected without destroying tha quality of the velvet. In decoration, American cloth has come in again with a rush. It is used instead of leather for the tops of stools, and sometimes even for chairs. It is chosen for its cheapness or other qualities, but simply for its shine, which goes well with the furniture frameworks of metal. Curtains are actually made of it for the more workaday kind of room, and they are excellent as draught protectors. American cloth is nowbeing stamped with gold and silver, or with colours. In this form, no doubt, its use for curtains will he extended, as the metal upon the shiny surface is distinctly striking. It is said to wear well for the seats of chaix-s and stools, but this is perhaps open to question. The change from the very dull and soft to the most gleaming possible material is one more instance of the search for some new thing.