DOMESTIC SERVICE.

Colonist, Volume LIII, Issue 13052, 11 March 1911, Page 4

DOMESTIC SERVICE.

WHY GIRLS*DISLIKE IT.

Mr EL W. Bishop, S.M., showed a representative of the "Lyttelton Times" the other day an interesting letter ho unexpectedly received from Wellington, containing a reply to some remarks lie made from the JUench in regard to domestic service. In a civil case he was hearing in Christchurch-a young lady witness said that she worked in a laundry and earned 16s a week, out of which she paid her board. "And yet these girls," he commented, "will not enter domestic service, where they would get practically the same money, and board as well. It's very strange." His remarks were republished in a Wellington journal, and the lettor, which is anonymous, came as a rejoinder. The writer deals somewhat severely with Mr Bishop, but he says that that does not give him any concern; He thinks that the writer has stated hor arguments clearly and forcibly, and has made out a very good one-sided case from her point of view, but has mad© a mistake in giving her statements a general application, In his ow.n household, for instance, he has bae<n paying a domestic help lately 25s a week. She has had exactly the same kind of food as Mr Bishop and his family have had-, she has had no washing to do except for herself, and sho has been addressed with as much deference as any other woman. She has certainly had the smallest room, but it is a very good one, and can give .no cause for complaint. Mr Bishop suggests that if the writer's talents in regard to domestic duties are equal to her literary talents and smartness, she should be welcomed as a valuable addition to any household, and shouldbe able to command a rate of wages much above the average. The letter is as follows:—

"To Mr Bishop, S.M.—Sir.—Regarding the enclosed paragraph from Tuesday night's paper I may perhaps be able to enlighten you a little on the subject. Have yon, for instance, ever noticed thcr overbearing way most people have of speaking to and of domestics? And have you ever been in a position to know, or tried to calculate how long the hours of duty are- for them? And have you ever thought how arduous, and wen disgusting, are some of the duties demanded of a domestic ? There are some things one cannot write about, more shame to the women who -deem it right to ask another to perform them. And have you been in many, or any, of the so-called bedrooms relegated to domestics ? And you surely forget that the wages are not a surplus fund. How much do you suppose has to be paid out in clothes, shoes, cite, worn, and worn out. performing a domestic's work? A domestic is mostly asked, or told, to wear a uniform, which, of course, is not bought, or made, for nothing, and special house shoes, neither pi which is everlasting, are, in fact, a very eonsklrrrable item of expenditure-.

"Girls who have homes or a trade are wise not to go to domestic service. From start to finish there is so much to be said against it that I can only advise yon to send your own daughters, if you have* any, to domestic service. Send them, incognito, as general servants, and compel them to stay one month at each of six different situations. You will then no longer have cause to say, "It is stranga," when you hear of girls preferring factory work. Also, can you tell me why the worst possible room, bed, bedding, light, utensils, chairs, food—in fact, everything—is always necessary for a domestic? I say 'necessary' because the employers always deem it to be, even when newly furnishing. And why should a domestic, like Lazarus, always be a receptacle for the fragmants? There is much to be said on the subject, but time is very limited, though work is not. If you would solve the problem, you must first get legislation for the domestic workers, for, until a sound business basis is formed, as with all other classes of workers, the-re will be constant friction on both sides. Domestic workers are no more entitled to be door-mats than either yourself or Lord Islington. They are, hike both of you, working for a salary, and not only giving equivalent for .such, but, in mast cases, six times the amount of service in exchange. Yet deference is shown to the one, and difference, to the- other worker. The dual nature of these mannikins, who toady to wealth and position whenever and wherever possible, savours of the serio-comic to those whose intellect (and, when it comes to the point, birth, too) is far superior to their own, but who, through stress of circumstances, have often to seek to earn an honest existence under the roofs of these same creatures and find dogradatio.il only thereby, inasmuch as that it always goes agimst the grain to perform any service, whether in exchange, or charitable, for an ingrate. But instead of merely passing comments on the strangeness of results, do your utmost to improve the cause. Use the opportunity to secure for domestic workers that whjph you, in your position, profess to mete out to all regardless of all olse—-Justice. Are yqu principled enough to bear the sheers and jeers that would be your lot did you try to gain this end? I wonder. Let this signature suffice. —A Domestic Worker."