WHY MANX REMAIN POOR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9508, 3 April 1909, Page 5

WHY MANX REMAIN POOR.

t . . ■ I A writer in an American magazine reminds housekeepers' that * it is the unconsidered snippets, of waste that keep the monthly accounts so large. It is easy, she says, to he careful where big items are concerned. We all make it our 1 business to keep the butcher's bill within reasonable limits ,but how many of us trouble to see that we get the full benefit of the contents of the' dripping-pan ? It is not the bread we eat that runs up the baker's book, but the bread that is carelessly left to go dry at the bottom of the bread pan. The milk that is allowed to turn sour because no one has remembered to scald it in time, the vegetables that are wasted through, careless and too lavish trimming, the butter that melts into nothingness in the hot kitchen because the cook has forgotten to take it baok to the larder may be small, things in themselves, but they all add their mite to the week's outlay. ' The constant preparation of more food than can possibly be eaten at a meal is another and very general source o,f waste. It is done, doubtless, with the best of intentions, but it is a costlyerror of judgment which a little thought would prevent. In nine eases out" of ten no use can be made 6f what is left over ; it is, eventually consigned to the dustbin, or finds its way to that universal altar of sacrifice — the kitchen stove. , The coal supply is, appropriately, a burning question, in most families. Does the need for its renewal ever come, I wonder, at a time that is not inconvenient? But it w.ould be interesting to know how much longer it could be made to lasi if care was always exercised in building- and making up the fires, especially the kitchen fire, and if that useful thing, a cinder-sif-ter, were more often used. The gas bill, too, might be considerably reduced if everyone remembered to , turn down the gas wherever possible, and if the upper floors were hot lighted up until absolutely necessary. In many houses there % is a fixed hour for this ceremony, and it is steadily abided by, be it dark or daylight. / Carelessness is responsible for most of the glass and china that ig chipped and disfigured "by accident," and for all that is cracked or broken outright by being washed in too hot water. Then think of the knife-handles thatf ought never to be put into "-hot water at all, but which, all the same, bear evidence of their daily ablutions, and speedily part company with ( their blades. Think, too, of the polished tables and sideboards iJhat are spoiled by having hot dishes or damp flower-vases carelessly set down upon them ; of the walK paper, whose last state is rendered worse than the first by being thought^ lessly rubbed over with a soiled duster instead of a clean one. Remember the once ornamental paint that at the time of the annual spring cleaning lias ben ruthlessly scrubbed to the bare boards, or cleansed out of all knowledge with«a coarse flannel and plenty of strong soda.