Electricity as a Labour Saver

Ladies' Mirror, Volume 4, Issue 8, 1 February 1926, Page 32

Electricity as a Labour Saver

Electrical appliances, always helpful , are particularly so in Spring and Summer

TV/TANY old-fashioned people are, unfortunately, possessed with the idea that “electricity” is so expensive.” With New Zealand’s wonderful resources in water-power, electrical power is exceedingly cheap, particularly when it is supplied for cooking, heating, and similar services in the home. Electric fires and heaters are invaluable for airing rooms, for taking off the chill in spring and autumn, when there are no fires in the house, and for the many purposes for which heat may be required for a short period only. Electric cookers for the kitchen are clean and economical. Electric washing machines will, for the woman who does all or most of her washing at home, save in a year their initial cost. OUT it is perhaps with the smaller electrical gadgets that the average woman will like to make a beginning. Particularly practical and also inexpensive, costing a penny and three-halfpence an hour to run, are the little portable stoves, that can be bought for about three pounds, and give, for instance, much needed warmth to a person seated at writ-ing-table, dressing-table, or sewing machine. There are electric irons, which are always ready for use, retain their working temperature continuously for as long as they may be needed and do not stain, iron mould, or scorch clothes. They can be used in any room and connected either to the nearest lamp-holder or to a wall socket, their power consumption being very small. In many households, and particularly where there are children, there is a good deal of sewing to be done, and the work is tiring; this is where an elec-trically-driven sewing machine helps considerably. A GREAT variety of useful and .ornamental table appliances are now available for Dominion housewives. There is, first of all, that invaluable possession, the electric kettle. There is the electric teapot in

which the water is first boiled electrically, and the tea, contained within a perforated basket suspended inside the lid by a short chain, lowered into the boiling water and raised again as soon as the infusion has been made. Then there is the coffee percolator, in which the coffee is placed in a glass container at the top, which is perforated at the bottom, When the water in the vessel boils, part is forced upwards through a central tube with coned top, from which it is sprayed over the coffee, percolating through into the water vessel below. In this way the most delightful coffee may be prepared on the dinner-table and poured direct into the cups. Another useful ■ table device is the electric toaster, with which two pieces of, crisp hob toast can be prepared in a couple of minutes. A dozen slices of bread can be toasted at a cost of Jd. There is the electric grill also, made in several forms. With this, toast may be made, eggs poached, bacon fried, chops or steaks or fish cooked ; shallow cooking vessels supplied with the outfit may be placed above or below the glowing elements, and many simple dishes may be cooked quickly and well. A N electric egg-steamer is so useful that it will always be employed once it has been tried. Then there is the electric chafing dish, in which appetising omelettes and other dishes can be prepared quickly on the table, the electric disc stove for keeping food hot, the oven for warming plates and vegetable dishes, the electric milk boiler, the electric hot-water jug, and the electric double saucepan for porridge. Most of these appliances cost just over Id. an hour to operate. They are seldom needed, however, for more than fifteen minutes, so that the running cost is triflng, while their convenience is beyond price. Few of these devices cost more than a couple of pounds—some of them can be bought for a few shillings—and most of them have elements that can be renewed easily at small cost.