A REGISTRY OFFICE GRIEVANCE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 54, 27 November 1907, Page 4

A REGISTRY OFFICE GRIEVANCE.

Sir, —Will you permit mo space in your widcly-circulatiKlpiiper to draw attention to what I consider an .injus|icp t'o okl-estnbJishwJ registries for foinnle' 's.erVan'ts. It appears that the liotellccoporsllave established n labour bureau, into whicli-tlioy have installed a male official who engages femalo servants, ,

which is .causing harm to tho registries legitimately and carefully earriud 011 by females in tho past, and is also likely to prove hurtful to female servants. My reason for thinking so (or, better still, tho reason of some fomalu servants I know) is that, in the even.t of their not liking certain . masters or' mistresses, or through some .injustice- or grievance, femalo servants give up their position at once, or even- run away; they will bo marked, and find it difficultor impossible to find employment through a masters' agency. .It is all very well to say that thero is.no fear ,of that danger arising, but some of us know froTii experience in the Old Country that such happens, if not in regard to fomafo servants, at least to working-men. For instance, in Ayrshire, Scotland, tho mineownors have an Association whereby inni working.'in tho mines (sections, or famines oven), who consider themselves unjustly treated and strike, have- their names sent round to all' tho other colleries, and thus aro prevented from obtaining employment elsewhere. This is called tho " Block " system, and 1 havo

known many a minor, who has spent, years and years, in tho pits of one employer, at last forced to leave his native village or. town, nr sink his individuality and 'independence and submit. While the cases may not bo analogous, still'l cannot help-thinking that tho registries at present conducted by fomalcs havo done their work capably and well, and I fail to seo anv need for 'hotol-

keepers or other employers of labour, who condemn the Socialist idea of collectivism, leaving their logic to go to the dogs, and -collectively taking (ho broad and butter from tho mouths 1 of individuals. The .registries have lately been subject to ton much iiiterforenee without any discrimination, and' I ■think it time that business men or tho Gbverniiieut loft littlo unnecessary actions aside, and turned to the. larger and more glaring needs of national life.—l am, etc.,

NORTH AYRSHIRE. Manawatu,.November 2G; 1907.