"A'REAL DANGER."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 867, 13 July 1910, Page 8

"A'REAL DANGER."

DEARTH OF DOMESTICS. PREMIER URCED TO TAKE ACTION. STATE MAY GRANT FREE PASSAGES. Tho desirableness of tho State adopting a • scheme under . which largo numbers of domestic helps. would ho induced to settle in Now Zealand was urged upon tho Prime Minister yesterday, by a largo 'deputation consisting of ladies and medical, practitioners, who were introduced by Mr. G. ~W. Russell, M.P.

1 Dr. Platts-Mills (speaking as a mother who was also'a .doctor) said that the world was faced by two tremendous problems. These- wero tho limitation _ of families and infant mortality, which were in a measure directly connected. Women could.not bo . expected to have largo families when it was w : ell known that every child after the first two or three years became, owing to the lack of domestic help, instead of a source of joy as it should be, an. embarrassment—for it really, meant' two years' penal servitude for the mother. Families of four or five children found it almost impossible to get domestic help, whilst in. the caso of. families : of six or seven children it was almost hopeless to ask for it, until at loast the youngest children were two or'three years.of age. Waking at dawn and. working hard all day without getting a chanoo to go to bed till a very late hour, a mother who did not receive sufficient'- assistance could not keep strong for a great length of time, with tho result'that she eventually fell into tho hands of a- doctor.

No Time for Sufficient, Trainine. In the midst of all the rush, what time was there for moral training, for the making of good citizens, for motherhood 'in the full sense of the. term ? It was worth while encouraging motherhood, for she was glad to say the' spirit of motherhood was still abroad-; it.. was not that the young women should not : care - about motherhood, but that .they could--not under the present conditions. Then, again, the present scheme of education for girls was not right. When girls returned home at 14, or 15 they had .only a smattering of isolated facts which wcro useless for .all practical purposes. The only thing that they really knew was that they were not . going into household .work, .for ,thoy considered, that., it was old fashioned. It was the duty of the- Government to take' care of. the housewife and the infant. They did not ask that the. Government should help women in that way in order that they might got out to enjoy golf or bridge,, but simply that .they might become . 'better wives and bettor mothers, and that they might .be able the better to help the State than was at present possible. (Loud applause.)

- Remarks by Mrs. Sprott. Mrs. Sprott prefaced her remarks by stating that sho had frequently had. the opportunity . of having .. confidential talks with young'women. The majority of .the New. Zealand girl's were just'as noble and as true and willing to enduro what was coming as tho girls of any other land. They looked forward witii hopo and cheerfulness to tho time when they would become mothers, knowing that they would have medical and nursing attention of a high order, but there was a source of worry in the thought that they might not he ablo to get sufficient domestic help. Numbers of young women had said in her presence that had they known of tho drawbacks in this direction they never would have got/ married.- If the .mothers.had to work so hard, how could they put brightness into the 'young lives,of their children?

Mrs. Moore. remarked that when speaking on this matter with newspaper people at various' times she had been reminded that John Wesley, for instance, had seventeen children. But she would ask how riiauy helps could ho get at 2s. 6d. a week? The management- and organisation of the • children were easy enough, but how .could a woman bring up a ■ large family singlehanded?

Mrs. A. R. Atkinson said that tho deputation did not urge tlie importation of help' for. the rich,'but for those classes whose incomes ranged from £2 to £5 per week. . New, Zealand did riot need highly-trained servants, but young countrified, useful girls.. It .had been said that the importation of girla would degenerato into indentured labour,-but she did not think that that need be the result. The deputation was .not proposing to interfere with industrial .conditions.. .In conclusion, Mrs. Atkinson urged that committees might be established in various towns to watch the interests of the girls.

Mrs.. Boden'said that the conditions were much worse' in the country than in the cities. ' She. thought that an effort should be made to get girls from ScandinaviK. , Views of Doctors. Dr. I'ollcn said that he could-do nothing but endorse the necessity for increased domestic help. . The majority of girls brought out in recent years had been medically only "border liners." He would like to point out, however, that the medical examinations at Homo wero now much stricter.. •

Dr. Purdy declared.that the evil was a crying one; the facts spoke for themselves.. Consensus of opinion among the medical men must, he felt. sure, carry great weight. ■ Dr. Collins said ihat every medical man- know what tho strain of motherr hood was. in-the poorer classes. Many lives wero lost before they were borii owing to, the . hard work which the mothers had to undertake.. It would lis a great benefit if there wero girls available as mothers'helps. Dr. Kemp stated that many of the girls who came out to tho Dominion wero .not fitted for hard work. A majority of them really only came out to see the country. More and Moro Intense. Sir Win. Steward remarked that tho difficulty was becoming more and mora acute as tho years went by. The position now was that something must be dono in tho. matter.. If trio present state of things went unredressed' it would bo useless to pass laws having' for their object tho social and economic advancement of tho country. Hn hoped the Government would bring down a comprehensive scheme to meet the difficulty.

Department o? Domestic Economy Urged. Mr. Hcrdman, M.P.,' said thai wero two questions to bo considered: (1) whether our social conditions hud reached a state which necessitated the Government interfering by means of suggested legislation, and (2) the welfare of the girls who are brought into the ooun try. Ho thought it had been clearly shown that the Government should take action in tho matter. It Would be well if .there wero committees, as had been suggested, to watch tho interests of the imported girls. Some people thougnt that house girls were meniak; he, howover, was of no such opinion, and for his part would sooner see a girl go into a good homo than into a factory.

Mr. Myers, M.P., thought thft Government should set up a department of domestic economy.

Mr. T. E. Taylor said that ho was in very real sympathy with tho desire of the deputation. . All other countries

wero, in a similar position. The troublo, was really ail economic one. If the mothers of New Zealand could get.fur-, ther domestic help it would be a great boon. As far as ho could see, even if girls were brought out, there would still be many homes which would be without tho necessary domestic help. Anything that could bo dono to help parents should be done, but if tho scheme were not wisely formulated, the position would be aggravated.

A Commission Suggested. Mr. Fisher, M.P., advocated the appointment of a commission to consider the matter. They wero not yet at tho root of the subject, lie would not ask the Government t» set up a commission, but as a rule commissions were fruitless in this country, but. a commission consisting of judges and doctors might be voluntarily set up to make recommendations in regard to the question. . • .

iUr. Luke, M.P., endorsed the remarks of previous speaker's. Mr. Russell, M.P., thought that imported girls should bo the wards of the State until they got married, or reached the ago of 21 vears. Mr. T. K. Taylor: Tho State can't take that power.

Tho Prima Minister's Repiy. The Prime Minister reminded.the deputation that he had been, approached on tho matter when.he was in Christchurch recently. He had o.n that occasion stated that tho Government would continue, to help to get more domestic servants for t'r.e Dominion. It had since been ;dccided by Cabinet thai there should be a reduction of £2 in tho passage money of , such. girls by the Government, and the. shipping companies had been requested to make a reduction of that, amount. Tho New Zealand Government had not been oblivious of tho necessity for increased domestic help; it recognised it as much as anyone else. Personally he did not think that tho question of indentured labour came into the matter. If there wero not a sufficient number of girls there could bo no interference by bringing out additional girls. Ho was in accord with Mr. Taylor when he stated that it would not do to bring out. girls so as to interfere with the livelihood of girls at present resident in the Dominion. No one, however, could, shut their eyes to tho fact that there was a shortage of girls.in this country. Tho difficulty would not ho so easily met, as most p'oople. imagined.

Touts at Work. One of tho greatest difficulties wa» the ■ fact, that Canada, , America, Australia, and tho Kast were all trying lo draw, domestic servants from tho . Old Country, When lie was, in England some -tunc ago he heard that one country had from 70 to 80 touts working throughout tho.United Kingdom to gei suitable girls. Other .countries were also doing the same In the case of New Zealand —unless it employed an army of suitable women to go all over tho Old Country—it was not possible for the High Commissioner to get girls until they reached London. Those .who, were employed as touts — and got commission—could not ho allowed to pass girls iu the interior of England;. Thus it was that to euablo a number of girls to bo obtained i'or. New Zealand they, must be focussed iu. London. It-would, therefore,'be apparent how difficult it was to get bright, fresh, healthy, vigorous girls unless it nas agreed that they might bo passed at, the institution to which they belonged. The same remark* appiied m the case of girls from Scandinavia. Efforts had been made at different times to got girls from Scandinavia and Denmark-. . They could not bo allowed to he passed in those countries; but at tht> High Commissioner's office in London. He might mention 'that the High Commissioner had the fullest instructions to try and get suitable girls for tho Dominion and further requests would bo made to him on the matter. The need for, more domestic helps had been well put" hy Dr. Platts-Mills who had evidently studied the matter.

School Training of Girls. Ho too believed that New Zealand would have to go back to tho position of having tho girls taught effectively in tho school—that was one of tho most important moves that could bo made. Such a change'would involve a different class of certificate for the women teachers, alterations on tho curriculum so far as girls were' concerned; and tho establishment oi something akin to a girls' domestic technical school independent of tho present scholastic institutions. To get girls to divert their attention; from the factory to the home was a difficult matter- Domestic life should, however; bo made equal in the eyes of the community to factory life for respectability and in this way'girls would get a. natural desire to become tho \vo:i:cti and mothers dl the future. V\ ith due deference to the remarks made 'by Mr. Fisher he would like to say that -he did ' not think the causes of the trouble required to be ascertained by a commission, for they were .quite apparent. One of these causes was world-wide. In New ■ Zealand itself the result of improving factory life, had been to draw girls from the course which ■ formerly, thoy were disposed to go. They had to recognise also that the factory proprietors wore also, crying out for more girls. If the factory owners anil the mothers could not get. enough help, a commission would ha of little u.ii'..

Valuo of Committees. He had alto noted Dr. Platts Mills's remarks 'dealing • with tho limitation of families.- and would only say that .that, matter depended entirely on the individuals, and could not bo prevented ex-, copt by a necessarily higher education 'if the people themselves. Then, again, there was Mrs. Atkinson's suggestion that there should be committees to look after the. girls, .without interferons with them or their work. If all the women were like here—and he said Lhut without fastidiousness—there would bo no difficulty about it at all, but there, were women who took, a pride in putting their noses into- the domestic affairs of families. There might, howover, be committees of women in some <.f the centres' who could help by allowing those girls to', appeal to" them if their employers wore, not treating them properly. Sir Joseph went on to point out that the Government was submitting" legislation to assist tho • poorer filasscr, of the, community at times of maternity. The' scheme would apply to ail wago-earners whoso incomes did not exceed £200 per annum. Of course it would mean a financial obligation on the part of tho .Government to assist to. bring it about, but it would tend to smooth the pillow of many women who up to now had not been ablo to secure Bufficienl. assistance at such timeo, and ill addition would receive recompense

Frco Passages Probabla. In conclusion, be remarked that the dfe&rlh of gill labour was unhappily too ivell known. In England it existed to a certain extent; it certainly existed in Canada. At present' girls 'wore transported from the United Kingdom at £1 per head to Canada, which was only seven days' distant. He was not sure, but if New Zealand found that with a vary low rate an improvement was not Bocurcu, the Government should not bring out, a large number of girls free. As be had said, lie "was not sure on tho point, but a few thousands of girls spread all over the country within a limited time would do a great deal to provide against what was a great evil. It would bo all-important that broadmindedness should be entwined in matters connected with the problem. The representations of the deputation would receive the fullest consideration, and Cabinet would do the utmost in its ability to help to solve the difficulty. (Loud applause.) .