A DIFFICULT PROBLEM.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1062, 27 February 1911, Page 9

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM.

- -LEGISLATING AS TO DOMESTIC ; . Y* 'HELP. It is interesting to read of what other countries are doing in connection with the domestic' help problem; of their efforts to improve the -conditions and sraodth tho way for both the workers arid tho employers so that they may meet on common ground. Sometimes the conditions -have been thought out principally from tho workers' point of viow with not ■ tho slightest < consideration for the unfortunate heads of households, but in caso the fact ' that something ' is being done to meet the occasion may lead tolthe ultimate solving of the difficulty. After tho next session of the Australian Parliament domestic servants will be able to apply for a Wages Board and havo their hours of work fixed within ccrtiin limits. At a deputation of women that waited upon tho Minister for Labour and Industry (Mr. Beeby) instances were mentioned of the treatment which girls met with, one grievance being that a domeslio would tometimes- go' to the country on tho understanding that there'ivas only a small family in the house,' and she would find that'it was an establishment with a constant flow of visitors. The girl, finding .the conditions unbearable, would leave, and,,havo to forfeit somo of her pay. ,: ■•,.■• One member of tho deputation spoke of tho number of girls that are admitted to tho homo for • consumptives. ■ It was stated; that -showed' that domestiu' workers contributed more to these homes than ; aip- others. Milliners, shopkeepers, etc, wero in'vcry small proportion in this regard. "It is on account of the', long hours and the bad accommodation. The girls havo often to sleep over the kitchen and the, heating pipes in the'summer, timej Or in'tho laundry with a cement floor, and they are more likely to bo subject to phthisis than people,with bet* 'tor accommodation." > ■•■•■'■■■■.

The Minister, in his reply, said that |jtho matter (had been considered by hiin ■in connection with the new Industrial Arbitration Act, and-heihad decided to pufdOmcstio workers' in tho same'.posi-tion'-ns-any others, 60 that they could apply , for a Wages Board,' and get the same rights for regulation of theiivcondit ions as any one else. As to female workers generally, ho had decided to put a special oondition'in.'thoiAct to meet cases where it was difficult to organisb women, so that the Minister should direct formation of a.board. Thcsa changes, ho thought,''would lead to the regulation of tho conditions of thd domestic ..workers, who were just as necessary to the community as any other portion, and just' as much'entitled to respect. Owing to the bad accommodation and other things, had got a bad name.:andtho>- girls turned elsewhere. . He did not sto why' it should not bo made just as attractivo as factory or shop life. Ho knew of'peonlo who innocently admitted that they expected their sorvnnts to work 13 or 13 hours a day without holiday, arid who would pay them a miserable wage. But he believed that tendency waß dying out. Whether the measure is practicable or no remains to bo seen. A household cannot be run on office or factory lines, for all sorts of unforeseen things happen that necessitate working overtime for everyone—sickness, for instance, babies that must bo attended to,• a chimney that will "not draw, burst pipes, and a thousand and on© things that overwhelm a household at times. In commenting upon this new law, a writer in an, Australian paper says that much amusement has been caused by tho assumption that all mistresses are bad, and all maids good. If it wero eo, (lien law-making would bo a simple matter; but the number of inhuman mistresses, who, according to.these authorities, treat their servants as they would not daro' to treat a dog, is surely moro than : equalled by tho number of incompetent maids who obtain ■ places under false pretences, and nro incapable of doing any of the things they p"rofess to be nolo to do, and which thoy are paid for. doing. If a mistress breaks her contract we hear of it immediately, and the is probably summoned before the Court; but of the maid who sneaks off without notice wo hear nothing, although her namo is legion. Wo hear, too, a great deal about tho mistress who overworks her maid, but very, very little of her who takes an incompetent girl into her house and trains tier carefully, paying her wages all tho while. There is a loud outcry about the mistress who keeps her maids up till midnight to servo supper, bnt-ucver a word of her who, when a girl is ill, sends her to bed, nurses her, docs her work, and pays her wages all tho' time. It is as hard to believe that Australian mistresses are the monsters of cruelty they aro said to be as to believe that Australian maids nro long-suffering, foolish martyrs, who stay on in houses -where they aro ill-treated.

How is it, one cannot help querying, that there are mistresses who keen their maids'for years, and if thcro should happen to bo a change, find no difficulty in being suited, whilo others aro continually changing or simply cannot get them? Perhaps here, as elsewhere, personality counts—the personality of the ' mistress and tho personality of tho maid, because even the kindest mistress has been left in tho lurch at times.