LEGISLATION TO THE RESCUE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1085, 25 March 1911, Page 11

LEGISLATION TO THE RESCUE.

THE DOMESTIC DIFFICULTY. The domestic servant problem is growing serious for the simple reason that monopolises half the energy of the women who employ servants and three-quarters of the time of those who do not, says a writer in an English paper. Xo legislative body had seriously tackled the subject because it seems insoluble either from tho "idealistic or the realistic standpoint. Law, however, is always, u good steppingstone to an ideal, and it is wise to nse the stepping-stone, as disillusion often follows individual and Utopian experiments. The good citizen will'always live above law and the bad one will invariably live below it, but there is a certainty that the mediocre citizen will literally obey it. The moment the Legislature interferes in this matter of domestic service and removes it, by so doing, from an unskilled, haphazard ■ occupation to a high calling our troubles will minimise in the region of domesticity.

Scrvice Without Servility. Tho intimacy involved in the present system of domestic service which is outside good fellowship is one of the great drawbacks of domesticity. The woman above .stairs and the woman below stairs meet on the basis of supply, and demand, and become virtual enemies, through class prejudice,, contcmpt, envy, and social ostracism. Nowhere does class distinction appear more undistinguished than in the usual attitude of mistress and maid. "I never dream of speaking to my servant in the street, or except when I am obliged," said a well-meaning friend of mine to mo once. "They are utterly beneath us." Yet 1 that same employer let her servant take off her boots, bring her breakfast to bed, and do all tho_ thousand and one things which irnplj' intimacy and even afrcctioh. What we surely have to face is, that if-we are not free enough or strong • enough : to. do our own work

wo must evolve some system of domcsi tic -'which. neither accepts nor de-. ,'ffiftlids servility, servitude, or slavery. _ Tlie law cau help to change all this. It could frame certain laws which'practically challenge the servant to competency' And the mistress to fair dealing. If our legislature took up the questibn of domestic'service it could be as efficiently managed as the distribution of our letters by tho Post Office. A central domestic servant bureau is what is needed, with branches ill every town and village in England,' in order to provide trained helpers at any hour and at varying prices for', all the homes in England. where hired help is a necessity. The one condition the hired 1 would demand "would be regulated hours and fixed pay. The one thing the hirer would denland would be unquestionable efficiency in the work paid for. ; In this way an immense nerve strain would be saved all''round. The domestic. bureau would do our nagging for us, and also .be our middleman as regards orders and'payment for the working out of the same. The worker's certificate would justify any householder telephoning to her special bureau if a sink was clogged through the carelessness of a.' certified worker, a dinner ruined through an incompetent cook, or a dozen filthy rags found in various corners of tho house belonging to a trained housemaid. Schools for household training would be as important as tho ordinary Board schools, and certificates of efficiency only given to the really capable. Limited hours would bo tho result of work done well and by agreement. Relays of helpers, whether sleeping in or out of the places where they worked, would minimise overstrain and allow for legitimate leisure. If these matters 'came under legislation.domestic service would bo delivered from the haphazard, dc,vil-may-care, disastrous, and nerve-wearing thing it is to-day and made into an honourable profession- like teaching, doctoring, dressmaking, or preaching. A servant's uniform would then be as honourable as that of a soldier or a nurse.

State-Organised Domestic. Service. Ono can imagine the protest of somo of those accustomed to "menials" always at their beck and call and also the dismay of a few of the "menials" themselves at the thought of a State-organised domestic service. At.first sight both served and server may be tempted to look upon this proposal as one more blow at the glory of .England and the freedom of "tho home. Freedom certainly is the first gift' of the gods to either nations or individuals; and home is the one" spot where freedom should be most in evidence.' To be free, however, one has often to suffer personal inconvenience in order to adapt oneself to newer and better conditions. Domestic service, as it stands to-day,.not only spells slavery to antiquated habits of living and modes of thought, but is an evidence Df the lack of courage, to take the next step in social experiment.