DOMESTIC SERVANTS

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 13, 23 December 1911, Page 8

DOMESTIC SERVANTS

, Almost every week big batches ol im. migrant servant girls are lining brought lo Sydney and Melbourne from the Old. p ('inintry, and' the engaging of them on t board the ships -is they arrive has settled down to methodical business lines, says . i an Australian writer. The girls are divi'd- ; ed into classes, and mish'esscs interview , them in the saloon. 'Some over-anxious j mistresses try to steal a march on the f re.-t. by making surreptitious offers to the _ girls through the portholes, but tho immip gration officers do not allow that. There , are many tine strapping girls among rej cent arrivals, and the mistresses aro takL ing full advantage of this opportunity of securing domestic help. Theru aro political influences which would seize any favourable chance to stop tile flow of , thes;e mast desired immigrants. The wagen , are officially iixed at 12s. to 15s. a week. , The idesil of tho Xew ' South Wales Li- , bour party of a wages board for domestic j servants has at length been realised,'the, Legislative Assembly h.l.ving ' just ' passed a resolution placing household do- [ mestics on the sched'nle of the Industrial Arbitration Act. The mere passing of [ such a resolution gives the decision thn . foi-ce of law. In duo course, therefore, wo shall si\< the boards at work oil claims ' lor higher w-ages. shorter hours, and improved accommodation for this class of worker. ■ It. w-a>s on purely party line' that the decision was conic" to, the Government majority being 31-to-20. Mirtrcs'es. of' households' 'are übw perturbed ; in mind as to what, their future relationships with their helps shall lie; and what the price to be paid. ' It is under, sfccod that the class moro distinctly aimed at is the boarding-house mistress, who is popularly supposed to lie less' considerate toward her domestic staff than private .employers. The hotelkeepcr. 1.00, will lie made to feel the effort, of th» change,