TRAINING HOUSEWIVES.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1473, 22 June 1912, Page 5

TRAINING HOUSEWIVES.

WHAT BRITAIN IS DOING. AN INTERVIEW. { It was very interesting to learn from Miss Freeman, M.C.A. and 11.T.5.C., who has just arrived in Wellington from Scotland on a visit, to lier sister, something of the. work which is being done in Great Britain to brin" domestic science into tho daily lifo of the women of the leisured classes, as well as of those women who havo been almost lost in the depths, of poverty, ignorance, and squalor. There, jt has been realised that if tho country is to be prosperous, is to hold its owii in tho great struggle for national existence, there must be laid an enduring foundation in the training of tho women and girls of tho country to be efficient housewives and capable mothers. Let tho home be careless, slovenly, let food be badly cooked, let ignorance prevail as to the care and nurture of young child"*Vn and the physique of tho x>eop!e, or of ~ l»rge proportion of them, must inevitably suiter, and :V# strength as a nation lail.

After all, there are still a few matters in which .we in Now Zealand do not lead the world, and it is quite possible, judging from all one reads and hears of them, that other countries still, America, ami even Australia, are making greater efforts than we are to further the came of practical education, as well as other matters.

A Great Institution, Miss Freeman iiotv occupies the post of tho head of the training department of housewives and housekeepers of tho School of Domestic Science iu Edinburgh (Athol Crescent School), possibly the foremost school of its kind,in Great Britain. Forty or fifty years ago it commenced ill one room, but, at tho present day, it is a great institution, through which passes every year an average of three thousand pupils. It has a staff numbering 'thirty-six, and, in addition to theso teachers, professors from the 'Edinburgh University and doctors gjive lectures on. sociology, history,., economics, health matters, and various other subjects. It his' on office staff of six people, and a superintsndant under the control of a council and sub-committees, and with the j exception of a few grants, the school is entirely eelf-supporting. To this school come all classes to attend its courses. Daughters of the aristocracy go there to learn how to manage their households; girls who have just lett school

and are too young to enter society spend a year or so learning different branches of household matters, and, so complete is tho system, that they have to do every single thing that is usually left to the servants, even to the blackleading of ranges and grates, scullery work, and so forth. A large number of women go there who aro qualifying for the post of housekeepers to largo institutions mid homes, or_ to wealthy people, and it is this department—training girls to become efficient housewives, and women, as housekeepers—that Miss Freeman is tho head of.

As might well bo expected from so great a school, every subject that touches upon daily lifo at all its taught. Its curriculum includes the teaching of health-visiting, a. great institution at Home, housekeeping, laundry work; plain sewing, as well as fancy, cooking of every description, millinery, tailoring, hygiene, and home-nursing. Two nurses aro also members of tho staff, and they givo lectures upon nursing, first aid, awl so forth, and ulso give maternity lectures to tho wives of miners. Teachers of domesticscience are trained there, and, after going through their training, go to teach in tho schools, and so the knowletlgo of domestic matters spreads.,- Men go there . to learn how to wait, and others bow Ho carve, or to become cooks.

Fighting Ignorance. Before-she joined the school in Edinburgh, Miss Freeman taught under tlio Board of the London County Council domestic science in tho schools. At her centre, which would le established within a few minutes walk of the schools, the sessions would last for three hours "In the morning, and two in tho afternoon, and tho school children would attend once a week. Hero they ivoro taught laundry work, and were never allowed to leave till they could iron a shirt thoroughly, cookery and housewifery.- in all its branches. Lately, further additions have keen made by the teaching of tho care of infants and young children how to preparo artificial food for tho babr, antl how to wash and dress it. As to whether the really poor children will ultimately profit very greatly by the teaching of cookery, Miss Freeman expressed herself in somewhat doubtful terms. "Often," silo said, "they have nothing at all to cook. "It is the other girls, the daughters of tho small shopkeeper, and tho factory girl, who will benefit the most by it, and their ignorance of these matters is very great indeed." Already Miss Fre email' is impressed by tho low salaries which tho teaching profession receives in New Zealand, and at tho great cost of living, so that a salary which might othcrwiso bo fairly good, goes nowhere.