The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. HELP FOR MOTHERS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 225, 17 June 1920, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 17, 1920. HELP FOR MOTHERS

Tangible evidence of good work done in helping overworked mothers was laid beforo the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mit. Anderson) by a deputation from, tho Mothers' Help Division of the Women's National Reserve which approached' him yesterday with a request for financial assistance in the shape of a Government subsidy. The particulars supplied by the deputation are in all respects interesting and not least as snowing that the Division is faced, by much greater demands for help in the home than its present staff of three workers is able to cope with. This in itself suggests that tho enterprise is being conducted on sound lines and is meeting- a real need The Division has a definite claim to State assistance in the fact that it is providing help not only for women who are able to pay for it but for those who are unable to make any payment. The figures submitted to tho Minister show that expenditure during ten months totalled £280 (includinß £239 in wages to helpers) and that payments in tho same period by those who received assistance amounted to £123. This is equivalent to about 44 per cent, of the total expenditure and to a little over Bl per cent, of tho amount paid out in wages. It thus appears that up- to the present about half the time of thc > helpers employed by the Division has been given to mothers whose means will not enable them.to pay for help. On the whole, yesterday's deputation made out an excellent case, and it may be hoped that the Government will have no' hesitation in granting a subsidy. _ What has already been accomplished demonstrates that a modeßt outlay will enable an immense amount of good to be done in helping harassed and overworked women, and the Mothers' Help Division certainly ought to be given all reasonable assistance in extending the present scale of its operations. It need raise no difficulty that, as Mb. Anderson pointed out yesterday, other claims of a somewhat similar nature are being made upon the Government. Any enterprise which aims at lightening the burdens of overtaxed wives and mothers, whether by providing help in the home, the establishment of creches, or in other ways, deserves to be considered and assisted on its merits. .While sound enterprise on these lines Is entitled to assistance from the State, it ought at the samo time to make an irresistible appeal to , private generosity. _ No bettor way will be found oi giving help where it is most needed and best deserved than in supporting the admirable work of tho Mothers' Help Division and that of other bodies which have the same general end in view. Apart from their immediate effect, such enterprises arc of the utmost valuo_ as a practical step towards establishing the sound conditions' envisaged by tho Minister of Internal Affairs when ho said yesterday that the feature of which he most highly apnrovcd in the soh'emo of mothers' help was that *it wised the standard of the pro-

fession of domestic helper to what tho work of the housewife should be —the most important that any woman could undertake. The work of the housowifc and that of the household helper are fo far from being recognised, as matters; stand., at their true worth and importance, that there is what might almost be described as pioneering effort to bo undertaken in restoring affairs in this respect to a true balance. Tlie problem to be solved in giving wives and mothers the conditions of life and work they have a right to expect is big and many-sided ; but its solution undoubtedly is demanded not only in justice to women, but in the interests of national welfare. Tho enterprise of the Mothers' Heln Division is distinctly a practical contribution to tho solution of tho problem. It recognises the truth emphasised by Mb. _ Anderson yesterday when he pointed out that women themselves, by lowering tho standards of domestic employment, had done a great deal to bring about the present dearth of home help. The Division is definitely intent on elevating the work of household help to its true plane of dignity and importance as an indispensable and vitally important service to the communuity. There are, of course, other features of the problem which demand attention. For instance, the extent to which girls as they grow up now seek ont•eide employment, instead of remaining at home to assist their mothers and gain the experience that would best fit them to take charge of homes of their own, evidently must bo ascribed to. unsound social and industrial conditions which the whole community is interested in remedying. There is admittedly no short «>r easy path to the establishment of sound conditions of home-lifo which would relieve women of the unjust disabilities so many of them now endure, and make the vocation of wife and mother in every way attractive.' Volunteer efforts which are paving the way, if only gradually, to this full and complete measure of reform are so much the more entitled to whole-hearted sympathy and support, not only from the Government, but from all who wish to foster the most essential elements of healthy national life.