NEW TRAINING HOSTEL

Evening Star, Issue 19799, 24 February 1928, Page 8

NEW TRAINING HOSTEL

LATE IDEAS ON DOMESTICITY The Duchess of York opened flic new hostel which has recently been established at Market Harhorough for the training of women who have little or no knowledge of housework, and yet are anxious 10 go out to Australia as domestic workers. The scheme was inaugurated by the Overseas Settlement Department and the Australian Government, and it is interesting to note that it is the first time a Dominion Government has co-operated with the Home Government in a plan of this kind, states the ‘ Australasian.’ Single women and widows without children, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-live, are eligible for the training which is given at the hos. tel. Before they go there they must satisfy the Australian authorities at Australia House Hint they are medically fit, that they are suited for household work in Australia, and that so far they have not a sufficient knowledge, of housework to render them eligible for a, free passage, out. While they are at the hostel they are given freeboard and lodging, as well as a little pocket money and materials for needlework. They* have training in cookery, laundry work, marketing, the general care ,of a home, and needlework, and the course lasts from six to ten weeks. The house is run just as an ordinary home would be run by a staff of trained servants, so that all the work is of a thoroughly practical nature. The students begin their work at 6.45 a .in., and every three days their duties are changed, to enable them all to gain a complete knowledge of every branch of household management. They have three practical tests during their training, and in the evening their time is

taken up with needlework, cookery demonstrations, and lectures on hygiene and household problems. In the smaller of the two kitchens there an Australian wood-burning stove, and

in cna.ge of Miss •foil'. > !■•’. !>;ee !■_ _ thr<;>* years in Australia, and is familiar with Australian cookery methods. Ihe house itself goes bv the name of “Hie Elms.” and is'a pleasant old Georgian manor house. Forty girls can he taken there, and already thirty-eight of the vacancies are filled.

Miss Ball, the matron, says that half the girls come from London, and the other half from Scotland, Ireland, and the provinces, and most of them have been working so far as clerks, factory hands, or shop assistants. Curiously enough, 100, the majority of them have asked that they may lie sent to the country rather than to the towns. The Duchess was taken round the hostel by the trainees themselves, who were dressed in the heliotrope uniforms ami white cups, and siie showed a most practical interest in everything, so much so that one student said to her: “You seem to know a lot about this,” to which the Dnclics replied; “ Oh, yes, 1 know all about the home.”