MECHANICAL SERVANTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 187, 30 June 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

MECHANICAL SERVANTS.

HOW THE AMERICANS MANAGE

The servant problem is vexing the mind and disturbing the peace of almost every woman to-day—it is certainly responsible for the presence of many <i wrinkle and line on the brow of the harassed housewife. The United States, because of the high rate of wages paid for female labour, faced the same difficulty some years ago and solved it! That country has reduced the need for domestic labour to the absolute minimum, and to her we can well look for hints and advice about the lesson that bitter experience has taught her. "You British women," an American friend said to me the other day, "live in such a groove. You engage to many servants because you have always kept that number. You cling to the old-fashioned methods of running a house, when new ideas would bring you a thousand devices that would dispense witli half your maids and with a tremendous amount of discomfort." Her own home, indeed, is a wonder of ingenuity in tne way of labour-sav-ing devices. Cooking and cleaning (the ninin factors in a house) are done by electricity. Electricity is Elaine's " maid of all work." Electricity cooks, heats the baby's food, does the ironing, and cleans the house from attic to cel'ar. "I am going to spring clean to-mor-row," she said. "Would you like to see how it's done without labour!-''' I agreed most readily in these dreary days of the dearth of domestic —what woman would not ?

When 1 presented myself at an early hour I smiled at tne dainty appearance of my hostess and the complete lack of preparations. I soon realised, however, how superfluous any preparations would have been for the use ot the "'neetrie maid' completely eliminates the fuss and bother which

"spring e'eaning" (from past experience) naturally btigiiests t<> our minds.

It was a warm, bright morning, but the sight of the cosy copper electric stove was very welcome and cneery. "Breakfast's just ready," Elaine announced. In vain I looked around for any evidence of cooking. A delicious odour of coffee proceeded from an cleft ic percolator on the table. At :rs side was a nea 1 ; little egg-cooker..also worked by electricity, fitted with an ingenious artangement for allowing the cutis to be removed at the oxnc't moment thev are done.

I was amazed at the simplicity and neatness, the absence of fuss and bother: but when Elaine proce.'led lo extract perfectly cooked bacon and toast straight from a cooker on the sideboard I was. dumbfounded: .Tinwas a most interesting and useful device, an "ovenctte" she called it, made of pressed steel, nickelled and high'v polished, and making quite an ornament on tile sideboard. It was a grill and stove combined. The bacon was grilled m the top part while the toast was cooking in the lower one—hot t operations going on at the same tine: with the same power—while beneath was a special underdifih for grilling. She to'd me the price was only 33s od. "You see it ccok.-. by itself," she explained, "and really it is surpris;i < how very ecoi.ur.ca! electric-cooking is. for w'nerea-i in the cooking o| a three-pound joint by gas or five (whici opens the pores of the meat) abo i< three-quarters i.f a pound of meat a lost, electrically cooked the same jo.nt would only lose a couple of ounces.' "A consideration in these days," I remarked.

"Exactly," she agreed: "it also ensures the preserv; ton of the full runout 1 and nutriment." The plates weve heated electrically, and for the we. 1 babe milk food was instantly warmed simply by the placing of an electric tube into the bottle.

" Now for tile cleaning." said Elain\ "What about tin- heavy furnitureh -1 I asked when I realised there was only one voting maid to assist us. •'Oh,'" she replied, "that's necessary with a vadium cleaner!' And indeed 1 soon found that was true, for the electric cleaner proved to lie a very simple contrivance, light as a broom, and capable of extraordinary manipulation. It dived behind and under book-casts, desks, and piano with the greatest ease.. Tt sucked the dust from the innermost depths of evei-v corner and crevice in the rooms, from the carpets, the curtains, the picture-rails, and even the wallpaper. It not only removed the dirt, but a' so purified the articles liy creating a rush of fresh air without any sign of floating dust. It cleaned and freshened the mattresses, pillows, and bedding, culled lite dust from the buttons and corners of the upholstering, and all iiie tin;" there was absolutely no laborious work attached to it. Practically no effort was needed. Lightly passed r.ver anv object it effectively removed al] dirt.' • : But the cost !" I exclaimed. "f- comparatively trivial," I was told. "My dear," Elaine went on to explain, "the cleaning of the carpets alone would have cost quite £■"> (and think of the inconvenience of having them taken away for quite an indefinite period), while this, 'my maid-of-all-work,' two years ago cost only about ClO, and its' uses, as you can see, are legion. The power it consumes is very trivial. We pay 6d. a unit for electricity in this district, and the cost of running the cleaner works out at only one penny per hour.'' Certainly there were no doubts left in my mind of its efficiency, for in a very'short time, with a conspicuous aWenee of dust 'and dirt, the rooms wne cleaned and freshened.

Tn tli" kitchen labour-saving devices played n very prominont part. A \acuum washer, costing but n few shillings, cleansed tbo cloibos by tlu« lat-est-known scientific method -compress, oil air and suction. Tin \ wore ironed hy nn electric 61b. iron, also co-tin" lint a few shillings, working at tbo prii o of loss than twopence per hour. For cleaning tlio floors there was an automatic washer, costing S«. lid. fijrltt months ago. which ontni'ed no stooping or h.mding. while a patent mop cleaned the linoleum and po!ir-h----,-,1 it ai the same time.

Oui' dav of spring cleaning was certainly thorough, mid yet entirely free from' tiie usual can - and worries assnc':,t('(l with -nch an event. The domestic servant is siipeifluou-, in Elaine's home. A constant supply of hoi water I'- a-Mir.<! by the gas circulator in the kiichen, quite a cheap and very useful iii.t:.:l;itinn. and in the bathroom thciv is a govsor, hired at a small annual sum from the local gas company. 1 was inclined to regard the fitting up of those wonderful electric nnnllnnces as a very costly item, but Elaine tells me thai the various electric Kupplv companies only add aliout a 5-por-(i nt. profit over and above the actual com for material and labour. T.