Rangitikei Advocate WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8745, 20 February 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Mr Keir Habdie can hardly have expected to receive other than a warm welcome from the undergraduates of Cambridge University. In politics the tone of the Universities is always strongly conservative, and Mr Koir Hardie, besides being a socialist, has rendered himself particularly obnoxious to all right thinking men by his anti-imperial sentiments. His letter to a Zulu, condoling with him on the massacre of his fellow subjects by the brutal colonists of Natal, must have been fresh in the minds of many of his hearers, and Mr Keir Hardie showed a certain amount of courage in addressing a meeting in a town where nearly 4000 idle young men were looking for an outlet for their superfluous energy. The humour of the undergraduate on this occasion took the comparatively harmless form of bombarding the platform with lumps of sugar and oranges, and letting loose fearsome smells from bottles of chemicals. The unfortunate Senior Proctor, whose duty it was to endeavour to keep order, was not able to secure a hearing for the labour leader, and the meeting broke up in general disorder. Mr Keir Hardie must have known perfectly well that he could not have selected a worse place in the whole of England to attempt to hold a public meeting, and we can only suppose that he thought it might prove a good move in his political game to pose for an hour as an “Aunt Sally” for the youthful undergraduates. Even Mr Gladstone became the victim of the practical joker when he stayed with his daughter, who Was vice-principal of one of the ladies’ colleges at Cambridge. A memorial oak planted by the great statesmen in the college grounds vanished mysteriously the game evening, and doubtless many now highly respected citizens could display portions of the tree kept in memory of the midnight raid. Suspicion, strangely enough, never fell on the lady students. Another incident of Mr Gladstone’s visit to Cambridge was the arrival one morning of all the barbers in the town, who had been summoned by fictitious letters to shave the Prime Minister. Such pranks are no doubt worthy of the severest condemnation, but we prefer to,, leave those stern moralists who have forgotten their youthful days to improve the occasion.

It would almost seem as if some one with a strong sense of humour had been at work in drawing up the demand as to hours of labour and rates-of wages shortly to be put before the employers by the new union of domestic helpers. According to ' the manifesto of the Union the hours of work are to bo strictly limited. At half past seven on four evenings of the week the domestic helper will cease to work and be free to do as she pleases till ten o’clock. On Wednesday evening, for some mysterious reason, work may go on till 10 p.m without the mistress being- guilty of a breach of the award, but this privilege is counterbalanced by the fact that the helper will cease work at 2 p.m on Thursday and not bo required to return to the employer’s house before midnight. On Sunday the employer will have to do the work herself, as her help will bo free from 2 o’clock till 10 o’clock at night after having ceased work for two hours in the morning to attend a place of worship. Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the other ten or a dozen statutory holidays will of course bo whole holidays for the unionist domestic helper. No provision seems to have been made to provide for tho entertainment of her friends by tho helper or to allow her tho use of a sitting room when off duty. It would obviously bo most inconvenient for a general or cook to have to sit in the, kitchoa while tho ojnployor wfts oa*

gaged in preparing meals on Sunday or holidays. No self-respeetiing girl could be expected to put up with such a state of affairs nor>wo'uld it be pleasant for her to have to retire to a bedroom which, though well ventilated in accordance with the demands of the Union, might quite possibly not be provided with a fire-place. No doubt these omissions will be corrected by the Arbitration Court. The minimum wages demanded vary from 12s 6d per week for nurse maids, to 25s a week for. housekeepers, “generals” receiving los a week. Payment for overtime will bo at the rate of Is per hour. The efficiency of members of the Union is a point that receives no consideration and no girl, however incompetent, can receive less than 15s a week if she calls herself a general. Each mistress will no doubt have to keep a time book stating accurately the hours of overtime worked, and we suppose • a new batch of inspectors will be appointed to see that the law is carried out. Altogether the Domestic Helpers’ Union seems likely to bring brightness and happiness into every home.