South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 3042, 28 December 1882, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1882.

“ There’s a sweet little cherub, sits smiling aloft., to watch o’er the fortunes'of poor Jack," So runs the old fanciful melody, and when one considers the many narrow escapes he ha«, the perils he encounters, ami the hardships he survives, one is almost tempted to believe that some tutelary spirit is indeed “ told off’’ to watch over the fortunes of the. mariner. Ue needs protection, for although his daring and fortitude are proverbial, equally so is his disregard of his own welfare. The day has certainly gone by when nearly all seamen used to “earn their money like horses and spend it like asses, ’* They are now better commanded, better fed, better accommodated, than they used to he ; they are not so much or so long isolated from civilization, and there is by degrees springing op a certain amount of worldly prudence among them ; they are becoming more temperate, and better acquainted with the value of money, and more alive to their own interests. But in their case the process of amelioration is a slow one compared with that of other classes of society. The reason is plain. Everybody has daily under bis eyes the wre'ched condition of the shoregoing poor, and public charity is prompt enough to respond to the cry of distress, but the sailor makes no appeal. He is ever on the move, and, disappearing, be is forgotten. He is afloat, bis ship sails hither and thither, and he is no more separately considered than are the spare spars the vessel carries. The truth is Jack has to fight a much harder battle against fate than his brethren ashore have. They have a few more opportunities for leading good and profitable lives. Jack has many admirers, but their admiration is for his cloth, and is founded on what they know of his traditional glory. This generalising admiration is “nothing worth those who admire do not really know what the object of their admiration is like in bis daily life, what are- bis peculiar needs, his particular weaknesses and bis special virtues. It is quire time the sailor was made to feel that be belonged to the community, more than he has yet felt. Some few persons have led the way. In the last generation, Richard Green (whom many now living will remember), the wealthy ship-owner, led the way. He looked after the comfort of his crews with great solicitude, and built for them a splendid retreat where they might live when ashore, safe from the innumerable land-sharks that were wont 10 prey upon them. And in later years Samuel Plimsoil has come to their aid, and had tne courage and singleness of purpose to ple n d their cause and fight their battle before the British Parliament and public. We are very pleased to observe, in this colony, that • Port Chalmers has been distinguishing itself in regard.to the seamen visiting it. The other night a number of people Connected with various religious bodies gave a tea to the sailors in port,about 500 persons were present, and a very pleasant evening was spent. This was in connection with the Seamens’ Rost established in the little town. We very heartily commend the action of tile kindly zealous individuals who thus practically set forth in their lives the doctrines they proclaim with their lips. A nobler or a worthier cause could hardly engage their attention. But it is a matter for regret that so few persons outside them should cooperare in so good a work. It is a matter in which we may fairly claim the assistance of those whose fortunes are derived more or less directly from the shipping. It is not too much to ask them to contribute of their abundance towards the necessities of the seamen, by whose labor they grow rich. We are not advocates of pampering one class of the community, of exaggerating their wrongs or their claims, and we do not. desire to gush over poor Jack. We ask merely that he shall have justice, and a trifle more consideration at the hands of those ashore. The working man is able at any lime to let us know when his rights are infringed or his comfort threatened, but wo do not know hall the hardship that Jack endures.

Mu Tat, hot, at the last meeting of the Geraldine County Council, drew attention to the dearth of female domestic labor in the colony generally, and South Canterbury in particular. We have never heard his statemei b gainsaid by anybody, and we feel quit} sure that the country would easily absorb a very large contingent of domestics. It appears difficult to get them, however. There is probably no class of immigrants so difficult to get imAJ—,»f and wo doubt very much

getic lady selector that could be sent' Home for the purpose, would succeed in shipping off 4000 or 5000 trained domestic servants. It would be wise for us to realise this at once, and seek to supply the want. The fact is, domestic service is yearly becoming more and more unpopular at Home as well as in the Colonies, and as the tendency of the age is to open up fresh avocations for females, this unpopularity is likely to increase. Skill and intelligence are wanted in a domestic servant just as much as in a laborer, it she is to be really useful in a household, and skill and intelligence find more agreeable and congenial pursuits than domestic service. It is no wonder, therefore, that the vocation is now, as a rule, relegated to an inferior class of women, and in consequence a “ servant girl ” is, in the eyes of most housewives, a doubtful sort of luxury. We have not the slightest doubt that the difficulty will continue to make itself more and more apparent, English people now thoroughly realise it, and social reformers' and look-outs are suggesting various means of meeting it. There is to be a period (and we are only just beginning it) between the gradual disappearance of the genus “ servant girl ” and the appearance of an efficient substitute. That is a time fraught with a great deal of domestic tribulation, and a very fine field is offered to the inventor or the reformer. We shall never again have, in the ranks of domestic service, those “ neathanded Phillises,” those intelligent, tractable, and industrious maidens who brightened the house and took pride in it, and we may as well give up dreaming about any revival of that old state of things. The question will naturally arise out of this loss of domestic service, whether indeed life cannot be carried on very well without a great deal of that heavy domestic drudgery which has so long appeared indispensable. The success which has already attended the use of many labor-saving machines has sufficiently demonstrated the possibility of a curtailment of the manual labor hitherto employed, and as the dearth of servants increases we shall look for a rapid increase in the number of these machines. This increase, together with an abandonment of a great many of onr household usages, will take us very well out of the difficulty. In the colonies the strain falls even more heavily than at Home upon householders, and the farmers and settlers have a real grievance in the scarcity of servants. All they can do, therefore, is to accept such importations as they can get, and make the best of them, and Mr Talbot’s suggestion ought to be acted upon without delay by Government. Any help is better than none, and we must take the best we can.