NEW ZEALAND MAID-SERVANTS.

Southland Times, Issue 1749, 3 June 1873, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND MAID-SERVANTS.

The following is from Mr Anthony Trollope's book, " Australia^ and New Zealand ": —

The one great complaint made by the ladies who occupy these houses — the one sorrow, indeed, of the matrons of New Zealand — arises from the dearth of maidservants. Sometimes no domestic servant can bo had at all, for love or money, and the mistress of the house, with her daughters, if she have any, is constrained to cook the dinner and make the beds Sometimes a lass who knows nothing will consent to come into a house and be taught how to do house-work at the rate of £40 per annum, with a special proviso that she is to "be allowed to go out two evenings a week to learn choral singing in the music-hail. By more than two or three ladies my sympathy was demanded on account of these sufferings, and I was asked whether a country must not be in a bad way in which the ordinary comfort of female attendance could not be had when it was wanted. Of course I sympathised. It is hard upon a pretty young mother with three or four children that she should be left to do everything for herself. But I could not help suggesting that the young woman's view of the case was quite as important as the matron's, and that if it was a bad place for those who wanted . to hire maidservants, it must be a very good place for the girls who wanted to be hired. The maid-servant's side of the question iB quite as important as the mistress's. Tbe truth is, that in such a town as Christchurch a girl of twenty or twentythree can earn from £30 to £40 a-year and a comfortable home, with no oppressively hard work ; and if she be wellconducted and of decent appearance, she is sure to get a husband who can keep a house over her head. For such persons New Zealand is a paradise. It is not only that they get so many more of the good things of the world than would ever come in their way in England, but that they stand relatively in so much higher a position in reference to the world around them. The very tone in which, a maid-servant speaks to you in New Zealand, her quiet little joke, her familiar smile, her easy manner, tell you at once that the badge of servitude is not heavy on her. She takes your wages, and makes your bed, and hands your plate — but Bhe does not consider herself to be of an order of beings different from your order. Many who have been accustomed to be served all their lives may not like this. If so, they had better not live in New Zealand. But if we look at the matter from the maid-servant's side we cannot fail to find that there is much comfort in it. I would advise no young lady to go out to any colony either to get a husband or be a governess, or to win her bread after any bo- called lady-like fashion. She may suffer much before she can succeed, or may probably fail altogether. But any well-behaved young woman who now earns £16 as a house-maid in England would find in New Zealand a much happier home.