THE PERENNIAL PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 172, 29 October 1910, Page 4

THE PERENNIAL PROBLEM.

It has been suggested that domestic servants should work under an award. It is known that in innumerable cases domestic service is the worst form of slavery, and this is probably why so few young women will undertake it. It cannot be, however, that the conditions throughout New Zealand homes are invariably bad and harsh on domestics, and those few young women who have adopted domestic work as a livelihood can simply flit around until they find the right "missus." It isn't the question of selecting a servant: it is a question of the selection of a "missus." The Trades Council has been making investigations and the results show that in some cases domestic servants are veritable slaves. The robust navvy who was called upon to attend to the duties named in the following contract would create trouble and the State would blanch at the iniquity of the oppression. A domestic servant of many years' experience speaks: "I thought I would like to give my experience of domestic service, past and present conditions, and am very sorry to have to chronicle the conditions that exist. They are nothing better than slavery, and treated as nobody, working from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., and very often later, never having an hour all day for meals. I was housemaid where there were fifteen in the family and twenty-two rooms, and had the slops to carry down the stairs and carry all the water up the stairs, including bath water, and had to pump all water in addition for this house. Those people very often gave dances, and consequently I had to stay up half the night to but had to start the weary round the next day at 6 a.m. as usual, and would be asked by the master not to disturb the young ladies, as they must be very tired. I got out every other Sunday about 4 p.m., after waiting on nineteen, who very often sat down to dinner. Then arriving home at 10 p.m., would find high supper to be on, and would have to turn to to clear away the table and wash, and finish after 11. o'clock on Sunday night; and this place is in Christchurch, and the wages 10s per week. I have been in much worse places than this, and what I have related is nothing but the truth. Can you wonder why girls will take on other work? I don't blame them, as I consider the present conditions of domes-; tic service are such that if there is not I soon a higher standard set, shorter hours, and more liberty, there will be soon no servants. I do think the hours are dreadful, when other girls have only eight hours a day, and one hour for meals, and there is a crying need for this occupation to be regulated." Probably the main objection to the regulation of domestic service would lie in the necessity of espionage. Up to now the private house is the only place that is sacred and free from the intrusion of the army of inspectors (excepting, of course, those of the Health Department). We believe it would be difficult to obtain registration of domestics, for in New Zealand "service" is not looked upon as a permanent occupation, and certainly not as one that requires special training. Politics and domestic service are the only two occupations for which no previous experience is demanded.