THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1911. DOMESTIC SERVICE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10400, 22 August 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1911. DOMESTIC SERVICE.

... 4> The educational 'bodies in New Zealand intend doing something to raise the status of domestic service in New Zealand. The institution, of a Chai rof Domestic Economy in the New Zealand University, followed by the appointment of instructors in the science by the Wellington and other Education. Boards, ■will serve, m itime, to remove the occupation of domestic iservice from the menial position it at present occupies to c o of importance and responsibility among the professions of the State. The reluctance which has been felt in the past in, engaging in ithe occupation of cleaning a window, or scrubbing a floor, or dusting «. carpet, or preparing a meal, will no longer !•« evidenced, for it will ibe recognised that the person who is primarily responsible for the 'health aaid comfort of the household occupies a more distinguished and 'honoured position in the affairs of life than 1 (the typiste, or the hospital nurse, or the girl behind, the For, after all, the legitimate sphere of woman's influence is in the borne. Eugenics vill never be more than an empty and theoretical platitude until the science of properly /managing the house, and of treating those engaged in the home in a right manner, is understood. The time will yet arrive wlien the domestic will possess an Education Board or University certificate, and ' when the work of the house will be a science rather than a drudgery.

The sooner that time arrives, the better will it be for the community. Meanwhile, the lady who requires a "general," or a "lady-help," to do whait she terms the "menial" work, would do well to mend her ways, and to remember that there is notliing menial which is requisite to the health and comfort of the home. The domestic .servant problem will never he thoroughly solved until home employment is (raised to it'hat high plane in the social soak thai Nature has designed for it. And society will be the first to benefit by the solution of the problem.