THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1913 DOMESTIC SERVICE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 11 January 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1913 DOMESTIC SERVICE.

One of the most pleasing outlooks for the future, so far as society in New Zealand is concerned, is the contemplation of the restoration of wo-man-kind to her natural sphere in the scheme of existence. In recent years there has been a tendency to despise the young woman who adopts domestic service a<s a means of gaining a. livelihood, and to regard her as a menial. ' The result has been that girls, possessed -is they are of natural pride, have been forced into the factory, the warehouse, the Public Service, to every place that is calculated to unfit them for the responsibilities of woman-hood, while housewives have been driven almost to distraction in their inability to' secure help in their homes. All this is to be- altered. Domestic economy is to be made a diploma, subject in tho Universities. and it will be more honourable, in days to come, for a young woman to follow a domestic calling, than it is to occupy the position of typist, even in the office of a Prime Minister. Tn an address delivered at the annual meeting of the Society of Women and Children, at Dnnedin, Or F. 0. Batehelor. Professor of Diseases of Women at the Otago University, said : —"I confidently assert that the girl employed in domestic duties in a. good home, with, a good mistress, is happier, better off. leads a, more wholesome and healthier life, will I make a better wife and mother, and i is more likely to rear a healthy stock than her sister whose aims, possibly, have been more ambitious. That my J viows are shared by tho majority of mankind is shown by the fact that the competent domestic Usually promptly changes the scene oF her labour for an establishment of her own, while the scholarship girl witK the D certificate will probably face

many years teaching in a back-block school. Whon it. is seriously suggested tliafc the solution of our difficultv is to bo met l)y the introduction of ii mini Ikm- of aliens to meet our requirements, it seems to we but a forlorn hope. Like most maladies, social or otherwise, to effect a cure it i* well to arrive at the causes. Two. at any rate, suggest themselves to me. First, the tendency to educate our girls on -the wrong lines ; and, secondly, the absurd and istupid stiirma almost invariably attached to domestic service. With the advance in onr educational methods it n<'«! bo no matter for surprise that the great majority of young women refuse to enter domestic- service ; they are mostly unprepared for it in a way, and have to learn afresh in an entirely new branch; and, further, what probably is the most deterrent, have to accept what is inaptly am] unfortunately deemed a. lower social statue. Many girls go through an exceedingly arduous training in the most menial and disagreeable duties to become nurses—not from any special aptitude. or vocation for nursing the sick, but because they consider the social status of nurse is better than that of cook. Ts it altogether iin practicable for our State I 'schools, assisted by our technical -schools and Universities, io devise a scheme whereby domestic management mierht be systematically tansrht and diolomas rrranted Guaranteeing a certain standard of efficiency and ensuring the possessor an improved status? One thin? is certain, the majority of youner sn'rls who pass through our State schools will not accept the pesition accorded to the domestic in the nast and this serionslv menaces the home life to which Wvil-i-sed communities have mostlv adapted themselves. Concessions of a radical character must be made to meet our present changed conditions." The hint thrown out by Dr Bafchelor is not beino; lost upon onr educational institutions, and already there is a movement along the lines that lie has indicated. To promote a better understanding between mistresses and those who follow the honourable calling of "domestic help," the , former should consider the words of Ruskin. who said:—"lf your servants are to bo held your inferiors, at least be sure they are so. and that yon are indeed wiser and better-tempo red amd more useful than they. There is only one way to have good servants. thr x is. to be worthy of being well served."