THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1901. THE DOMESTIC SERVANT.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 109, 1 October 1901, Page 3

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1901. THE DOMESTIC SERVANT.

From a cable received from Melbourne on Saturday we learn that the domestic servants of that city are petitioning for an improvement in their condition. We do not know much about conditions under which the domestic servants of Melbourne work, but presumably they are on a par with those prevailing here. Every country where .coloured labour is not cheap and plentiful has its domestic servant problem and it is a problem, the solution of which would be hailed with joy by thousands of wearied and worried bouse wives. In every country it would seem that the same causes bring about the same result, and servant girls become scarcer and scarcer as time goes oa tilUt seems likely that in the

near future the domestic servant will only be a memory of the past. The causes of this are several, the first being, perhaps, the loss of social position entailed upon entering service as a domestic. This is not as it should be. Domestic service is surely as honourable as dresS-making or selling drapery, and yet there are very many who despise the domestic servant because of her calling. Then, the hours worked are very long. This session Mr A. R. Barclay, M.H.R. for Dunedin, introduced a measure to somewhat shorten the hours of domestic servants, but it was

rejected by the same members of Parliament as pass laws declaring the day’s work for a man shall be eight hours. What domestic servant ever worked only eight hours in a day ? How many of them have a full hour for meals, or a half holiday each week as demanded by men ? Not whal we think that domestic servants wish for or are likely to get an eight hour day, but their hours could he materially reduced without getting near that standard. In a report of a deputation published in another column, the secretary'’ of the Wellington Trades Council is reported to have said that the object aimed at by the Labour Unions was a 41 hours week, and they would not rest till they had got it. These same men never spare a moment to think of the domestic servant her twice 44 hours. Another objection that girls have to becoming domestic servants is the smallness of the wages. Even where, as iu teaching, men and women do equal work, it is the custom for women to receive less pay, but custom alone is not sufficient to account for the paltriness of the wages received

by many girls. Many people are inclined to put down to the spread o£ education, the tendency of girls to leave domestic service for factories and shops, but ,we do not think that education is responsible for much of this. The shorter hours, better pay and better social position are quite sulfieient in themselves to attract girls away from the drudgery of domestic service and we cannot blame them.