SERVANT GIRLS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1306, 17 February 1883, Page 4

SERVANT GIRLS.

(From the Otago Daily Times).

In a recent article we referred to the fact that Colonial girls have a seemingly invincible dislike to domestic Bervice; :tnd it may be that this dislike is not alt»f;eiher without reason. We remember noticing a letter in the columns of one of, >mr contemporaries in whioh the matter was explained from the servants' point oi view. It was said that as a rule, the Colonial mistress is, in point of birth and' manners, no better than her maid, and that it is impossible for the latter' lo look up to hor with respeot. There may be <ometbing in this. Certain it is that there ire mauv very indifferent mistressses, and a bail tnis'iv ' '•'• nrt'v sure to make bad ■ifi'vams J i i-ery wise woman ndeed to make.. ;, ou misiress, and when we consider how very seldom we find such qualifies as forbearance and generosity (iwards their own sex, even among wellborn and well-bred women, we need not wonder the maidservant so frequently complcina of the petty tyranny, the caprice, the spitefulness, and, not least, ihe overwork which they have i» endure; nor thai, when ilm.'stt labour ia scarce, _ they should take advantage of their opportunity and become insolent and capricious in their ' urn. Such as human nature, especially female human nature; and we suppose it niUßt be admitted that the character of 'bo average Colonial mistress has a good deal to do with the disclinaticn of the Colonial girl to enter her service 1 . It is not, however, Ihe solo cause of this dis. nclinatinn, There is something, wo midit almost say, in the air of a new country that produoes the same effect, •md are not inclined to quarrel altogether with the new sense of independence, hough we cannot help seeing ihat it ii very commonly abused. The old patri- 1 rchal Btyle of things, in whioh servants, male and female, were part'and parcel of 'he hmipehold, is dying out, to be ."buo* ceeded, let us hope, by something better. W present we are in the transition stage,' .vhich is in all oases an uncomfortable me; and it is all the more uncomfoniMe in our case in that we are in a 'ransiuon stage in quite another respect—'he primitive condition of society in' the Colony having passed away, and theform which the national character and manners 'b destined to take being as yet scarcely liscernihle. In the meanwhile the' 'eceasities of our households will he »■ lieved by immigration, although it is idle 'o hope that the relations between mispress •ind maid will be much improved for many a long day.