POSITION OF WOMEN IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2713, 30 November 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

POSITION OF WOMEN IN THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES.

A \vjutk;i in tho Women's World dL i'ns.-es this question. In Australia ther< :irtj. lie savs, nearly 2-17,000 more male tlmi females. Including New Zealani and Tasmania, the excess of males ove females is .'501,5(40. Women are con sUntly arriving in the colonies, but th men are always in the majority. In t\v excess of arrivals over departures dnrinj the year 1887 the numbers stand si. follows -.—Males, I."),,")!)."); females, 10,201 showing an inequality of -0,274 mnri males than females in the arrivals for on. year alone. Thus the position minimi cally is all in favour of tho women Outsiders might suppose, in this state o society, that the demand for employim:ii on the part of women would be small But such is not t!ie fact. Man; thousands of women in tin: eolouie are gaining their own livelihood and in not a few eases assistinj their families. It is with tlicso toilers . shall deal principally. Socially, th colonial woman enjoys all the advantage of her English sinters, with perhaps s little more freedom and independence The calm, self-possession and the earl; development of power to assume her pine in society in one of the characteristic of the Australian girl. I have hoar< strangers to the country express surprisi at the ease and facility with which a. gir of 16 or 17 will tako her mother's placu si hostess in the absence of her parent discharging her duties with tho digniti and charm of mature age, combined wit! the freshness and grace of youth. Womei generally marry hi the colonies, betweei the ages of '20 and 36. They marry at al ages, more or less; but, notwithstanding the disproportion of the sexes, a few d< not marry at all. There is little to bi said in a paper of thie kind about tin women of the wealthy classes, and thosi who, though not wealthy, are yet placer above the cares and anxieties for providing for their daily necessities by theii own mental and manual labour. Ii Australia, as elsewhere, they tiud theii occupations and interests in their owr homes, and in the gay whir! of society. Many good women among them employ themselves in charitable schemes and other good works; for so long a; sickness, accident, drunkenness, thrift lessness and sin, with the woful consequences to all who come with in the circle of their influences', are in the world, and until workers and employers are in fixed and sympathetic touch, each with the other, women and men too, of the leisured clas-<, inclined tr help their follows, can find plenty t<: oeoupy them here in the colonies, young , as they are, as well an in tho Old World. . . , We have not in tho colonic:a? yet attained to tho platform on whioli tho American women stand with thoit husbands and brothers. A handsome American ladyjsaid to me not Ion? ago: — "I ha»e earned my own dollar ever since I was fourteen years old, I was employed in tho Government service. In the oily oi New 'JoOO women aro engaged in the Treasury, and 700 in thn Government printing , and cnarravihg office. I was in tho printing department myself, so alsr was my sister. These appointments are not only givrri to unmarried women and widows ; principally to the daughters and widows of professional men mid Government officials, and women are equally well paid with the men." Women are no: employed in tho Trea-mrie* in the colonies but they are extensively engaged in tho Government Printing Offi'ies, and in the Post ti ud Telegraph Departments. Unlike the American women, their salaries aro inferior to those of the mnn in similar positions. This, I think, is an injustice, wherever it occurs. In the Melbourne Argus I noted au advertisement from tho Government Printing Office for female folders and sewers, "applications to be accompanied by certificates us to moral character, sound bodily health, and competency for the work." Tho employees, as they issue from thin oflice, present a well dressed, ueatly-sjloved, lady-like appearance, and Ihough they make their exit from the gates in tho same stream with the mules hey walk away to their homo in twos, ;hra.-s, and groups of their sex, with a juiet decorum which could not be survissad. Women are engaged also by the Waro pi-ivuto printing establishments, wholesale stationers, and bookbinders of -.ho city. In the Post Office the salaries of the female officers begin it, about £1 per week. After a while :hey will perhaps bu promoted to the position <>f post-mistress in a country disriot, with house, firing and lighting round, and a salary of £Sl a year. IVomen are employed almost exclusively ti tho telephone department, of tho M«l----)ournu Stock Exchange, and by some of he merchants in the same capacity. They iro uxtcu-uvely engaged in t.ho tram aim mmibu-i company's offices for coutiting ho money, which, by tho way, is uot very jlcanly work, the coins being so greasy mil dirty that they speedily bncomo iuil'.'d. L'-irge aprons and sleeves have to jf) worn to protect, the dresses. Au export land ran count SO bags an hour, a novice ibout 2i). Each bag contains the receipts r or ono trip. The salaries at these offices •anges, 1 am told, from £50 to £'200 per minim. To a limited extent women are Miiployod as clerks and private secrcta•ics ; mow largely as copyists and typewriters. One or two of the banks employ ;hcm in the latter capacity. Several adies have opened offices i> Melbourne, ind started as type-writers on their own iccouut, choosing their offices where awyers abound, and generally are kept •ery busy by these gentlemen and others, Aiina'e engravers are not unknown, but ibstructinns, I understand, have been put in the way of furthur increase of their lumber. A few ladies have gone into mining business, a leader among them is low well known to the London world as .hi- floater of the Midas Mine. AYithont iiiieriiig into mining as a business, many votnen speculate in "old, silver, and, to . considerable extent, in land.