HELP FOR THE VILLAGE HOUSEWIFE

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20501, 18 May 1938, Page 3

HELP FOR THE VILLAGE HOUSEWIFE

Those who have worked on farms in any part of the world know that the work of the wife of a small farmer never ends, writes the Countrywoman. She is up at dawn cooling the milk and dispatching it to the creamery, feeding the pigs and liens. The breakfast has to he got ready and the children sent to school. Often there is outside work for her before the mid-day meal is prepared and also before supper-time. It is usually late before everyone assembles for supper and then the farmer's wife must put the children to bed, tidy up and occupy herself with mending.

In a recent issue of Die Deutsche Landfrau the case for laboursaving machines for the farmer's wife is discussed. Why is there not nore labour-saving machinery The answer is expense. Money is needed for shoes, clothes, new drainage systems, and so on. The farmer’s wife is the first to admit that there must he everything modern and labour-saving on the farm, and her own needs are apt to be put to one side. But this sacrifice reacts on her health, and home machinery should therefore be a first consideration. The writer of the article goes on to tell of home mechanisation in Ihe villages of Wurtemburg, where co-operative ownership of household labour-savers has existed for some years. Rural communities there are operating communal washing machines and bread-mixers, and some have even found that a machine for mending socks can he profitably installed. It is of course essential in every case that the machine should be looked after by someone who knows how to keep it in order, though the manufacturer will probably send an inspector from lime to time. It is usually possible to find a room to house Hie machine in, and where new houses are being built the plans are made to provide for its accommodation. The work is organised so that every housewife has her turn.

Communal ownership of such household machinery is of course only possible in a village type of community, not in a country of scattered farms and homesteads.