THE ELECTRIC HOME JOURNAL

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 29, 31 January 1930, Page 26

THE ELECTRIC HOME JOURNAL

Y this Electric Home journal Section of the "Radio Record" | we hope to render a distinct service to both electrical and home interests. Electricity is the one form of power which easily, economically and conveniently can be adapted to home use. Thus it is pre-eminently destined to be the medium which will lighten women’s labour in the home. The "mere man" frequently fails to realise the ardu‘ous character of home work. Few, indeed, are the’ masculine hands which do the weekly wash, sweep, wash or polish the floor, or struggle with the family ironing. JF these tasks did fall more often into masculine hands, there would be a much prompter and deeper appreciation of the fact that house-work without mechanical aids represents definite hard work. In other phases of modern life the objective is economy of labour, to invent a machine which will do a task and let it do it. Even clerical work is now organised and systematised, and this fact in itself is contributory in an extraordinary degree to the huge amalgamations of business interests taking place all over the world. Office equipment, electrically operated in many cases, now does with ease, rapidity and accuracy what scores of male and female clerks formerly were pressed to do. Thus in the Dusiness world electricity is saving labour, and releasing human intelligence for other and better work. IT should be the same in the home. Life, even married life, is not necessarily bound up in the routine discharge of exacting home labour. There was a time when that seemed the end of the matrimonial venture: the wife became in essence the unpaid housekeeper. But the modern wife has different ideas. She

knows what electricity is capable of doing in the home. ‘She realises that home efficiency can be improved by means of electricity, and she wants it. She wants it, not only that her own labour might be saved, but that her energies might be at liberty for the fuller enjoyment of life in the company of her mate. She realises that if she can discharge ‘the necessary household tasks and retain her freshness and charm, she will be able to enjoy much more of her husband’s love, and afford him more of that domestic cheer and feminine charm which is the chief lure of matrimony. Therefore, she is: eager to take advantage of electricity. She knows its value as a home aid. E know that, too, and we want to serve the increasing modernisation of New Zealand homes. We believe that in doing this we will be rendering a distinct service, not only to New Zealand women, but to New Zealand homes in general, and contributing quite definitely to their greater happiness and home comfort, providing fuller opportunities for the enjoyment of life and the attainment of culture. SCARCELY any country in the world is better equipped than is this Dominion for the fullest use of electricity. The resour¢es available in our water supply are immense, and the Government has quite wisely reserved to the people the exploitation of those electrical resources. These resources will lighten the labour burden and permit a higher standard of home comfort. As that is done, a vision is possible of a city and country life throughout the Dominion where, through electricity, home labour is rez duced to its lowest possible terms. In that objective we trust these pages will play their part and add to the home interest of our readers, —