THE SERVANT QUESTION.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 938, 10 July 1903, Page 2

THE SERVANT QUESTION.

(To the Editor of the Times). s Sir, —Be the servant question some ! ladies of this town ard going from door to T door with a petition, asking the Govern ment to bring servant girls from Home. There is no need for such a scheme, if mistresses treated girls properly. The ery is that the girls are going to shops and r factories. And no blame to them, if they have homes. Their hours are fixed by , Government from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If ’ they work longer theyare paid accordingly. But a servant girl has to get up at 3 a.m. on Monday morning to get the washing | and housework done, and take the baby | out in the afternoon, and gets to bed at \ 9 p.m., tired of course, and next day worse. That is 18 hours for Monday ; every day she has to do 15 hours. What kind of treatment is this to give any girl ? What right has any mistress to demand girls to work such hours as that ? It is worse than slavery. And only girls that are forced, that have no home, will submit to such drudgery. The servant has to wait until her mistress and family have finished their meals before she can have hers. The consequence is that the poor girl never gets a hot meal. Now, it is she who cooks and does all the hard work and she wants a hot meal. _ What trouble would it be to cut her dinner when you carve for tho family, ring the bell and let her have her hot dinner while it is in season—a little consideration and kindness--or take the girl to the table and treat her as one of the family. A girl is expected to' keep herself tidy and clean, but is left no time to make or mend her clothes, if she gets a half-day off she has to come home to get supper, or else the tea and supper dishes are awaiting her to be washed up next morning. The mistress ■ thinks the girl can go on for. ever, and , through all the work of the house, aud the , care of the children. Few girls have a t room to themselves. She has to have the £ youngest or second child in bed with her. g Why put such responsibility on a girl who has been on her feet all day ? That is the * work of the parent, unless the parents are able to keep a day and night nurse. I trust that working men and women will stop to think of the injustice of signing a 1 petition to induce young women to leave their native country, to bind themselves to such treatment. The above are a few reasons for girls preferring shops and 1 factory life to domestic service. r “ Man’s inhumanity to man j Mokes countless thousands mourn.” c —I am, etc., i Slavey. ifc