The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-03-03


dor to make them efficient II suggests that
mothers should make domestic work more
attractive to their daughters, and that they
should work With thenl II advises mis-
trcgscs to work with their servants some
what as follows:
"A mistress who has hut one servant
SHOULD work With her during tho mornin,
hours. Under such circumstances a girl
will become very proficient and by this
means domestic matters win move along
on oiled wheels. The mistress who docs
nothing to help her servant and Is always
hurrying her wears the girl out. 1t Is she
who brings domestic service into bad re-
pute. she who is driving the girls into the
factories"
II hnd that servants are becoming more
scarce every wear. Even the old women
who used 10 he trouble TO the office have
found employment, nearly all OF them u
the country. ! ind thAt some girls engage
places and then do not so to them. They
perhaps find something better In the mean
while and break their engagements. !
would suggest that the government provide
fines for such offenscs. as they cause great
Inconvenience to employers, AS II Is now
il an employer fails to take girl after
he has engaged her he has to give her a
weeks pay.
This is tho statement Of Helen stave'y:
officer in charge of the woman branch of
the labor department At Wellington
How Factory Girls Are Treated.
The New Zealand government has n
woman Inspector Of factories connected
with it's labor bureau. This is Margaret
Scott Hawthorne. 1t is her business to
visit the shops, factories and work rooms
where women are employed and see that
the lnws concerning them are carried out.
The head Of the department of Labor has
given me her last report. from which |
COGdenSe a Few statements. She says:
I nf hours
week is stli matter of bitter complaint.
In many factories half an hour only is
given for lunch ana II the women take
half hour off in the middle of the day they
have To work n half hour In the evening
to make up their forty eight hours per
week.
Il find that women and girls employed In
1 the shops tstorcs) work harder than many
! people imagine. regular hour for clos
ing should be adopted. Many of the girls
are quite done up at 1 p. M. when tea
time comes, and are not fit for another
hour and a half'S work. Some clerks are
affected by the draughts from the doors
opening. ! would suggest that In winter
swinging doors be lifted to an shops;
think eight hours day is quite long
enough for work in such places
The factory girls are better protected In
! New Zealand than In the United States.
| Take the Southern cotton factories. for in
stance. Many Of the employees there work
eleven hours day. In New Zealand
women and children are forbidden by law
10 put in more than fifty-two hours a
week. and every week must have its half
holiday exclusive of sunday. Nearly all
the factories are closed at I n. m. Satur.
day. A fixed time for dinner is provided
hy law. One factory that cut short the
dinner hour was recently fined. Such cases
are common aud wherever discovered are
punished by the government
Against the Sweat Shops.
/ The New Zealand government has laws
against the sweat shops 1t defines fac
Z
( hands are employed. and this brings all
kinds OF little shops under the factory laws.
1t provides that girls shall not work In
factories without wages 1t was dlscov-
/ cred that some Of the factories or stores
1 would take on girls for the first three
months for nothing, telling them that they
were worth nothing at the start. but that
they would be paid as soon as they be
/ came experienced. At the end Of the three
/ months they would likely say to the girls
/ mat they were worth nothing and could
I give them no further employment They
would then take on fresh lot on the
viGed that no employee must he paid less
than n certain sum, and that girls under
i can not work in any Kind Of an estab
lshment for less than 81 per week. II
girls are taken into the factories at an
eurlier age than this they must show that
they have some cduca ton, No girl under
Is will he admitted to a factory without
she has passed through the fourth grade nj
the public schools.
The law provides that all factories shall
have proper sanitary ARRANGEMENTS Tho
buildings must be well ventilated. he pro
vided with fire escapes and sn arranged
that the women can have the necessary
privacy as 10 many things,
Some Specimen Fines.
These labor laws are by no means dead
letters. Employers are fined whenever
they transgress them. 7 have Just beer
looking over list of cases which illustrate
this, One man who cut short the dinner
hour of his girls~paid $40 and costs. and
another restaurant keeper who kept al.
mattresses NJ work for eleven and q haIi
hours one day had to pay hne Of S36, a.
though lfSislo, one Of tee girls mad had three
taurant man was fined $50 and costs FOL
omploring MS wa rcsses mr. Two AOu
Fer week, and another was fined for no
auowlng one of mis- females an hour for hei
meals.
In the town of Napier man who en-
ployed females for more than hfty-twc
hours in each OF two succeeding weeks WA.
hned $40. The man kent store. his AZ
I erage time az rtty-two hours per week
how many Of our merchants would Ike q
re iinad for keeping their girls at work 10
more than Hinc hours day.
Salesiadies and Barmaids.
And this brings me to the question o
salesladies. The laws Of New Zealand pro
vide that esery saleslndy shall have 4
weekly half holiday. They provide tina
the girls must have seats In the stores an
must be allowed to use them ] have he
fore me cases Of merchants who were tine,
f"r not providing such seats. and this Il
80 both In the stores and the saloons
The snioons here are called public house,
or hotels and IN ninety nine cases out q
Il hundred the liquors are served ont hl
women. The nrettier thr fare tho bigge
thn wages, and the more charming tai
harmaid the greater the custom. In maui
81 the hotels the harmdids do nor worl
u more than eight or nine hours. The cog
eminent gives them their half holiday. ans
the hotel keepers are hned II they DO no
see that they take IL This matter OF tn