Evening star., 1901-03-02

wants are leaving to work in the factories
| and this Notwithstanding the wages in the
factories are often less than those of house
| servants, especially when the matter of
board is taken into consideration.
| Here are the wages. In the towns gen
| eral house servants get on the average
| $50 per week, many receiving as much as
| S3.l5. Nurse maids are paid from 81 % to
| $3.50 per week, while laundresses receive
| up to 81 Cooks are paid from So to Sc a
| week and sewing women in Wellington
| who live at the house get as high as S6.
In other places their wages are lower.
Government Employment Bureaus.
1t seems funny to think of a government
| opening offices to give servant girls employ
| ment, but this Is one of the ways of New
| Zealand. The premier started it some
| years ago when he found the employment
! agencies were imposing upon the servant
| girls. He told me how it happened. Said
| Il was connected with the department of
| works at the time. l found that the SER
| want girls were being charged exorbitanty
| by the employment agencies and that they
were were often sent by the agents to Improper
places. | started a bureau and fixed the
| rules for all such Off es. | charged the
girls shilling, or % cents, for registration,
and that gave them a place. That is the
rate that the employment agencies now
charSe throughout the colony. We have a
branch of the labor department which fur
nshes employment for the unemployed. We
hnd 1t works fairly WE'LL.
How to Train Your Servant Girls.
Since my talk with the premier 1 have
looked over the reports of the department
of labor made by the woman inspector
of factories and the woman who is in
charge of the woman's branch here at
Wellington. The latter states that 346
girls have been given places during the
past year. 1t also gives the following points
as to how servants should be trea led in or
der to make them efficient. 1t suggests that
mothers should make domestic work more
ATTRACTIVE to their daughters, and that they
should work with them 1t advises mis-
resses to work with their servants some
what as follows:
"A mistress who has but one servant
should work with her during the morning
hours Under such circumstances a girl
Will become very proficient and by this
means domestic matters will move along
on oiled wheels. The mistress who does
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"
Il find that servants are becoming more
scarce every year. Even the old women
who used to be trouble to the office have
FOUND employment, nearly all of them in
the country. l find that some girls engage
places and then do not go to them They
perhaps find something better In the mean
would suggest that the government provide
fines for such offenses, as they cause
now II an employer fails to take a girl
great Inconvenience to employers. AS it is
alter ne mas engaged her he has to give
her a weeks pay"
This is the statement of Helen Stayely. |
officer in charge of the woman's branch of !
the labor department at Wellington
How Factory Girls Are Treated.
The New Zealand government has a |
woman inspector of factories connected
with its labor bureau. This is Margaret !
Scott Hawthorne. 1t is her business to |
visit the shops, factories and work rooms |
Wnere women are employed and see that |
the laws concerning them are carried ont
Inc Aead of the department of labor has
given me her latest report, from which I ]
condense a few statements. She saws.
me question of forty-eight hours Der
week Is still matter of bitter complaint.
In many factories half an hour onIv is
given for lunch, and If the women take a
half hour off in the middle of the day they
have to work half hour in the evening to
make up their forty-eight hours per week
Il find that women and girls employed in
the shops (stores) work harder than MANY
people imagine regular hour for closing
should be adopted. Many of the girls are
aulte a done up at pm, when tea time
comes and are not fit for another hour and
4 halfs work. Some clerks are affected nv |
the draughts from the doors opening. I
would suggest that in winter swinging
A"oAS pS hItcu " dll SHOPS. tllnk eight |
hours day is quite long enough for work
N such places"
The factory girls are better protected in
New Zealand than in the United States.
L axe tne southern cotton factories for in
stance. Many of the employees there work
eleven hours day. In New Zealand wo-
men and children are forbidden by law to
out IN more than fifty-two hours a week,
ana every week must have it's half holiday |
exclusive OF Sunday Nearly all the fac
,orles are closed at 1 pm. Saturday A
lxed time for dinner is provided by law.
)ne factory that cut short the dinner hour
vas recently fined. Such cases are COM
non. and wherever discovered are punished |
~ the government.
Against the Sweat Shops.
The New Zealand government has laws 7
Lgainst the sweat shops. 1t defines a fac 8
ory as any place where more than two
lands are employed, and this brings all /
Kinds of little shops under the factory :
avs. 1t provides that girls shall not WORK !
n the factories without wages. 1t was :
discovered that some of the factories or !
torres would take on girls for the first .
hree months for nothing, telling them that
hey were worth nothing at the start but =
hat they would be paid soon as they be- :
anne experienced. At the end of the three = :
aontns they would likely say to the girls {
hat they were worth nothing and could = :
i've them no further employment They =
you'd then take on a fresh lot on the T
anne terms. By the laws it is now pro- T.
49, 'iiot no eipioye must De paid less f
nan a certain sum, and that girls under !,
ighteen cannot work in any kind of an
Establishment for less than 81 per week
girls are taken into the factories at an
arlier age than this they must show that | I
hey have some education. No girl under
fteen will be admitted to factory without .
he has passed through the fourth grade
the public schools
The law provides that all factories shall
ave proper sanitary arrangements. The o
ulldings must be well ventilated, be pro- e
ided with fire escapes and so arranged
1at the women can have the necessary | a
rivacy as to many things.
Some Specimen Fines.
These labor laws are by no means dead
tiers. Employers are fined when | T
'er thsy trausgress them. have Just | &