_THE FAITHLESS MARY ANN._
One evening, shortly after my adventures in the auction room, the
servant girl we had brought from England with us asked my wife's
permission to go out for an hour or two. This was readily granted, and
no more was thought of the matter until ten o'clock came, and with
it no sign of Mary Ann. She had promised to return by nine, and was
usually fairly punctual. We sat up waiting until eleven, wondering what
could have happened, and then, deciding to give her up for the night,
retired to bed.
On the following morning there was still no sign of the girl, so I
hurried down to the police station to ascertain if the inspector could
assist me to obtain tidings of her. An interview with the sergeant in
charge proved to me conclusively that Mary Ann as a speculation in
servant girls was an utter failure, resulting in a dead loss to me
of £50. He told me the police could do nothing unless a charge of a
criminal nature was entered. I produced a document stamped a Somerset
House, in which the girl agreed to remain in my service for three years
at a specified rate of wages, on condition of my paying for her outfit
and passage, and assured the sergeant that I had fulfilled my part of
the agreement in every particular, giving her a most complete outfit
and paying for a saloon passage. He, however, immediately floored my
hopes in the document by telling me that no agreement of the kind
signed in England was binding in the colony, and that to have made it
so it should have been again signed before witnesses on reaching New
Zealand.
"No doubt," he said, "your servant acquainted herself with this fact,
and has run away in order to secure the high wages to be obtained in
the colony, though possibly there may be a sweetheart in the case."
I assured him I did not think the latter at all likely, as one reason
for her selection was her excessive plainness, which we considered
sufficient to keep every man in New Zealand at a safe distance.
He remarked that she must indeed be a "rum 'un" to look at, if
she could not find a chap in New Zealand, for they weren't very
particular; and regretting that he could not assist me, the interview
came to an end, and I returned home in the hopes of learning some
tidings there of the truant.
Nothing, however, had been heard of her, though my wife had made a
discovery in connection with her box, which at first sight appeared
full of clothes, a waterproof cloak lying at the top. On removing this
cloak, however, pieces of sacking and old rags were disclosed, and
proved its sole contents.
Mary Ann had evidently been taking away her things by degrees, carrying
something away, probably, whenever she had had an evening out; and
in case her box might be inspected, had kept it apparently full of
things by stuffing in old rags under cover of the waterproof cloak. Oh!
faithless Mary Ann. Your artfulness exceeded your ugliness, and our
credulity exceeded both!
I trust the experience narrated above may be of use to persons bringing
servant girls out from the old country, and will show the necessity of
getting an agreement signed as soon as the colony is reached.
My readers will probably agree with me that the New Zealand law as
expounded by the police sergeant is a most absurd and one-sided one,
placing the master altogether in the servant's hands, as he has to find
the money for her passage, and probably, as in my case, for her outfit
as well, while he has only her word to rely on in return. It is not,
however, the only law in New Zealand that requires alteration.
We were now servantless, and until we could arrange about extraneous
help it became necessary to investigate and to undertake those
operations which comprise the duties of a general servant. My wife
assumed of course the lead, and I seconded her to the best of my
abilities--cooking, bed making, floor sweeping, chair dusting, fire
lighting, potato peeling, and many other accomplishments of which up to
that date we had had only a sort of vague conception, were now brought
prominently under our notice, and became to us terrible realities.
I advertised in the _Herald_ and _Star_ newspapers for a servant
girl, and several responded, but none proved suitable, the wages
asked averaging from twelve to sixteen shillings per week. Two, but
lately arrived in New Zealand, called together one morning. My wife
interrogated them. Neither knew anything of cookery, could not wash,
and had very dim notions of a housemaid's duties.
"Why, you could not have been getting more than eighteenpence a week
each in England?" my wife exclaimed.
"Perhaps not," one of them returned impudently; "but we ain't come
all this way across the sea for sich wages as them. We wants twelve
shillings a week, and a hevening hout when we likes, and neither on us
won't go nowhere for no less."
Further questioning after the delivery of this ultimatum was
superfluous, and my wife hastened their departure.
Servant girls, or "helps," as they prefer to be called, have a nice
time of it at present in New Zealand. They demand extortionate wages,
and dictate almost entirely their own terms. No character is ever
demanded when application for a situation is made; to ask for one would
probably bring the interview to an abrupt end. Latterly, Lady Jervois,
the wife of his Excellency the Governor, has shown a great interest in
a capital institution called the "Girls' Friendly Society," with which
none but girls of good character are connected; and if ladies would
make up their minds only to take girls through this Society, a very
different class of servants would eventually become established in New
Zealand. We at last succeeded in securing the services of a married
woman for the daytime only, and were again fairly comfortable.