NOT WANTED.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THR "SPECTATOR."] Sin,—As one who entirely appreciates the work of the Expan- sion Committee in assisting the emigration of women from Britain to South Africa, I feel the importance of their being told frankly—if you like, brutally—what class of women are not wanted. In a new country women who do men's work are not wanted. It is not desirable for their own sake or for the public interest that women clerks, bookkeepers, shorthand writers, should be shipped out to South Africa- In old countries, where the proportion of women is excessive, many must find work outside their homes ; it is even necessary and reasonable that they should at times obtain work in compe- tition with men. In a new country, especially in South Africa, women are urgently needed; but the need is for women who do women's work and do it well. The proportion of the sexes in our towns and mining districts is the reverse of that to which people are accustomed in England. The large number of bachelors—artisans, men of business, Civil servants —require board and lodging, and they must be content with high prices and extreme discomfort until we have a sufficient supply of capable women as cooks, housekeepers, and as land- ladies of hotels and boarding-houses. The sick-rooms and nurseries require good nurses, unless our sick are to be neglected and our children handed over to blacks. So the need is great and the reward to the competent will be great also, both in money and in consideration. But bachelor women to compete with bachelor men in their work, to live in bachelor quarters and to make helpless and feckless wives if they marry,—these are not wanted. One such recently advertised that she would, on her arrival, undertake typewriting for £10 a month. If the poor woman has come, she will have found that 210 will just exactly pay for her board and lodging—without washing.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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