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she did not find bracing enough; though one would have thought that 30 degrees below zero would have satisfied most. But in the great majority of cases servants find good homes and high wages, and soon like the country so well that they never wish to return to England.
Trained Nurses.-There is not much opening for female immigrants other than domestic servants unless it be for female barbers, several of whom I noticed. Hospital nurses are trained locally in the hospitals, and as patients requiring nursing generally prefer to go to the hospital than to be treated at home the opportunities for private nursing are not very large. When employed nurses may reckon on a wage of $15 to $25 a week, but many intervals of unemployment are inevitable. It must be noted, moreover, that (1) nurses are called upon to do more housework than in England, and (2) that Canadian doctors nearly always prefer a nurse who has been trained in Canadian hospitals.
Typists get very good salaries of $40 to $75 a month, and are largely employed, but the profession is overdone, and the British girl might have to wait for a place for a long time. The life moreover has its dangers. In a country where a girl is as independent as the man she must accustom herself to take her place in the office amongst all the male clerks, and be able to resist the temptations of the mixed boarding house, the tenshop, or the frequent excursions, dances, motor rides and other kinds of holiday making which are 60 common a feature of Canadian life. The girl who is born in the independent air of Canadian life can generally take care of herself, but ladies assured me that many English girls have come to grief through ignorance or want of protection. A girl going out without friends should at least board and lodge in some place like the Y.W.C.A. at a cost of $5 to $7 a week, though even there restraints are very small.
Shop assistants are very numerous, and large stores in Toronto and Winnipeg employ several hundreds. The position is a pleasant one, if the girl lives at home, and in many instances work ends at 5 o'clock: but girls living by themselves must guard against the dangers referred to in the last paragraph; and personally I should hesitate very much in recommending them to emigrate on the chance of employment.
Factory girls are wanted in some Ontario towns and do well when living with their parents. But it would not be wise to send out single girls on the chance of work; for their wages, at all events at first, would be barely enough to pay for board and lodging, and the moral dangers are considerable. The best chance of employment is in Ontario, and there are few factory women employed in the Western Provinces; there are, however, some in the knitting mills of Winnipeg, where they should not get less than $9 a week, as board and lodging would cost from $6 to $8.
Dressmakers often do well, as Canadian women spend a large part of their salaries on dress, but they must be well up in their work. Those going to private houses can earn $1 to $1.25 a day in the East, and $2 to $2.50 in the West, with one or two meals.
School teachers are wanted in many parts, but they must obtain Provincial certificates before employment, and must generally go through the local Normal School. The pay in the West is from about $600 a year upwards; there are four, six, and eight months schools, but the teacher can get employment throughout the year by changing her school. In country districts she can board with a farmer for $15 a week, but life on the prairies is often very isolated and rough, and offers few opportunities for intellectual intercourse or improvement; many such teachers will spend most of their savings in holiday outings. In towns, and especially, perhaps, in the pleasant little country towns and villages which are so numerous in Ontario and British Columbia, a school teacher's life offers many attractions, both in and out of school, though the salaries are nowhere as large as they should be. For private governesses and teachers of music, singing, or drawing, the demand is very small, as everyone makes use of the Public or High Schools or Colleges. Educated Women.
The immigration of educated women has come to the front during the last few years, on the supposition that it is beneficial to the immigrants themselves, and elevating to the tone of Canadian life. But it is certainly not as a rule beneficial to the immigrant. In nine cases out of ten the educated woman becomes a domestic servant, or a failure, and sometimes both. She may call herself a "lady help," and in some cases she may be so and become one of the family. But these cases are rare, and seldom met with outside British Columbia, and even there the so-called "lady help" is expected to do all or most of the housework for a salary of £3 to £4 a month. I came across a party of educated women, travelling second class, who were going to pick fruit in British Columbia. But, in the first place, such employment only lasts for a few weeks, and, as a lady in British Columbia pointed out to me, it is not nice to put English girls on a level with, and possibly into
company with, Chinese labourers; or to see them return from the fields with their faces red and swollen with mosquito bites. There are also cases of super-women who farm on the prairies, but this heroic life is only possible for a few. Many of the learned profession are open to women, but successful practitioners are not numerous, and English women without local connections or training would be likely to fail.
Practically the only kind of educated woman-except school teachers-who should emigrate is the sister who goes to keep house for her brother on the prairies, who in his turn will look after and protect her. If she is the right kind of girl she will not only be an immense help to him, but will enjoy the life in spite of its many discomforts. There are hundreds of girls at home who are now leading objectless lives who would benefit themselves by such emigration, and be very welcome on the other side. Such girls might profitably go, if necessary, for a few months' training to the new Home for gentlewomen, which has just been started under the sympathetic supervision of Mrs. Fitzgibbon in British Columbia.
Farm Labourers.
There is good demand for farm labourers everywhere, and the wages in the Canada Circular are approximately correct. As a rule they live and have their meals with the farmer, and in Ontario have a bedroom to themselves or share it with another. In the West the accommodation is rougher, and bunks frequently take the place of beds. Complaints are often made by farmers as to the difficulties of getting farm help. If they made living on a farm more comfortable and attractive for their men, I think some of these difficulties would disappear. Work is hard at times, owing to the shortness of the season, and the farmer expects his men to work as hard as he does himself. He is generally an A farm hand exacting employer, and demands a good profit from the wages he pays. could easily save most of his wages, and eventually buy a farm for himself like the Galician and German settlers, but too often he spends all his earnings in holiday making in the towns. A great many do very well; and it is the hope, and within the reach, of all steady men to become prosperous owners of their own farms after a few years. Canada, however, must not always count on the emigration of the British farm labourer. present he emigrates because at home he has no chance of possessing land of his own, and has to live and die as a bewer of wood and drawer of water on an average income of 18s. 4d. a week. When these conditions are altered many a man will stay here rather than risk his fortunes across the seas.
Lumbermen.
At
The
Experienced men can make good wages in the lumber camps or working on their own account, but the ordinary English immigrant is little use at this work at first. employment is rough and arduous, and if the man is working on his own account it is very lonely; but it enables a competent man to earn plenty of money in the winter season, when other work is slack. Unfortunately many spend all their earnings in the towns as soon as they return from the woods. "The Blazed Trail," by S. E. White (Nelsons, price 7d.), is a capital story of the hardships and fascinations of the lumberman's life.
Miners.
Skilled miners can generally do well. At Cobalt "trade was booming" and miners were wanted surface labourers were paid $2.50 a day, and miners working machinery $3 to $3.50; they could get rough board and lodging in a camp for $22 a month. I went down a gold mine at Rossland, B.C.; the miners were splendid lot of men, and were paid $3 a day upwards: small houses could be rented at $8 to $10 a month. At Fernie coal miners were getting $3.30 a day and labourers $2.75, and piece-workers $4 to $5: board and lodging cost $1 to $1.50 a day and upwards, and houses $18 a month; men were scarce this summer. At Nanaimo on Vancouver Island the coal miners had been on strike for months under orders from the Labour Association in the United States, and those at Ladysmith had lately joined in. As coal mining was the principal industry of these places, all kinds of workmen had suffered. Miners are of a roving disposition, and a scarcity at one mine is quickly supplied by wanderers from another, but, speaking At the Smelters at Trail, generally, an immigrant miner would be able to secure work. B.C., there are many Englishmen and they do well: wages are from $3 a day: board and lodging cost $1 a day : boots cost $5 a pair, and English boots, at less cost, last three. times as long. Mechanics and Labourers.
Last
year there was a great demand for mechanics and labourers, and men could pick and choose their engagements. This year it was very different owing to the general tightness