Ways of Living

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 429, 4 August 1904, Page 7

Ways of Living

IN 80UTH AFBICA, JK WILL do ay beat to let you know dip how I spend my income out here in SK Africa. lam a carpenter, employed on the mines. We generally 'get a pound a day, and work Biz days a week. We have seven and sixpence a month to pay for doctor, also ten shillings a month for our room. Then we have to buy our own bed and bedding, etc.: that little item costs about £3 15 3. Then we pay JEC a month for our food. So you see, on a thirty .days' month we save £lB Ss 61. Now, being a married man, I send home to the wife on an average about £l4 a month. That leaves about £\ 2i 61 a month. It is always policy to save what we can in this country, especially at the present time. Work is very slack here on account of the Chinese labour. As a rule I put jB2 a month in the bank, that leaves the rest for pocket money, and to buy sundries. When we go to Johannesburg once a month we spend 10 i at least. Everything is dear out here, so 10j doesn't go far. We save a little by doing our own washißg. I send home a present now and then. We have always to be prepared for s move in this country. Owing to slackness we can't k&ep a job long. I have had a few moves, and it generally costs a matter of a pound to move a few miles, including boxes, etc. Anew suit costs £Z 10s upwards, a decent hat about 15s, a pair of good boots cost about 26a; so taking things on the whole we have to to be careful how we spend our money. Of coarse, on the mines we spend very little, because there is nothing to buy except tobacco, writing materials, etc All the penny papers from the Old Country coßt us threepence each. A drink costs us sixpence. Coppers are rarely seen here. If we do happen to have any odd fractions in what we boy they generally give us stamps for the odd pennies.

IN ENGLAND. I am a clerk,unmarried, with a regular income of sixty-five pounds a year, hj rom various sources this amount is augmented by an additional forty pounds, making the total a trifle less than two pounds per week. I am a methodical man and systematise my expenditure. Forty pounds per year is accounted for by living expenses, food—lodgings and so forth. I firmly believe that: — A little nonsense now and then, Is relished by the moat of men—

and, being oae of the great pleasureloving crowd, I spend atleastahilf-crown each week, or six-pounds-ten a year on amusements, theatre-going, football, or cricket matches, etc. My banking account makes steady progress, one pound per* month beiag religiously laid by for emergencies. I appreciate the fact that I live in a' newspaper age' by investing at least ten pounds per year in weekly and daily papers. This seemingly disproportionately large item in my expenditure is an essentially wise proceeding. The 'papers' are a remarkable 'educative agency' to the average man. They profide him with interesting food for the mind. They keep him in touch with the wide world. They pay in my case at any rate, as one of the sources from which I derive the additional income mentioned in my opening statements are my literary attempts in connection with the ' weeklies.' The man or woman who can afford to buy even a cheap edition of a great work is wise if he or she takes advantage of the opportunity. By a small systematic expenditure the book-lover, by degrees, is able to compile a most useful and instructive library, a rare treasure at all times. So another ten pounds per annum is my outlay on books. This has accounted for three-fourths of my income. Charity is \ responsible for, say, five pounds more. I do not claim to be an overgenerous man, but I consider that everyone should contribute Borne little item each week for unselfish purposes. The balance is eaten up by miscellaneous expenses. That is how I live.

A BAIL WAT CLEBK'S INCOME. My husband is a railway boo king'clerk whose average wage with Sunday pay, is £1 163 per week. Herewith 1 enclose table of weekly expenditure:—Husband's sick benefit club, 10fd; wife and child's insurance, 3jd; husoand's ditto, la sd; do, superannuation, lOd; house rent, 7sj clothes for family, 2s 6d } boots, la; coal and wood, Is 4d; lamp-oil, soap, soda, etc.; bread and flour, 2s 1} ; grocery and provisions, 43; milk, 3s; meat, 2a; fish, Is; greengrocery, Is 6d; fruit, Is; weekly periodicals, 8d; husband's pocket money, Is 6d; put by for summer holidays, Is; do. for wear and tear of house, 3d; for rainy days, Is; extras, Bfcd—total, £1 16a. Some weeks, of course, I may require less of one thing and more of another, so I work it in. I have no worry about the future, my husband thinking it a husband's duty to assure himself for old age, etc. My coal bill I keep low by sifting all cinders, etc., and I do my own washing. We have plenty of milk food, and the milk bill is one- of the biggest items. Some while since I joined a no-operative 1 society, the dividends each quarter on amounts I spend mating a little nest-egg for emergencies. All our food is paid for sb we get it, as I think it wis9Bt to know the exact expenditure each week. All this helps us to keep happy and bright, and we get as much enjoyment ont of life as possible on our income. I may mention we are teetotallers.