THE "TIPPING" EVIL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1948, 3 January 1914, Page 6

THE "TIPPING" EVIL.

.Sjr,—l-.have been -reading' about a. projected- increase vti tho pri«> of meals at the various hotels and restaurants in the city and elsewhere, which major may not bo warranted, but there is no doubt that.less expansive foods are now being, supplied, both on board steamers and the better class hotels,' although tho menu is liberal enough even now.

There is, however, another phase.of hotel life which is carefully kept in tho background by "Labour Agitator' ivheis discanti.ns;.:hbollti!.tlib' ) i''liviiig wage" of hotel waiters and employees, andTwhioli presses oven more hoavi'y Ujjon habitues of hotels than : tho landlord's tariff..' I refer,' of course* to' the tips waiters and others receive, which I am told 011 pood authority often exceed the so-called living wage demanded and exacted from the botelkecper. Time was when tho colonial employeo in any capacity scorned a "tip,"' jmd good-humouredly wafted asido the hand which preferred it, but not so .nowadays, and a- sura which a Home waiter of the old school would' shower blessings upon your head.for is looked upon with disdain in hotels and steamers here. In w.eH-ordored hotels- a guest need, not he much beholden to nnv servant, but notwithstanding a "tip"'is looked for. and ono must run tho whole gamut of tho household when leaving. It- is, I am told, a contravention of the new. Secret Commissions-Act, and rightly so, for a clerk to accept a "tip" fromanv customer, of his employer,'and it would bo a relief to tho travelling public and wholesale houses as well if all employees wefo brought under the syne category. And why not?" Tho': surprising thing to mo is , that tho i matter is, not. taken in hand !by tho Commercial Travellers' Association.. W.ifjes in this country are fixed b? Act of Parliament, and an employer who attempts to payless than the • minimum! rate is promptly hauled before, the' ■Stipendiary Magistrate and fined.' and hold. up. to opprobrium. It is difficult, .therefore, for a layman to understand why an. emplovee, who accepts'. moro than the- maximum wage fixed by tlio same Act, in the shape of a "tip"' from tho guest of his employer, should not bo treated in the same way. Youjiavo conferred , a service to this community by grappling with the "Federationists'! and bringing them to their senses; confer another by: attacking this hateful system of "tipping"—degrading gli.ko ■ both to giver aud receiver—-I am. etc., TRAVELLER, December 31, 1913.