ROUND ABOUT A POUND A WEEK.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1972, 31 January 1914, Page 9

ROUND ABOUT A POUND A WEEK.

Mrs. Peniber Reeves, the author of "Round About a Pound a Week" (Georgo 801 l and Sons; per Whitcombe and Tombs),' is the wife of the Hon. P. Pember Reeves, ex-High Commissioner for New Zealand. For Bomo years past, Mrs. Reeves has taken a Keen personal interest in the- social welfare of tho London poor, and her book represents tho results- of much zealous porsonal investigation into theeconomio side of lifo in the crowded workmon'a quarters of tho great city. Four years ago an area in South London, to bo specific, the Kcnnington Lane district, was selected by a committee of tho Fabian Society's Women's Group as a field where might bo studied tho effect upon mothers, end children of sufliciont nourishment • boforo and after birth. Tho families whoso circumstances wore studied. during the investigation were not, I may say, of what might be called the .abject poor, the* sheer residuum.

They wore, nays the. author, "respectable men iu full work, at a more or loss top wage, young,, with families still increasing, and they will be lucky if they aro never worse off than they are now. Their wives are quiet, decent, "keep themselves to themselves" kind of women, and the children are tho most punctual and regular scholars, the most clean-headed children of the poorer schools in Kennington and Lambeth." This book of Beeves tells how these respectable working men, their wives, and children are forced to live, what places they live in, upon what they live, and how-difficult it' is for them to either live anywhere else, or live in any other way than they are living. The weekly wages vary from lTs.'to 18s.j,to as high as 30s. a week— tho majority of the workers receiving between a pound and twenty-three shiP lings a week,wages almost inconceivably low to the untravelled, and upon the subject of-London poverty, uninformed New Zealander. It is a .terribly pathetic story, this, of Mrs. Eeeves, and all the more grimly convincing in that it ie told with no theatrical "high lights," no gush, no striving after dramatic effect. The facts and figures quoted toll their/own'terrible tale. These, indeed, are the true "short and simple annuals of the poor." Of the scores of sample budgets given let us take just one: ' •

Mr. A, whose house was visited from January ; 1911, to February, 1912, was a railway carriage washer, . and was paid 18s.' for a six days' week,- alternately with 21s. for a ' seven days' work. Wife a good manager, but in delicate health. He was an extraordinarily good hus-' band, and brought homo to her his entiro wage. There were three children born, and threo , alive. Let us see how A managed for 21s. a week—hi 3 "big pay" week. Here isthe expenditure, without food: Rent, 75.; clothing club (for two weeks), Is 2d.; burial insurance for two weeks, Is. 6d.; coal and wood, Is. 7d.; coke, 3d.; gas, IOd. ; soap, 6oda, . 5d.;• matches, Id.; '.blacklead, blacking, Id.: total, 12s. lid. That leaves Ba. Id. for food, expended thus: Eleven loaves, 2b. 7d.; 1 quartern flour, GJd.; meat, Is. IOd. ; potatoes and greens, 9Jd.: butter (Jib.), 6d.; jam, lib., 3d.; tea, 60z., 6d.;' sugar, 21b., 4d.; 1 quart of milk, 4d.'; cocoa, 4d.; euet, 2d. Average per head for food, all round the family, Is. 7Jd. a week., or less than'3d. a day. But a'working man cannot do on less than 6d. a aay, or 3s. 6d. a week. This reduces the mother and children to Is. ljd: a week, or loss than 2d. a day. .: ' Scores upon scores of'budgets are quoted in, the book,' some of them, alas, showing i, muehvkeener struggle for existence than had Mr. A., for families of five to eight children are quit© common ,and, until the children become üblo to assist with their own pitiably small wages, the struggle becomes keeker .'with each succeeding- child:'

Mrs. Reerea , and Mrs. Charlotte •'Wilson', who has 1 assisted the author very considerably, plead for a greater recognition of tho State's responsibility towards the children of the ppor.-lti.can-hot be good for, indeed it must bo wellnigh ruinous to the health and stamina of futwe generations, that futuro fathers and mothers should bo.: halfstarved during their childhood, and with majiy-of "the arguments set forth in tho comments . upon the investigations made all humane and sensible people must agree. At the close of the book proper is reprinted a•, thoughtful and eloquent leading article from , , the '"London Times', , of, October 7, 1913, in ■which it is suggested that the national 'responsibility ; with ;regard to the children of the poor should , bo recognised •by the definite appointment of a public guardian who would enter upon the, relation of co-guardian with the, parents of every child-at the registration of its, birth. As to;tho duties and'powers of* the guardian, my renders must consult Mrs. lieevcs's book, which is certainly the most arresting and eloquent appeal on behalf of the poor children of London that I can remember reading. , (New Zealand price, 35.).