WAITERS IN LONDON

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2260, 21 September 1914, Page 6

WAITERS IN LONDON

SHORTAGE CAUSED BY THE WAR, One of the social disabilities for" London 'involved in a European war. has just been revealed. '"■_■ '■ "There will unquestionably tie a short' ago of waiters in London if tho war' spreads," a leading West End hotel | manager said, in'an interview iii the. "Pall Mall Gazette." "I know that a good many Austrian'waiters from other hotels have already gono. "bnl'ortunateiy, we.cannot get English waiters to replacp'tlio foreign. Nor could we get waitresses to take their, place, because for some timo thoy havebeen absorbed by the light refreshment' houses, and there, has beon a shortage of suitable young women for the work. "It is difficult, of course, to say exactly what proportion of waiters would be, lost to Loudon if tho war L-e----camo general. 1 doubt whether it would exceed 20 per cent., and for these reasons: Jji the first place, a large percentage of tho foreign waiters m London are men who were not physically'strong enough for military service,, and have been rejected. "Some, again, have completed their service, others have become naturalised, and of those still eligible for service many are married men with families, and sqmo will sacrifice their nationality rather than leave their wives and child-, ion behind, especially seeing that their own return would bo doubtful. "Italian waiters are, I'think," thisauthority added, "tho largest in number, .now in London. Then, come the Germans and Austria'ns, in about equal , cumbers, the French, and the Swiss. "German waiters have decreased in" the last few years. Owing to tho commercial expansion of Germany,.""a certain number of respectable, intelligent young , men who formerly took up waiting .'as a profession and eventually became hotel proprietors, like so many foreign waiters of every nationality, have now, drifted into other channels, and. are tilling higher positions. "I very much wish that we could get. English waiters to meet any decrease in the numbers of others, but it really seems quite impossible."