The "Flipping" Canker

Horowhenua Chronicle, 16 May 1910, Page 4

The "Flipping" Canker

... - «— ■ A C'OXDK.MXATIOX. in a sub-leader the "Lyttelton. Times" comments that tho ultimate development of the tipping system is seen in Loudon ami New York, where certain attendants in places of fashionable resort pay large premiums for the privilege of occupying their posts without salary. The silly custom that requires the public to 'bribe private cmplyees in order that they may do the ivork lor which they have been engaged has become an annoyance long before it reaches the final stage of absurdity, and it is not pleasant to find that tipping is an institution recognised hv the law in Austialasia. The award just issued by the Australian Arbitration Court in the marine .stewards and pantrymen's dispute provides that second stewards shall receive C 7 10s a month, lore-cabin stewards Cl) 10.s. chief saloon stewards Cli. and saloon and bedroom stewards Co 10s. Watchmen will receive C 7 a month on passenger vessels and CIO a month on cargo ships or colliers. The unexpressed clause of the award is an instruction to the men to supplement their salaries by appeals to the generos ity of passengers, and the rates fixed actually take into account the opportunities possessed by different grades of employees to make their ■appeals effective, i uder these circumstances iit is absurd to expect that people who do not tip the attendants will receive a full measure of service, and indeed this fact is usually made clear enough to passengers, even in the. Xew Zealand coastal steamers. Perhaps the public ought to be grateful that the system adopted by the steamship companies has not been extended to other branches of industry. Shop assistants might lie paid a small retaining fee and given taeib permission to neglect customers who showed a disposition to pocket their own change-. The Government, might avoid the necessity for paying wages to railway guards by authorising the officers to allocate special seats to passengers who were prepared to pay for their comforts, and the Pos.t and Telegraph Department could be made a highly efficient machine for extortion if salaries were reduced and tips permitted. These suggestions sound absurd, of course, but they are really in keeping with the deliberate affirmation of the right of men employed by shipping companies to levy toll on passengers. Few people grudge a gift to an obliging attendant, hut many travellers will be disposed to resent a disguised surtax 011 the stated amount of their steamer fare.