BEGGING-WHOLESALE AND RETAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 October 1923, Page 4

BEGGING-WHOLESALE AND RETAIL.

(By Looker-oa in Daily Mail). It has been said that one secs Naples and dies—and, alter trying in vain to count the number of beggars in the street- and market-place, one undoubtedly feels somewhat ghastly ;• but there are two kinds ot begging: wholesale and retail. Everyone knows the retail member id the National Union of Itinerant Askers—but not. nearly so many ol us are acquainted with the operations oi hi- Wholesale Colleague. It a man hogs for a penny, be is liable to imprisonment ; but il he stands oil a box and beg- a pound, Itnot only escapes gaol but actually ootaitix the protection ot the police. Quite half of the orators we all know in London belong to no society, but merely culloet for ihcm-elves. Several ,-f these are well known in their own district s. and are supported by ait amused audience. One regularly visits the vicinity nt a ceriaiu station, and generally succeed' in bonowing a box sufficiently high to raise his status in the world. Me has a small moustache, a few joke-, and a dirty face—and. between th" three, usually manages to get a lev shillings collection after a revolutionary meeting ni which lie has heel) chairman, speaker, and collector. Then there is a gentleman with a pn iiounced foreign accent, who appear- on a Commnui'l platlorni at Hyde Lark and elsewhere, whom 1 saw selling Malthusian leaflets in the gullet'l Another amusing character. who ii-cd ;o provoke niueh mirth, held independent meetings to diseu-s what hr called the "demobilisation, demm-ali-salion. ost I'aeisa lion, hy-j.iiol lsatioiiparalysai ion, and asphyxiation ol the ex -Service men. One of the omnipresent orators i.- a woman, who claims to he an ox-nurse, and emphasises the alleged tael about twice a minute while speaking. S! • (ells a smiling and sceptical audience how many times her brain has been tested, how she has been victimised, and how she t’s going to lake up libel actions against most of the judges, magistrates, and policemen in this country, and similar actions against a lew dozen olfieials in Canada. The ex-nurse was recently in East Loudon bewailing the lack ol interest which prevents the yoitlli ol England from chivalrously coming to her aid. The above are hut a few of tlie many who go round London lolling people how the "capitalist class live on their hacks”—-aml themselves live oil tin.' collections given I hem by the crowd, j The danger of anvoiie being "<oiivei't-j ed" by .- ueh speakers is noii-existoni - the bu t that a man may beg eullee-| lively, but m i individually, is it dis- (

As Loudon i- to-day. anyone ma buv or harrow a box. mount it, it'll lain of woe. dismount, pass the ha round, remount, thank the niidione' "on " and all” and depart. "I his h i alls a "political meeting" ami if ; |...'iieemau should he hold •■irnig'i ti ask the Mibjeei ol his discourse, b' will he told it i> "socialism.'' There are, ot i nurse, many soeictic t uniting tire and thuiid.-r meetings bill a• 1 ■ cis I':II I hat a permit is iiecesun' | ■;]• : a. a-aio e'iliei i ion- would In I lie in. alls oi "w inding-up' (piite bad of till' meetings which ohst ruet the way •and I'injil; the i.eobi't. Ai id il ilie I 1; 'Veiui men t believe the.! platform legging is leu a I -then let itha lair. 1 gali-e heggin : and put r slop In the hypuerisy which permits one hut prevents the el Iter from carrying out the duty which is alloited (■: every tin r of the Xaliotia! Union . I II ieeraui A-kers.