LONDON’S BEGGARS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4512, 8 January 1923, Page 1

LONDON’S BEGGARS.

GETTING RICH QUICKLY. INCOMES UP TO £7OO YEARLY. Between the Conner House and the Coal House—which, as every digger knows, Is in the Strand—the .heart of the Australian visitor is always melted by a glance from those patheticlooking specimens of humanity who sell knick-knacks or display their art from the cold and often wet pave..ment, writes a correspondent of the Sydney Sun from London. A black mask covers the face of a tall, grey-haired man, standing patiently in the gutter. His stylishlycut frock coat is threadbare. The white, well-manicured 'hand trembles as it extends a paltry box of matches towards you. On his breast is a string of medals oif the great war. “Of course,” says the Australian to himself, “the medals are his sons’ — killed, no doubt, in the warl” The -story is plain. • The appeal is irresistible. It is easier to give a shilling than a penny—and tell the old man to kbep his matches. But our down-and-out “stockbroker” friend of <the black mask is only one of a thousand and more up-to-date beggars well known to the police, whose incomes are anything between £3OO and £7OO a year, according to the brightness of their ideas and the novelty of their methods. Comfortable Wiest End Flat. The starving ex-’pfficei;, D. 5.0., M.C. (two bars), five wounded stripes, and as many children, who crowded round the barrel-organ, w.as the most profitable str.eet business until a ifew days ago, when the police took a hand. The magistrate was as, surprised as the sympathetic public when he was informed that the “officer” lived in a comfortable West Elnd flat, and that .the hire of the children anl their mother was rather less than that of .the barrel-organs—which, owing to the popularity of the business jus*- then, were at a premium. A handsome ex-major in another Court remarked dryly that a barrelorgan was essential t.p the business of street begging, as it was the most ‘convenient way of carrying home the enormous weight of coppers thrown at him.

Black aiwl WliiJ© Specialists. The pavement artist is probably the most, picturesque of London’s "copper” highwaymen. The old practice of sketching indifferently shaped figures and highly coloured views of ships and sunsets 'on the bare flags has been replaced by the modern methods of Chelsea. Long-haire.l young men now sit at stated intervals along the street with boards, o?i which lightning sketches are mads. One ingenious youth spends his evenings collecting the contents pfi bills of newspapers, which are plain white on the reverse side. The artist mounts these on an easel, and for a few coppers you can have your face drawn at any angle, honestly or cartooned. In a very .few minutes, amid the cheers of the crowd", you are presented with the copy. A well-known artist recently offered one of .these black-and-white specialists a lucrative position in his commercial studios ; thank you, business was much too brisk! Strfqet Vcwdoirs of Toys. It is said that the hall porter at the Carlton Hotel owns liis motor-car, but I know it for truth that one street artist goes yachting. As for the street vendors of toys, what they buy for a penny sells readily for sixpence—to wit, that wicked little brass top “put and take.” which .turned to pure gold (by weight) in the hands Of those who touched it first. A clear profit of 7s 6d an hour was .considered poor going in Regent Street at the height of the craze, and you could buy tops all night in Piccadilly Circuis. The street singer is at the lowest end of the beggars’ social scale. It would appear to be that the more horrible the noise the better the return. It. cost Beecham his fortune before he realised that .the British public will not pay to hear good music—but any street singer knows that they will buy quiet and comfort at any price.