A FAT JOB.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 9 March 1916, Page 2

A FAT JOB.

IF Birmingham (England) could only manufacture labour it could do a record export trade to-day, but it has practically no reserve of labour to drawn upon, and much good business has to be turned away. But as far as the working population are concerned they are enjoying the time of their lives. One hears of workingclass households in which father and children bring between them fifteen or sixteen pounds home at the end of the week. There is a story of a workman's wife who said in regretful tones that there was so much money coming into the house that she was obliged to put some of it in the Bank. All the children in the poor part of the town have new boots, and all their mothers have new bonnets and dresses. A working man is said to have paid down a hundred and twenty pounds for a mechanical piano, and there are none so poor that they cannot afford the luxury of a talking machine.