HOW SOME PEOPLE LIVE

Manawatu Herald, 8 February 1889, Page 3

HOW SOME PEOPLE LIVE

■* y-.h «:':'.. Wbappbr Writers ;Z. (Pall Mali Budget). A wrapper-writer's pay Is by no ; jßeaosso high now as it was in years ttofye by. A veteran writer had recej^veA as. much as '15s ; a 'thousand, ■ P#ttd less hoary expei , ieiicesga,ve from 10s 6d to. 7s 6d as the rates of remuHerationfor "addressing" in "the good old times." These prices were J paid by merchants and others who engaged their own writers. Now tite middleman, in the form of en-velope-addressing firms, comes between those who want addressing done and those who, do it, and intercepts the larger part of the price. , The competition too is much greater ■now than of old. Women .^nd boys take the places of men, and folding especially is largely in the hands of women. The latter branch of work is paid for at the rate of Is 6d a 1 thousand for a singlo enclosure; for example, one circular or letter in a wrapper or envelope. Each additional enclosure raises the price 6d a thousand. As a means of earning money' there is little to choose between writing and folding. Some men are far more deft at the latter business, than others, and those who have served in the drapery line are most expert. Although 3s a thomjgn4 is the amount given by the prffij&jgal finns to their scrib^w^u^^ omit to state that there are- f arjs& which pay less. In one establifdunent. male writers. s jie_fiejy^ 2s and females As e^^M^t or at the rate of about 2+d. and lj_d> respectively per hour. "xaSQ°7af^ as the price Charged the cusfttooOT^ the firm, and ypu will seesihafcuthe;. latter does a very deed ; but out of wome&l? who work at ls'6d a-thousand, a profit {i QS'M!M made; _.ii____..;~ I learned much, mors Mfc scribe than I have here set down, and it is not want of matter stops/ me. I heard of the hard-earned coppers subscribed for $.6,ty^dm^^es, of the penny sweeps ;^ot Up Jifaih* house" on big race. days. Qi.:.raisMg.. of 'his hopes (alasys6<sfr^be-?)<<of j "some day getting aa> oberth^//; oaf ; .ibis < ways of eking out tfie r &_Mttp>a;#&;! of his pen, of first-rate trovers DouMtt ft>r fifteenpence, ana^ooW p iltf»& Mo, tie well enongh, yorl^ow^ H ft)T'fou* ; pence, of splendid ta^fe-Ma, parable at fabulously low.oeai-vof like* relative cheapness oTW'WBous markets, and how sixpence will go as far in "The Cut" as eightpence in "The Dials." These and h^J%; Biniilar pathetic items of po^ejt^sS fldmestic economy araWWroiWijtol the common history of the life oiTHe. London poor. .a»A»THoi I have'said enough .«$&. throw a little light on' [<fA^;ta '-the. many dark and miserfthle^ywsiys.lpj. metropolitan toil. '» "^ v •M«OTiM-M_M-a_-_---H___-___P-____«_-PP__-_-l