THE POOR OF ENGLAND.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 3, Issue 161, 13 January 1914, Page 4

THE POOR OF ENGLAND.

Life on 18s a Week. In so favoired a place as New Zealand, wliere the standard of living | is quite as high with the average wage-earner as with the average wage-payer, it is interesting some- j times to remember the conditions that prevail in other cour,tiios. Hon the English poor spend iheir wages on their homea aud in other ways was the subject cf a oaper read ai. the recent Birmingham meeting of the Britieh Association by Miss'. Mathtsun, of the Birmingham Settle- j ment. At the outset she explained I that their standard of value differed j from that generally attributed to them, Her statement was based on a tabulation of ninety diiferent family his'toiies selected at random, from amongst 2500 of which there were particular at the Settlement, and with all cf which she had had some personal acquaintance. The average wage was 18s to 25s per week. Out of that wage the rent paid was usually 4s ta 4s 6d puweek. The Birmingham rent, on an average of these cases, was Is 4id per week per room. The letting price of an unfurnished room was usually Is 6d. I'he letting price of a furnished room, in which it was considered bad form to live, was 3s 6d a week for one, ur 5s i'Gr two. But for a family to give up their home and live in a furnished room was as bad as going to the workhouse in popular esteem. The average number cf persons living in a room was 1.3, but they found in three-roomed nouses familes of ten or twelve people living. It was an interesting fact that the man who was paid about 18s per week generally gave his wife all his wages, and she snared him a little pocket money. The same thing applied to tne 20s a v;eek man. But as tne man's wages ruse, the proportion he kept for his own use rose very much more rapidly than tne proportion he gave his wife lor housekeeping expenses. The fact ought to be taken into account, however, that the father generally paid for the mending of the children's boots ard allowed the youngsters id each for sweets on a Sunday. The first thing a family thought of was cover. *ln 43 per cent, cf the cases she looked into some emount of rent was owing. The landlords varied great lv, but were diaposed to be lenient with respectable tenants who were in arrears. In 30 per cent, of the cases referred to something had been pawned. As to food, tiic first thing the housekeeper provided wa9 bread, and from her own experience in housekeeping for factory girls she knew that cna quartern "loaf would supply three people for a day. With respect to the variation in the price of necessities, she had found that the average working class family would go on paying the dearer price as long as they could. That was proved at the time of the coal strike, and the idea of co-opera-tive cooking was not favoured. About 3cwf. of coal was consumed in a household. To cleanse the family clothes and wash the family came to 8d or yd per week. The inauguration of cottage baths was revolutionising the amount thai was laid nut for soap. Some of the people got up at 5 o'clock on Sunday morning in urder to get their chance of a bath. 'l'hc family generally bought its tea in Id and 2d packets, at a cost of Is 4d per lb, and its sugar also in small quantities. Margarine at Sd per lb was used to spread on the biead, or if that was not available, lard or dripping. Jam was in disfavour, ard the families she referred tu 'did not eat it if they could help it. For the Sunday dinner, or "the Saturday night," as the working woman called it, meat was considered a great necessity, and an undue proportion of the wage was spsr.t in having unnecessarily expensive meat, liver, and gravy, fish, stew, etc., with the result that the rest of the week's diet often consisted of "slices of bread with something." .Saturday night prices for meat varied from 2d to 6d per lb, and they could huy quite a good steak at 4d per lb. Fish in a working-class neighbourhood cost from 2d per lb upwards. During the fruit season strawberries and plums could be bought in really good condition at 2d per lb, and she was glad to say the use of fruit was steadily increasing, ~ Every self-respectng family made provision for funerals, usually by joining burial societies. But often their membership lapsed in bad times, and then all the money paid iin was lost. She had seen many an empty home that could have been restocked by the money lost in these burial societies. Schemes of amelioration would do well to take arcunt of this. It was an element of self-respect that she did not want jto see crushed, but it ought to be | put on a more business-like footing, t'eople who joined these clubs wouid rather provide for decent interment than for the cure of sickness. The children of this c!a3S, moreover, had ! no idea of the value of muiiey, except :to spend it. She was afraid that the J custom of buying furniture on credit ! was increasing. Firms advertised | their opportunities in this way:I "You may lose your girl while you ) are saving lor a home." As for ; gambling, no statistics were possible, but she was quite sure a great deal of money went out of wciking-class j homes on gambling—horse racing, ! pigeon Hying, which latter was very | popular in Birmingham. The pawn- j 1 shop not to be condemned universally; she had rarely heard j i pawnbrokers grumbled at tor un- j fairness, They were considered ! very respectable, and it was a great thing to marry into their ranks. It I was woefully common, huwever, to pawn the washing, and sometimes a woman would lend her washing to be pawned on condition that t he j borrower washed it for nothing. j