WAR WAGES AND FOOD PRICES

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 278, 25 May 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAR WAGES AND FOOD PRICES

IN THE EAST END OF LONDON,

In London dockland ono is struck not so much by the Petticoat-lano effect o. barrows and stalls in tne streets as by the intent, dark f»:es over them. Here, Oriental visitors, dressed in bright blue trousers, gaily-coloured handkerchiefs, and caps well pulled down, amble along in groups of twos and threes all excerpt the Malavs. These rarely walk ji company, a usual sight being as many as ten of tbem following each otner in single, file. . ~ They are mostly undersized, slight men, "and the brown of their faces is outlined sharply by black heard* and moustaches. In the open market one K ets the sense of a foreign port, in which the rolling gait of our own sailors is in homely contrast to the snuffling shamble of Lascars Clunamen, Hindus, Japs, Finns, South Sea IslandFood in Dockland is still wonderfully cheap. A beef steak pudding with gravy and sufficient potatoes may be had for fourpence halfpenny, and cooked vegetables at the rate of threehalfpence the portion. Roast beef and vegetables, some kind of meat pudding, sausages and mashed potatoes—one or other of these can eb had for.from three peace to sixpence, according to the class of moat fancied. Bloaters at twopence each, and fresh haddock at eightpence per pound ,are 1 usuries. Condensed milk is used largely for teas, and when eggs are bought it is at the rate of seven a shilling for cooking purposes. Butter averages Is 2d. There still seems no lack of white bread. WOMEN'S WAGES. Here arc a few sample women's wages which arc earned in this part of Lon--oon: Housemaid: Livo in, all found, 10s. a week; generally boarding-house. Armv Clothing Factory : Inexperienced girls refused; must be able to earn the minimum wage of 3s 6d. per day. ~ . Nursemaid: ss. per week, live in. Shop Girl: ss. per week, generally dmner and tea provided. Barmaid: 10s. a week, liw in; wages depend on appearance, really, of girlMilliner: os. a week; trade taught; no dinner or tea. *; Waitress: 6» 6d. per week, made up to 15s, at least, by tips.. The wage in jam factories is 14s. and 15s. per week, with a chance of earning more on pieco work.

'.Vith the chaplain of the Manners' Friendly Society, I visited some of the houses of the Chinamen. We were greeted by smiling yellow faces. There was generally a game hke draughts in progress, ond of course there was no £«n° of opium smoking. The recent ■raids have left too severe a mark for open indulgence in the drug to have been resumed. A service at the Seamen s Bethel was an enlightening experience. The house is lent bv a Swedish lady who came to England' 27 years ago, in tho interests rt her (seafaring countrymen, and has fcooed every year to return to her na, 4ive land, 'and will probably only "hope"; for the years' roll on and find tor still installed as a kind of guardian an-'el to the Swedish sailors in London Old and sometimes weary, she houses the waifs and stray who cannot find a lodging at night, and puts up irith the rebuffs and jeers that aw often tho only return for her benevolence. A strange, lieautiful character! " A picture of Dockland with the pub-lic-houses left out would lie incomplete indeed Women of the lowest type, dressed in tawdry finery are there, and one section of the big bar is generally devoted to black and coloured men-the white races and the yellow and black rarely mingle, either in their eating or their drinking. White women, howover enter tho blacks' bar, play around with'them, get their money from them drink steadily, drink after drink. Tho money flows, sixpences spent like pennies, ' but nothing is ever called tor from tho "eat" counter.