Belgain Workmen

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 276, 27 June 1888, Page 4

Belgain Workmen

TiiL Belgian (Jo\ eminent (say- an Ameiiean papei) ha- been gathering fact-, concerning the state ot the Belgian workmen, and this 1- the result. Wages aie quite 25 pu cent, lower than in England, and the hours of labour aiclon^ei. The whole income of a family in which the husband i- the only biead winnei is about 2- a day— that i-, L' 2 12-a month. Tuehe -!i!hniL:> u<> foi lent, 4 s foi fuel, 4- for clothe-, Is 7d foi \s ashing and lOd for oil The i e-t. ( Cl 9s 7d) i? all that is lett for food, and it is e\. pcnrkcl thus : Biead, 12-, ; dripping, <.\c, and \egetables, 5- 7d ; p Hatoe«, 4.s 10(1 ; coOee, Is : tobacco and be\eiages, 3s 2d. Excluding the latter item, the amount is Ll 6? sd, which is ]ii-t 10 kt per lay for the family of ri\e pei-ons — or a. fi action over 2d each, lfc will be observed that no meat, butter, milk, oi egg- enter into the dietary. Take another ease, wheie the scale of wages is shghtl} higher. An Antwerp uoiktnan vl turned hi- income a- 17? 7d per week. He spends on iood >' ium-elf, u ife and four childien, S- s|d— again an average of a fraction o\ei 2cl each pei day; on lent 2- 4 k d, on tobacco and beer lOd, leas ing 6- 9d i.->i clothe-, tiling, liuhting and wa-h ing Of the money -pent on food, only Is" 7d went for meat and 1* 7}d foi butter and laid. The iamily *h [it on sacks of sturv, punided by a charitable institution. Vet lieic the eai ningwue abo\e the average. The item ot 2s a da} pei per.-on toi food may be taken ageneiall> apphcibie. A piodig) of tin if t and crood manauement was found at C'heratte. The man was a'i arnumici, ' fkiltul and industiumV and hi- \Mtc waa (rood hou-ckcepei. They luul'iive childien, and bur.nht no meat. Hut, at a co-t ot t'7 5- lOd a jeai, they fed pig-, and the-e supplied them with meat Un rt f.uniiy of -e\ en at about Id pei person per day. That, howevei, wa- exceptional. In the huge town- pig-5 cannot' be kept, and the onl} mean-, of increasing the income is b;\ e\tia woik. Theie i- a household, con-i-ting ot the giandmothcr, husband, wife ii.id three children. The husband's legular v,a«_ r es are 2s 10d a day; but on .Sundays he earns a fail amount by going from place to place -elling fried potatoes, w inle lii* wile an-jlgi'indmodier make «ackand cultivate a gaulen Altogether, they get L' 67 18- 5 d in the year of which they manage to ca\c C 4. Contrast this with the ca-e of a single man earning practically the .same wage- a-, the hu-band in the picccdincr in-tance, and who repoit- a deficit on theycai of U 2 1? 7d. An enormous diffeience i^ made in the ciicumstances of the Belgian woiknrm when his childien aie able to augment the family income. Jn one household v. c find the earning- mounting fi om U 44 per annum to t77, without anything like a cone-[ onding ineieasc in the expenditure; the result was that in six "\eai\s the husband wa- able to buy the hou=e lie lived in. In the hhawl-weaving trade, at Dinant,a w idowei and his four sons ha\e a total income of L'll6, which leaves them w ith a sur])lu- of £34 ; and amongthc woolcaxclei-3 it is seated that some families earn as much as L'l2o. These, of course, arc somewhat unu.su.il instances. Moie often the son^, when able fco support themselves, leave the parental hearth, and sup piemen tal assistance from the children is usually confined to the period between the ages of 13 and 17. It is interesting to trace the additions to the item? ofex'penditure as the scale of earnings rises. Like all poor people, the Belgian begins with bread and potatoes, then proceeds to fatty substance 1 -, and so on up to the luxury of fresh meat. But even the poorest spend a considerable sum on coffee and chicory, which hold in Belgium the place that tea docs in England. A family which can afford (something beyond bread, flour, potatoes and colfee, consumes oil, lavd, dripping and imitation butter. Then come butter, milk and cheese, with a little siuar. Bacon is the first meat to be tasted, and then, before frc&h meat, eggs appear to be chosen. We cannot iind any trace of the use of peas, lentils or hominy ; oatmeal seemsto be unknown, though in some cases * wheat ' is given as an aitiole of food, from which we gather that the people grind or bruise it into meal themselves. Fish may be eaten on fast days, but never, apparently, on any other occasion.