LITTLE FORTUNES FOR LOWLY FOLK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 5, 30 January 1909, Page 3

LITTLE FORTUNES FOR LOWLY FOLK.

CAREERS BUILT ON SMALL CAPITAL. (From a Home Paper.) Toi train a boy for the Bar, the Armv, the Navy, or the church costs a iol ol muney-su niueli Ln.ii. no poor man, unless nis boy be a genius who pays his own expmses van scholarships' can hope to lit his son for one of these careers, to become a fanner one niiist l'«v«' capital. Surveying, architecture accountancy, medicine, engineering, all these prolessious ami many- others arc I'arred to the boy whose parents cannot l"it up tiom x-M) to .Llllul) to educate ; ""' '.'"'l keep hi,,, till he can pass his examinations and begin to earn a salary

Hut these callings are not the only ones in which little fortunes mav be earned. If the boy is not too proud, he miglit turn costermongei. flic income earned hy the successful eusteniionger would amaze those who are not in the know. At a recent meeting of one of our liorough Councils it was stated that a coster paid QUO a year for his pitch! There is a eoslerinonger who has a greengrocery stall just oil the Commercial Road whose savings, invested in house property, bring him in „ ( .|ear :ills a week. This business was started thirty years ago in High street, Wandsworth, with a capital of ss. I'U'iitv of costers make incomes of '.W a week.'

A newspaper stall is good business if carefully worked up. The man who for so many years sold papers and periodicals at the. stall adjoining Hurliiigton House made gross profits of .CSOO a year, lie took as much as ,ClB in a day, anil received UOO a vear for exhibiting contents bills. The taxicab oilers' something helUr than a living. Numbers of drivers are buying their own cabs. The price is i:3.51), complete, with lamps and horn. The men pay fjlili down, and afterwards £5 a week. The takings average pretty well £■> a day, so a man can make a good living, even while he is paving for his vehicle. ' ° Of course, he has his tyre, petrol, mid repair bill to think of. but even so he should have 30s to JC2 weekly for his own keep. Fortunes are to be made on fair grounds, and l the capital required, apart from a glib tongue and a clear head, is small. The chief outlay is for the rent of a pitch. This will be lid a day per square foot—say, 30s a week. But the prolits are vast.

Pills bought wholesale at 3d a pound .sell for six a. penny. Ballads costing 2s a gross are sold at a penny eaeh. Little knick-knacks made in (.Sermany are purchased wholesale at Is a dozen, and sold for (id a piece. If your ideas soar above the keeping of a stall, the claims of such a calling as that of a steeplejack arc worth considering. Most boys have naturally good heads, and only practice is necessary to acquire perfect composure at any height. There is only one essential deprivation. " A steeplejack must not drink, and should not smoke.

The pay, compared with that of an ordinary mason or bricklayer, is good. Marine engineering is another profession which has its attractions for the boy with a mechanical turn of mind and only small capital. The necessary expenses are those of premium and apprenticeship to an engineer in some foundry or ironworks. The boy serves four or live years, and 1 should then get a. 'berth as "improver'' in the shop of a •limi which builds and repairs marine

engines. • At the age of about twenty he applies to a siiipowning firm for a fourth engineer's billet, at which he gets from £b to £7 a month. No examination-is required, only certificates of apprenticeship and a couple of testimonials. ' The liard-working. capable youngster 'will rise to chief engineer at £l3 U ■ £25 a month, and if he eventually obtains a berth on a big liner, he maV even draw i£3o a month. The plum ci the marine engineering profession is a •superintendoncv ashore. Here the salary varies from £3OO to €IOOO a year. A craftsman who earns a better income than most who work with their •hands is the cotton-spinner. According ; as he spins coarse, medium, or fine vaunts, lie cams from £2 Ills to £3 .is •a week.

The boy begin" as a piecer, first a "junior,'' then a "big" piecer. This work continued over several years gives him Hie opportunity to save capital sufficient to obtain "a pair of wheels" of his own. To attain the coveted position he is, however, required to invest about £2OO in the mill. • Of course, there are scores of welb ■which they Wbest filled.