LONDON’S BEGGARS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 December 1922, Page 7

LONDON’S BEGGARS.

A PROSPEROUS ARMY. GETTING RICH QUICKLY. INCOMES UP TO £7OO YEARLY. Between the Corner House and the Coal Hole—which, as every “digger” knows, is in the Strand—the heart of the Australian visitor is always melted by a glance from those pathetic-looking specimens of humanity who sell knick-knacks or display their art from the cold and often wet pavement, writes a correspondent of the Sydney Sun from London. A black mask covets the face of a tall, grey-haired man, standing patiently in the gutter. His stylishly-cut frock coat is threadbare. The white, well-manicured hand trembles as it extends a paltry box of matches toward you. On his breast is a string of medals of the great war. “Of course,’’ says the Australian, to himself, “the medals are his sons’—killed, no doubt, in the war!’’ The story is plain. The appeal is irresistible. It is easier to give a shilling than a penny--and tell the old man to keep his matches. But our down-and-out “stockbroker” friend of the black mask is only one of a thousand and more up-to-date beggars well known to the police, whose incomes/ are anything between £3OO and £7OO a year, according to the brightness of their ideas and the novelty of their methods. COMFORTABLE WEST END FLAT. The starving ex-officer D. 5.0., M.C (two bars), five wound stripes, and as many children who crowded round the barrel-organ, was the most profitable street business until a few weeks ago, when the police took a hand. The magistrate was as surprised as the sympathetic public when he was informed that the “officer” lived in a comfortable West End flat, and that the hire of the children and their mother was rather less than that of the barrel-organs—which, owing to the popularity of the business just then, were at a premium. A handsome ex-major in another Court remarked dryly that a barrel-organ was essential to the business of street begging, as it was the most convenient way of carrying home the enormous weight of coppers thrown at him.

BLACK AND WHITE SPECIALISTS. The pavement artist is probably the most picturesque of London’s “copper” highwaymen. The old practice of sketching indifferently shaped figures and highlycolored views of ships and sunsets on the bare flags has been replaced by the mod ern methods of Chelsea. Long-haired young men sit at stated intervals along the street with boards, on which lightning sketches are made. One ingenious youth spends his evening collecting the contents bills of newspapers, which are plain white on the reverse side. The artist mounts these on an easel, and for a few coppers you can have your face drawn at any angle, honestly or cartooned. In a very few minutes, amid the cheers of the crowd, you are presented with the copy. A well-known artist recently offered one of these black and white specialists a lucrative position in his commercial studios, but, thank you, business was much too brisk! STREET VENDORS OF TOYS.

It is said that the hall porter at the Carlton Hotel owns his motor-car, but I know it of truth that one street artist goes yachting. As for the street vendors of toys, what they buy for a penny sells readily for sixpence—to wit, that wicked little brass top “put-and-take,” which turned to pure gold (by weight) in the hands of those who touched it first. A clear profit of 7s 6d an hour was considered poor going in Regent Street at the height of the craze, and you could buy tops all night in Piccadilly Circus. The street-singer is at the lowest end of the beggars’ social scale. It would appear to be that the more horrible the noise the better the return. It cost Beecham his fortune before he realised that the British public will not pay to hear good music—but any street-singer knows that they will buy quiet and comfort at any price.