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Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2562, 23 March 1877, Page 2

The recent action of the Government with regard to their employes in the new Government Buildings, seems to be both arbitrary and totally uncalled for. The hours they are to work are from 9.30' to 4.30 (seven hours in all), and during this time" they are not to leave the building on any account without leave. If they want refreshment, as it is not improbable they will during that period, they must go to a refectory which ( is to be provided, and there satisfy their hanger and thirst. «But if, as is the case with not a few, they would enjoy a few whiffs of a pipe as a sort of patent digester, they must master their desire, as far as tobacco is concerned, for no smoking is to be allowed within the building. ' Now it does seem to us to be a most arbitrary thing to dictate to any class of men when and where they shall eat and what they shall pay for it. There may be many in these new Government Offices who would prefer a few minutes in the fresh air and a hasty sandwich to half an hour spent indoors, many also who might prefer lunching where they live on the score of economy, especially as they might reside within Only a few minutes' walk of the buildings. Some of the Government officers may be married, and some to whom the expense of a" luncheon at home might be inconsiderable, but who would yet grudge to pay a shilling or eighteenpence a day for what they could get at a quarter of the price. Others again who live at boarding houses if they eat in the middle of the day ..will find themselves called upon to pay twice over, once for what they eat, and once for what they do not eat. The regulation seems perfectly unnecessary, likely to cause just ground for grumbling, and unlikely to be productive of any good whatever.