THE TIPPING SYSTEM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 11 February 1913, Page 4

THE TIPPING SYSTEM.

.There is an agitation in Melbourne i against the tipping system. In an articlo on the subject the Age says : "It is known that at certain hotels nien live on tips alone, and are encouraged by the management. Such men are simply out to make a living. It does not enter into their minds that in accepting a tip they are'placing themselves upon a, plane of social inferiority. But the hotel 'guest' feels the pinch. He. speaking collectively, must pay, in addition to the fixed residential charges, the wages of men who are indispensable to the management. Nothing is more annoying to visitors, country visitors especially,than to have the baggage man shadowing them at every turn. They are told at the office that the charges are so much per day; bnt always there is the commissionaire, or porter, or chambermaid to bo reckoned with.. In some cases, certainly, where extra service is rendered, it is only fair that a gratuity should be doled out; but ordinarily, where no tips are forthcoming, one's room is badly kept, the hall porter i s inattentive, and the waitress is generally busy looking after the needs of someone who understands the value of tipping, however degrading and. 'insulting' the disbursements might lie to the. recipient. There is a strong feeling in Melbourne that the tipping nni■sance should not be allowed to develop. .It is opposed utterly to Mr Fisher's dictum, displayed daily from a. .hoardimc on the site of the Commonwealth offices. Strand, London: 'V\'e offer a fair wage for a fair day's work.' "