THE NAVVY.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 303, 21 April 1874, Page 2

THE NAVVY.

Thkkk are some navvies born, but the greater number comecasually into the avocation. The requirement! nro not specially exacting. To be a navvy, & m*n must hare thews and smevr»; be must have a thorough conception of the meaning of a clay's work as contra-distinguished from a daj'n make-believe; ho must know how to wield pick and •hovel, and to take his own. part in a fight. These are about all the necessary accomplishments ; although perhaps a man is better suited for a navvy life if bis notions of comfort are strictly rudimentary, if privacy is a point on which be is utlerly indifferent, and if he citn drink a large quantity of beer without being the woiae for it. The navvy proper n nearly always an Englishman. There are a ievr Scotchmen, who-, unlew very drunken, aim steadily at becoming ganger*, and the number of Welshmen is said to be on the increase, although it is- still but small outßide of the Principality. A good many Irishmen find employment in the construction of a new railway, but rather aa labourers hired by the day to do inferior work, than as navvies proper, engaged on piecework, as every true navvy craves to be. There hnvo been exceptions, but, as a rule, once a navvy always a navvy. Habit ► of improvidence, and an intermittent, but oft-recurring love for the ale-can, effectually bar any accumulation of saving*, no matter how earnings may be ; the nav-vy lm»s from hand to mouth on his capital, and that capital is represented by hU thews and sinews. He is one of the most fluctuating and unsettled of mortals — ' here one month, gone the next,' to use the words of one who knows him well. When a large work employing navvy labour is begun, there is no need to adyertise for hands. The news, passing from mouth to meuth, permeates somehow in an inconceivably short timo through. the scattered ranks of ntvv\dom. and hands drop in »pace. The navvy, comes upon the scene in the simplest manner. He conies clattering in among the shangles in the West Biding hill country — ha may have to corns from Bedfordshire, Barrow-m-Furneas, or John o' Groat's House, there are do questions asked — in a roomy, mole-skin peajacket, with mother o'-pearl buttons, and a pair of. high, thick-soled ankle-jacks, fie carries over one shoulder a little round bundle containing all his belongings : sometimes the bundle even is deficient, and it is a wonder if he lias more than Is in his pocket. lie goes to the contractor's office, . where he j summarily ' taken on,' a glance at his muscular power being all the certificate of character demanded. Then he goes to find lodgings, where he pays from 123 to 14s weekly for board and lodging. Thero cannot, with the prosent prices of provisions, be a great margin of profit in the board of navvies, for they havo the most tremendous appetites, and bold it * portion of their oread to cat beef about four times a day. Eighteen pounds of beef is said to be &> fair weekly allowance for each navvy, and ho has rather &, contempt for any other kind than beof. His lodgings secured, the navw goes to work at once, often on the day o£ his arrival. — Ail the Year Round.