Ways of Living.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 374, 9 July 1903, Page 2

Ways of Living.

Sfvta) auntran "the enclosure to tm« iffjg south of Cavent Garden Market famishes on interesting sight for the student of 'character-' Penmd in by the tall wooden palings is an army of women, who exhibit an almost angry out -wifch iriiT4aithfe first of the„. / BO#on'iji from their green husks The workers of no particular age.j- TLera girl In ber-teens, whojiprbud of hejr"; towering hat of velvet and feSathers, labours with a" prown of nodding, plumes, and MOM^wnoOTscan^owtT^re^lßl^atofflß* gun or rain., Manner and conversation are characterised by"a ! freedom which is da no-.wifce abashed-,uades,thei..Bciutiny of th-j erowdß who collect outside to poor fthrou ,hj the; interstices. , borne fit the 'workers prefer to Btand; dropping the ahelled.nuts into.bask rent of them Otters; who are stricken" An or wb<> are hardened with habes, Bit. on upturned baskets. AH their fingers are inky black with the powerful juice from tho huskß. These Women work for dear life, for their time of harvest is short-livod. { 'These are the last of the foreign nuts they are engaged on'now,' said the head of rhe firm"of one of the largest walnut dealers in the market to our representativd. ' Only tha fi ;st consignments from abroad are sent to England unshelled. As the nuts become more matured they have, to be shackled, before they are sent away, otherwise they would rot on tho journey. France, Belgium asd Germany furnish,- the principal, supplies, a large proportion coming from Ghent.' When the imports of unshuckled foreign nuts cease, the shelling of the' English nuts is ' entered upon.' 'These.women are at work for a good many hours a day, of course P' ' Yes j they commence about daybroak and ceftfl#abdnt"fiveio'c76ok.% The average quantity shuckled is about three or four ! bushels each. We havo a.hundred women : 0u the jjb, bo that tho : daily quantity manipulated is. from 300 to ; 400 bushels As they fill their baßketß-:bo they are paid. After wo receive': the nuts the inferior ones are picked out, the two sorts being divided into .'best' and •seconds,' or they can bo purchased 'unscrted/ * And where do jour workers couie from to undertake 1 such fleeting labouiF' ' That I don't, know.' They are the very poor, who half starve probably .three parts of the jyear. While they are' at this sort of work they mttke a shilling a bushel; but-where thoy will go at the end 0* a week or two, when we don't require them any longer,,! cannot tell ■ All I know is that they cbm<» Dtick-Jwitfi astonishing regularity.' M «sf '■■■■"■ I SMUGGLING UP, TO ■DITK, The vigilance of the Cußtoniß authorities ds nowadays ho keen that would-be 'smugglers : are' hard pressed' to devise schemes 'cute enough to elude them. A smart capture was recently made by tbe Customs officers at JD'jver on the arrivalibf the Oiitond boat.l" A huhch:backedig£ntfo' man was seen coming off the boat, and tho r casualoßs&rver wou'ldTf&W been moved to : [ sympathy instead of .-suspicion.. \ Njpt so (ffir^Brsir ?fprs.j% was. ordered, and the huuap on "examination waiymiua to contain seventeen and a ; half of potfnde "Of also found concealed about the person of this ingenious impostor. .. A.Eeathebed 'A similar fraud was recently jcaported ia Pans } morning it is illegal to bring game into Paris. -One Sunday morning an Old man, with a largo hump on his back,'was seen crossing one of the bridges. The hump being somewhat abnormal i&sjjgo.Jt excited the curiosity of a Oh being taken to the station and examined eleven partridges.and ten»larks were, discovered to-be, the cause of this apparent formity. A Baby with Paws'.' Although hardly to be called a smug gler, a lady certainly showed groat ingenuity in that direction at Calais a week or so back. At that port a lady and gentleman, the. former attired in a nurse's cOßume and carrying what was, presumably, a baby, boarded the early morninj Dover mail packet, and a later the curiosity of the stewardess? rh the saloon was aroused by her noticing two clog's paws protruding from beneath the, dainty. garments of tbe supposed baby.l An amusing scene followed, and the lady admitted the disguise; under which Bhe said she hoped to pass safely through the Customs examination on landing at Dover. Her. intentions detected, the lady waß obliged to abandon her dog at Calais.