LABOUR IN LONDON.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 74, 27 March 1912, Page 11

LABOUR IN LONDON.

I - — • — COMPETITION FROM ADULTS "BLIND ALLEY" OCCUPATIONS. The nightmare which, sits heaviest ou the average Londoner is tho, prospect of losing his employment (writes the London correspondent of the Sydney Telegraph). This fear is not confined to tho manual labourers, hut is extensively found in many social grades. Work is so difficult to obtain in London, because the number of applicants is always so large, and, therefore, the loss of a situation which a 'man has obtained by years of .patient service frequently means disaster. There is a saying here, current among those ■ engaged in genteel occupations, such as clerks and shop-assistants, that one© a man gets down on his 'uppers in London he never gets up again, because he never gets a chance to rise. You -will find clean-looking, respectablydressed men, who are in the prime ©f life ; -wheeling about street organs, on which are-- exhibited placards containing statements as to the length of time the players have been, out of employment, and their failure' to obtain work' of any kind. It is not advisable to believe ' all the statements you r^ad on these placards} but! the assertion that a naau who wante ; work has spent many months. in the fruitless , search for it — not merely for work . at his particular calling or trade, but for any work — is so commonplace that it passes unchallenged. Trade may be booming, but London has always its workless population. London is such a hug©, overgrown city that it seldom feels the stimulus of prosperity. Strictly speaking, it is not an industrial city, and therefore a boom in trade does not result in an extensive increase in. employment all round. London is half a dozen cities in one, which have to some extent entirely separate interests. In the West End is a large population wasting in idle luxury enormous revenues received from rents and dividends; in the East End is a larger population maintaining a wretched existence by working "long hours in factories; between, them is the Strand, which lives mainly on the" constant stream of visitors from all parts of the world — the "cosmopolitan crowd," as they are termed. MIDDLE-AGED ERRAND BOYS. ' *It is because London cannot provide employment for all its men who want work that adults can be eeen performing the work of boys. Many" ablebodied men in the prime of life 'are |o be seen working lifts, and they count themselves lucky to have such constant' employment, although the wages are small. In London there are some thousands of men in livery or uniform, whose work from year's end to year's end consists mainly in opening swinging glass doors for those who pass in and out of the theatres, clubs, hotels, restaurants, and fashionable shops. A large number of the errand " boys " employed by shopkeepers in London are max Tied men with families. At an inquest held at Westminster last week, on the body of a child of eight months, it was stated that the father, who had a wife and four children to support, was employed as a porter at a hosier's shop in Oxford-street (one of the fashionable shopping centres of the West End), at a wage of 16s a week, out of which he had .to spend 2s a week for food while at work. The rent of the single room* in which the family of six persons lived cost ra week,, and. this. Jeit a balance of^lOe week iox" food.' ' The man had been out of employment for two years before .he was fortunate enough to obtain, an jprrand boy'sJaiUeJf a± H l6s. a week. ,_ The "coroner was" candid 'enough, to say that M it was quite inhuman to pay man such a wage," but outof $000,000 adult men employed in regular occupations in the United Kingdom 960,000 come under tho category of those receiving 20s aWeek or less. There are some occupations. -of comparative trust from which men have been unable to drive youthful workers, because employers believe that.it is impossible for a man with the - responsibility of feeding a family to be honest on a wage which is - only enough to' keep a boy. tSEi BOY VERSUS THE* HOR&E. But men are ousting boys from occupations which belong to boyhood, the boys are edging the horse out of the way, by acting as beasts, of, burden. Practically every suburb in London has its business centre, which in the. number and importance of its shops is adequate foremost of the requirements of a, surrounding population of some thousands, but not one suburban tradesman in twenty keeps a horse and cart to facilitate the deli very of his goods. Parcels are delivered by boys, because it is much cheaper to keep an errand boy or two than feed a horse. Meat, fish, bread, milk, draperiefc, grocer« 3, greengroceries, and practically everything which is not beyond the lifting power of an ordinary boy, are delivered by hand. Sometimes the boy ,can be seen staggering under the weight of a parcel of goods which is too heavy for him ; at other times you see him walking jauntily along with a small packet containing a couple' of herrings. It is an English tradition that no English lady ever carries a parcel, and, therefore, when a suburban housewife buy* two herrings at a cost of Id or 2d, she has the parcel sent home, if she is, a .lady who k careful about her social standing. The grocers sell at M each little bundles of pine weighing aoout Üb, which, are used for lighting coal fires, and no suburban grocer would think of refusing to deliver a bundle of wood for a purchaser, even if the purchaser was not a regular customer. The" bread "is delivered each morning in a little covered handcart, which is pushed up' and down the hills— a number of the London suburbs are very hilly — by boy labour. The milk is delivered in covered cans, holding from half a pint to a quart ; and these cans are hung round the railings of a small handcart, which i 6 pushed from hou/jp to house by a boy of about twelve,years. A little milkboy who was asked by an Australian housewife in London why hie master did not have a horee and cart for the delivery of milk, was very much amused at the idea. When he was told that in Australia, milk was delivered by means of a horse and cart, he could scarcely believe thal'ihero was such a happy country on tho map. THE BOY LABOUR PROBLEM. There are certain aspects of the boy | labour problem in London which are now receiving public attention, with a view to remedies for tho evils being discovered. Tho evils attached to the- employment of t boy labour in what are known as "biind alley" occupations are now being realised. These "blind alley" occupaiLoKfi at© those in which there i» no P'-'Cfipcct {or the boy as he grows to manhood. When be grows up and asks for higher wages lie in discharged, and a younger boy takes his place. He joins fhe swelling ranks of the unskilled labr.urons, and tor v large part of the remainder of hi* working lifo lie is oue of the unemployed. Among tut? "blind alloy" occupations the worst is that ot van boy. Inclining on the top of the goods u£ ;i loaded van, or p<jrforming amateur acrobatic feats on the tailboard with i*ia aid of a rope which hangs down from tho root of the- \an, is the van boy, who is employed in s>onie thouoiinds by tho carrying companies and the railway companies which deliver parcels. His work is to help the driver to deliver '

th© goods end bo prevent anyone pilfering from the van. Nearly all the London vans are Toofsd in, and also covered at the front, xo protect the contents from the weather, and therefore the driver, who sits perched high up on a wuall seat in front, cannot keep an eye on Iho back of the van, even if it was not ueceesary for him to keep both his eyes on tho traffic. The van uoy works from 1 a.m. until 10 or 11 p.m., and he learns little, apart Irom a slight knowledge of horses and .his, way about the streets. The lot of the errand boy is almost as bad, and he ie outside the protection of factory legislation. In textile factories the hours worked by youths are limited to 55£ per week, and GO hours in nontextile factories and workshops, with an, hour" sind a-half for meak. The Apprenticeship and Skilled iloiployment Association is asking that th* working hours -A the vast army of boys employed aa messengers, errand boys, and van boys, should be regulated so_ as to give the youths an opportunity "of benefiting by educational facilities, and thereby fitting themselves for skilled employment when they 'grow up. It is urged that; youths between the ages of 11 and 18 years should only bo permitted to work 30 hours a week, and should be and should be compelled to attend continuation schools for another 20 hours a- week. Something of the kind -will have to be done to check the wasteful employment uf> boy labour, but on the other'hand a 'boy who earns _10s to' 12a a Week is frequently the main support of his mother md younger brothers and sisters.; Hardship will be inflicted on them by limiting his earning power. , It "is a question which bristles with difficulties, «but as it has been dealt with in xegardito factories, there is etil more reason why it should t>a dealt with in ."blind alley" occupations.