TIPPING TARIFF DOUBLED

Hawera Star, Volume LI, 28 May 1932, Page 14

TIPPING TARIFF DOUBLED

JVjTANY years ago I was invited by iSir Watkin Wynn to pay a visit to Wynnstay. I remember well that what struck me most when I was shown to my bedroom was a conspicuous notice requesting guests not to tip any of the servants, as they were adequately paid for their services without anything exra, writes G. Cornwallis West, in the London “Daily Telegraph.” There is little doubt that tipping nowadays has grown out of all proportion to the services rendered. As the ! purchasing power of the pound has gone down, so the amount expected and 'paid in tips has gone up. Forty years ago a housemaid never expected more than half-a-crown for a week-end visit, and a butler five shillings; and the usual tariff for a keeper was five to ten shillings a day.

In all cases the tariff is now doubled, with the result that nowadays it has become a matter of serious consideration for persons of small means as to how far they are able to accept invitations to visit their friends. I know of many cases where men invited to shoots have regretfully had to decline, as they know they will have to tip the keeper a pound a day —and this, combined with the fact that cartridges cost double as much as they did before the war, makes it altogether impos- 1 sible.

If tipping is admitted as a necessary evil, the fairest system is that adopted by Captain 'Combe at Stfaithconan, and

Is System a Necessary Evil ?

by owners of other places where I have stayed in Scotland. A box is provided, and at the end of his visit a guest can, if he wishes, place what he can afford in it. At the end of the season the contents are distributed pro rata to the status of the employees. If there is one form of tipping which I abominate 'more than another it is the sort of blackmail that is levied by caddies on many fashionable golf courses round London.- Golf used to be a cheap game before the war; you could get a club for 7s fid and a ball for Is; your caddie cost you Is a round, and was pleased to receive Is at the end of the day. Now the average cost per round is 2s, plus the booking fee, and in many cases the caddie expects a 100 per cent, bonus, and is often rude if he doesn’t get it. One exceptional pre-war case 1 remember, wnere an employee was insulting because he did not consider himself adequately tipped by a friend of min© who had been shooting with his master, a well-known millionaire. The keeper, who had been thoroughly spoilt by his master and some of the guests, behaved like a taxi-driver with a grievance when my friend offered him (three sovereigns, saying that he considered the sport he had shown could only be suitably remunerated with paper® money. “Really,” said my friend, “then I’ll see you to-morrow morning. ” And when the morning came he handed him a cheque for a pound!