OBTAINING FREE MEALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18086, 10 May 1922, Page 8

OBTAINING FREE MEALS.

♦■ DEVICE ON WATERFRONT. COMPLAINTS AS TO QUALITY. The serene existence of an individual | who had almost solved tho problem of how to live without working was rudely disturbed by th e unsympathetic officers of tho law last week, says a Wellington paper. Tho man, who answered to the name of Daniel McFarlane, appeared bofore Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., at the Wei- ' lington Police Court on Saturday morn- j ing to answer a charge of being an idle j and disorderly person without lawful means of support. The accused was a we!l-set-up able-bodied man of 37 years of age, and a ship's fireman by occupation. "This man," said Sub-Inspector McNamara, who conducted the prosecution, "is a human leech, who preys on his fellow-workmen." The sub-inspector explained that there wore at present in the city a number of idle men like the accused, who did no work, and obtained their meals by going down to the steamers I in port and dining with the crews. Constable Munro stated that there had ! been several complaints recently from tho | shipping companies regarding sailors out! of work going to the vessels at the wharf and obtaining meals. Sub-Inspector McNamara : I just want to ask you one question: Is it a fact that these persons when they go down to the steamers at the wharf and partake of free meals at the expense of tho shipping companies actually complain of tho quality of the food supplied? Constable Munro: Yes; it is a fact; they do complain. Sub-Inspector McNamara: There you , sre. Your Worship. These men go down J to the steamers at the wharf, partake of free meals, and actually complain loudly if the joint is a trifle cold, or the pudding ' not just to their liking. To show you to ' what an extent the practice of indulging * in free meals has grown, I need only P stato that 15 men other than the crew ' ' were in for breakfast, 14 for dinner, and ' two for tea on a single steamer recently ' on the one day. Sailors are noted for ' their goodness of heart, and they do not ' like to refuse a meal to men who declare . they are out of work. Tho result is that tho crews of the vessels have to go short, ' and the shipping companies are being put . to great expense. ' The accused was sentenced to three ! months' imprisonment with hard labour.