SEARLE'S SLAVES.

NZ Truth, Issue 105, 22 June 1907, Page 5

SEARLE'S SLAVES.

HOW WAITRESSES LIVE.

Shocking Accommodation for the

Girls.

Herded Together m Two Small

Rooms.

Restaurant girls ' do not have the best of lives, takin® even the rosiest billet m Wellington, as a criterion, Ibwt through the meanness, of their employers they are apt to have such a had time that sheet is a mere circumstance beside it. There is one hashery proprietor who ought to he. slow boiled m- his own soup for his treatment ofth© girls who wait at tahfle. They are all good-looking lasses and healthy, -but under the treatment of E. J. Searie/ w-ho is their miserable employer, they will soon lose good looks and health and go about their work as though they were dead. And tbev might just as well<bie»dead as living m a "jungle" such as was exposed to a "Truth" reporter. Searie has a business m Willis-., street, and ho finds accommodation f o r his ;gi rls over a shooting gallery ■ on the opposite side ■'. of the street: The Irboms are ajfprOTCh^.tliTO'iigli a dark," harrow passage, aiKf the casual visitor has to grope his way .up a gloomy stair to ike' first floor. There the premises are! ocqupifid by Searie' s girls, mostly. There are other peo-. pie on the flat, but for first floor and basement there is only one w.c., which! is open to the world at large. Two men live on thefla-t. Six of the girls pig m a., room of about lift, by 10 ft. ; 'the windows open from the .bottom only, and as this .would 'expose the qMs to tfte^vdew of passers-by m the street, the windows are kept clos^ ed, with the result that the inmates coratin*ually breathe / ■

■ : A FOETID ATMOSPHERE, and are taking the seed of future illness. When a "Truth" reporter visited the rooms one girl was already unwell, and her illness was due directav,. to the negligance of the unspeakable Searle, for this room of which men-, tion has been made lets m the rain, and the unfortunate waitress spent a wet night under the leak. Alongside is another room of 10ft. by. Bft, m which three 'beds are 'herded.: This is supposed to ibe a separate room, but the partition is a mock on©, and the apartment is really, aportion of the horrible den already described. All. of the girls objected to the accommodation, tout some came from a distance and others were unable to make a change on the munificent sum of 17/6 a week.

perhaps the most brutal part of the business is the fact that there is only one washnbdwrt m the whole flat, and this is m the room of the second cook. The second cook is a man, and the girls have to make sure he is

NOT IN BED when they enter $he, room-.. What this means to a sensitive girl can easily, be imagined. Tibere is no redress,; for 17/6 a week is given m consideration of the fact that accommodation is provided. Beautiful accom-< rhodation, isn't it ? The girls would take outside lodging, but they can't afford the 5/ a week out of their miserable screw. Searle reckons he has got the girls by the hair, as he is acting up to the! following recommendations of the Cooks' and Wait. ers' Union .— ' .

• 5. Where hoard is-.- not provided, all classes of hotel-workers ' (which includes restaurant workers) shall ■be paid 10s. per week m addition

to the rates of pay hereirabef ore specified. Where /lod&jnp is not . provided, they shall be paid an additional ss. per week : Provided always that if the employer is will-' ing, and offers to provide switaible lodging for his employee, and the Employee prefers to lodge elsewhere,---•no allowance shall be paid for lodg-

Searle calls it "suitable" accommodation, but the girls tMnk it very far from suitable, but it has to suit ■■because they can't get anything else.