How the Poor Live.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5576, 23 September 1889, Page 4

How the Poor Live.

Ik foiiW " How the Poov Live, " tho writes aayfl j— " To got an odd iob at tho ' dooks is ofton tho last hope of the labouring men who uro out of repulav employment iukl to whom tho acquisition of ft few l shillings for rent, and tho means of subsistence for themselves and familios is a task fraught with as much difficulty as were aonie of tlie labors the accomplishment of which added in no incon.suler;ible ' degree to the posthumous fame of Hercules. Sometimes the hands ;ire engaged as early as 4, but it is generally about 6 o'clock that fche quay-gangers ascend the rostrums or elevated stands which are placed all along the outs : de wall, and survey the huge crowd in front of them, and commence to call them out for work. Some of them have tramped all night, and flung themselves down to sleep at the great dock gates in the early dawn, determined to be m the front rank. The pay is od an hour, and the day's work lasts for eight hours. It is miscellaneous, and a man is expected t> put his hand to anything in the shape of loading and unloading that the occasion may arise. Stand outside the dock gates any morning about six, and you will have plenty to study among the vast crowd of men, more or less dilapidated and hungrylooking, who till up the approaches and line the banks in front of the rostrums. When these half-starved creatures have finished their day's work, they march out in a line to be searched before leaving the dock gates. I remember seeing one poor creature thus undergoing this humiliation, with the result that about an ounce of tea was found concealed in his boot. Oil its discovery the miserable man burst into tears, and said he had taken it for a sick wife and children who were starving, and begged for mercy. None, however, was shown him, and he was given in charge to a policeman, and was told he would never get employment there again.