BARMAIDS IN REVOLT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10960, 1 May 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

BARMAIDS IN REVOLT.

FIGTH FOR A LIVING.

>f ; „ff : LONDON, March 15. A deputation of highly indignant barmaids is tovwait on the -Home Secretary to protest againßt the proposed legislation to abolish their employment./ This was the urianimous decision of seven hundred* London barmaids who met yesterday afternoon m : the Holboru Town Hall to express their opinion of the Bishop of Southwark- and Mr Herbert Gladstone. Dingy Glerkenwell and the Gray's Inn-road had never before seen such an ..army of as swept along it yesterday on the way to the. meeting. , ■•■,.-■-; There were barniaids and barmaids no loriger young, p{ all sizes .md decrees of splendor, all stepping out briskly to do battle for their chosen, profession. ;..'

For half an hour before the opening of the meeting gallant and smiling policemen were kept busy clearing the way fi t them. .■-."."',..■•

Throngs of admiring male customers gathered outside the town , hall, and cheered them on. to victory. . The gallery facing the platform .was. packed with men whose facetious- remarks .more than once called for censure from the lips of Miss Eva Gore Booth, the "chairman..' To while away the tiriie of waiting tlie gallery crowd hummed ."Walking out with Angeline," "Down at the ola Bull and Bush," and J other ditties. This music fell on unheeding ears, for • the barmaids assembled there had come to relate thbir woes, and, not to join iri minstrelsy. 1 '. ' ' \ .-'".■ "We are working m the interests' of 27,000 barmaids— ra. whole class of respectable, hard-working wpmen," said Miss "Gore Booth ariiid applause. : "The trade is said to be bad for Woirien, for their health, morals and from an economic standpoint. How dp they prove it? By citing eighteen drunken barmaids out of 27,0yU, and sixteeri leading irregular lives. "What do they propose to do with the barmaids displaced?" asked Miss Gore Booth next. "They suggest you should get into a skilled trade, or emigrate to South Africa or Canada. ; "Manitoba is said to be a .'beautiful country for women laborers.' Why should -not- England be a beautiful couutry as well?.' > f . From' the back of the hall a despondent barmaid cried :.'■" We can always try the board of guardiariß."' "You cannot abolish the: barmaid by Act of Parliament," Miss Gore Booth continued; "You can abolish their means of honest livelihood, but they are there still;"

Mrs Maple proposed the resolution: 4 'That .London barmaids indignantly protest against any attempt through legislation .to abolish or restrict their env ployment.'.' Next Mfcs Roper, 8.0., reminded; the meeting that ten barmaids had committed suicide m four years, "or two arid a half barmaids each year." "I regret to say I nave never served behind a bar, but I should have liked to," said Miss Roper, "and then I should have known as riitych. as you. "Barmaids, like' other' women, must have political power to stop men speaking over their heads and interfering. Until you cari do this you will never be safe.

"If you turn a worker out of work there is" often nothing for her to do but to face starvation and suicide. It has been said that unless a woman is young she has no chance of getting work as v barmaid." .-•'*:'".".'•'•'.

"It's quite true !" shouted a voije from "the gallery. ■ "Yes, sir, it is quite' true," retorted the speaker, ."but it does j not apply to women alone, but also to men.'' .--:■ ! Lady Russell, who was loudly . cheered, asked: "Dp you suppose, barmaids work is harder than that of the married woman who works all day and is kept awake all night looking after the baby? "The secret of- the. whole thing," she declared, "is that women, are looked upon as. babies -to", be taken care of."

It was then decided to appoint a deputation to lay before the Home Secretivy the opinions and interests of women employed fin the licensed trade.