FIGHTING FOR FISH OFFAL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1976, 30 November 1889, Page 1

FIGHTING FOR FISH OFFAL.

The following account of an incident witnessed only a short time ago by a gentleman who was on a visit to London, will give a fair idea of the extent of misery and destitution that is prevalent among the myriads of that overgrown city. He says : —“ I saw for myself a sight which nothing but personal observation could have convinced me was possible. A crowd outside a large fishmonger’s shop in the early morning obstructed the footpath and I enquired from a bystander the cause of it. “ Oh! nothing out o’ the common, he said; ‘it‘s on’y hoffal day! ” As the crowd grew less dense I was able to get sufficiently near the door to see—-what ? Why a number of men and women—human wolves—struggling to get near a man who stood by a cask, the contents of which he distributed impartially with a tin scoop into the hands held out to recieve it. White and shapely hands, too, some of them were, hands of women wh» bad once been ladies, roughly pushed aside in one instance by a grimy-looking hag with the breath of a sewer and the voice of a coal-heaver. Broken-down wrecks of manhood cursed and pushed their way to the front; and often stretched out their foul paws to intercept the portion for which some miserable woman or girl had been patiently waiting her chance, Each took what he or she could get in scraps of paper, pieces of rag, or in bare hands joined cup-wise, and hurried away with it. For half-an-hour, at least, the scene lasted, and I afterwards learned that it was repeated with small variations three times a week. The locality was within a quarter of a mile of Buckingham Palace, where Mrs Rule Britannia was probably yet in bee). The street was one of the most important thoroughfares in the West End, and the cask contained fish offal—the heads, tails, and entrails of fish delivered from Billingsgate Market and cleaned up fop the daily sales. Fish? offal was what they pushed and fought and pursed each other for, and some of them picked out the tit-bits and ate them raw as they left the door. They were British subjects, who never never shall be slaves, but they were very very hungry.” The people will now sing, led off by Mr Sheepsheads Begg—“ God Queen.”