SMART HOP-PICKERS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXL, Issue 20283, 5 December 1935, Page 6

SMART HOP-PICKERS

GOOD RURAL HOLIDAY Queenslanders who have returned from a visit Great Britain state that in July, when visiting some of the counties, they frequently came across groups of young women wearing bathing costumes as they took their sunbaths on grassy slopes far distant from the seaside, states the Brisbane “Worker.” They were shown photographs of groups of' the hop-pickers who in September go from the East End of London, and who combine “hop-picking’ with the best rural holidays they ever have. Until recent years the East-enders used to take their oldest clothes in which to do the picking, but now they work in sleeveless blouses and shorts, and whenever opportunity offers get into “bathers” and have a sun bath. Many of the hop-pickers are young married women who bring their children with them. Formerly such workers were provided with very rough and often insanitary accommodation, but now the health authorities insist that they shall have comfortable dormitories and dining-rooms, and the present-day hop-pickers, being more intelligent than the old cockney type, live up to the improved conditions. They also keep pace with the fashions, and for Sunday wear take with them into the hop country a two-piece costume and walking shoes. Such particulars seem to indicate that the hoppickers have other casual work at other seasons to keep them from poverty. An official attempt was made last year to get all the hopping work for registered unemployed persons, but the farmers were faithful to “the girls.”