There is a large class of people who get less than 18s. a week, because they get irregular work. There is also a class of people who get a regular wage which does not rise above 18s. They get 14s., or 15s., and are generally supposed to be doing a boy’s job. Men sometimes answer an advertisement for a boy’s place and take it rather then go unemployed altogether. The firms who pay by the day often have men receiving 3s. or 3s. 6d. a day and doing three days a week. In many ways it is possible for a man to get less than 18s. a week. He need not be a drunkard or a slacker. He may have been ill and lost his regular job. His employer may have sold the business. The works on which he was employed may suddenly finish. He finds himself out of work and, having no money in hand, he is forced to take anything he can get in order to keep his children from the workhouse. It has been possible to follow the fortunes of a certain number of cases who, for one or other of these reasons, fell out of work. Their subsequent struggles afford material with which to probe the mystery of how such people manage. Mr. Q., a carter out of work through illness, got an odd job once or twice in the week. His wages had been 24s. Six children were born, of whom five were alive. _July 7, 1910, had earned 5s. 5d._ s. d. Rent goes unpaid Insurance lapsed Coal 0 2 Soap, soda 0 4 Gas 0 6 Matches 0 1 Blacklead 0 0½ ----- 1 1½ _Leaving for Food, 4s. 3½d._ s. d. 9 loaves 2 0¾ Meat 0 9 Potatoes 0 3 Vegetables 0 1 Margarine 0 1¾ 3 ozs. tea 0 3 Tinned milk none 1½ lbs. sugar 0 3 Dripping 0 6 ----- 4 3½ Or an average per head for food of 7¼d. a week, or 1d. a day. _July 14, had earned 15s. 10d._ s. d. Rent (two weeks) 11 0 Insurance lapsed Coal 0 2 Gas 0 5 Soap, soda, blue 0 4½ Wood 0 0½ ------ 12 0 _Leaving for Food, 3s. 10d._ s. d. 7 loaves 1 7¼ Meat 0 6 Potatoes 0 3½ Vegetables 0 1 Margarine -- 4 ozs. tea 0 4 Tinned milk -- 1½ lbs. sugar 0 3 Dripping 0 6 1 lb. jam 0 3¼ ----- 3 10 Or an average per head for food of 6½d. a week, or less than 1d. a day. Mr. I., bottle washer, out of work through illness, wife earned what she could. Wages 18s. when in work. One child born, one alive. August 10, 1910, Mrs. I. had earned 2s. 6d.