brief, those employed there might be said to be living in a Tariff
Reform Paradise - they had Plenty of Work.

At twelve o'clock Bob Crass - the painters' foreman - blew a blast
upon a whistle and all hands assembled in the kitchen, where Bert the
apprentice had already prepared the tea, which was ready in the large
galvanized iron pail that he had placed in the middle of the floor.
By the side of the pail were a number of old jam-jars, mugs,
dilapidated tea-cups and one or two empty condensed milk tins. Each
man on the `job' paid Bert threepence a week for the tea and sugar -
they did not have milk - and although they had tea at breakfast-time
as well as at dinner, the lad was generally considered to be making a
fortune.

Two pairs of steps, laid parallel on their sides at a distance of
about eight feet from each other, with a plank laid across, in front
of the fire, several upturned pails, and the drawers belonging to the
dresser, formed the seating accommodation. The floor of the room was
covered with all manner of debris, dust, dirt, fragments of old mortar
and plaster. A sack containing cement was leaning against one of the
walls, and a bucket containing some stale whitewash stood in one
corner.

As each man came in he filled his cup, jam-jar or condensed milk tin
with tea from the steaming pail, before sitting down. Most of them
brought their food in little wicker baskets which they held on their
laps or placed on the floor beside them.

At first there was no attempt at conversation and nothing was heard
but the sounds of eating and drinking and the drizzling of the bloater