The Express.
London, England, 1862-12-05 00:00:00

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TRIPLE ALIJANCIL Mr. 0. Vittin . Misses A)lmer,
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News. Vezin anti X. Rozby ; Situ Olher.

BRITANNIA.
TRW EVWFORS, CAST ON THE MERCY OF THE WORLD.
yea R Laaa—Staging by Mr. W. HaadalL—Danona by Mine.
C. Stepbaa.—GALE BENaILELY.—And THE SEVEN STEPS
TO RUN. Was Lacey.

KIDD WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tim DAT Nomlng, lb. 15fa.....Anoussa. lb. 35AL
Tomoilow—Moralag. lb. 66a.....Afbruesa. DA. lbul.

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5.

AN application was made to Mr. Comm, at the
Southwark Police Court, on Wednesday last,
which shows one of the difficulties which honest
labour has to contend with. In the course of the
day, according to the police report, a number of
respectable young women attended before the
magistrate to seek his advice under the following
circumstances. One of them—selected as spokes-
woman—stated that a few days ago an advertise-
ment appeared in some of the morning papers,
headed " Highly advantageous to young ladies in
" search of employment," and setting forth that for
the small sum of half-a-guinea the advertiser, who
carried on an extensive business in the Borough,
would teach applicants the art of using the
sewing machine, and would obtain them profitable
employment when they became proficient. The
speaker and several others answered ti- adver-
tisement, and had an interview with the adver-
tiser, at a house on Newington-causeway, where
they saw four machines at work. They
paid the required fees ; but aft3r receiving
a few lessons, which they said were of no
use to them whatever, they went one
morning, and found the place shut up, and some
of the machines removed. The fee demanded and
paid was to secure forty-one lessons, to be given
within a certain time, and of these only four had
been received when the teacher and the machines
were missing.

As the implied charge of fraud in this application
is based upon a one-sided statement, we refrain
from denouncing the advertiser, notwithstanding
the strong remarks of the magistrate. The young
women have not been fairly treated, to use the
mildest term, and they belong to a class who are
peculiarly liable to be imposed upon. Their large
and overwhelming numbers, and their desire for
employment, are well known to adventurers, and
their little savings or capital form a fund which is
industriously angled for. The most common ap-
peal to their wants and purses is in the shape of a
" Registry Office "—a parlour fitted up as a
general business agency web, in which to catch the
poor flies who are seeking for situations. These
offices are found more or less thriving in every
quarter of the town, but particularly in neighbour-
hoods in the east, south, and north of London, where
the population is dense and has to fight for its ,
living. The proprietors of an Agency Office of this
kind generally fix themselves on some terrace of
fading respectability, where they herald the ap-
proach of that decay which gives up mansions to
small brokers and cheap photographers. They put
a board outside the house where the delusive
Registry is to be established, and on this they
paint the words " Advertising, Registry, and
" General Business Agency Offices." To make a
show of business they collect a few particulars
about warehouses, shops, and apartments to let,
businesses to be disposed of, articles lost or found,
and servants wanting situations. These they
gather from the mass of advertisements in the
London papers, and copy upon separats boards,
leaving out the names and addresses of the
advertisers. The object in doing this is to lead
applicants to think that all these advertisements
have been sent direct to the Agency Office.

As the chief business of such an office is to make
money out of poor and struggling females seeking
employment, a list of " Vacant Situations " forms
the most prominent object outside the door or in
the window. The particulars of as many vacant

situations as can be found advertised in the chiel

newspapers of the day are copied on a board under
the taking heads of " Vacant " and " Wanted."
The names of the advertisers are kept off the
board, but entered in an office-book, and no in-
quiries from applicants are answered without a
fee. If the office-keeper is not too hungry and
exacting, or the applicant is not too poor to be
robbed of more than half-a-crown, the address of
the employer, which might have been read in the
newspapers, is generously furnished for that sum,
and the applicant obtains the barren right of com-
municating with the advertiser. If the applicant
is not very poor, or very cautious, a larger fee is
often extracted, for which the office-keeper binds
himself to look after a suitable situation. As no
office of this kind was ever carried on without a
little nourishment beyond the fees in the shape of
postage stamps, a few of these paper-pennies are
demanded to cover the expense of writing to em-
ployers. Employers are often written to by the
office-keepers because it helps to advertise their
office, and sometimes leads to their being applied
to for servants by those who want them. This
often produces a double stream of fees and post-
age stamps—fees for introducing Ato B, and
counter-fees for introducing B to A. Some of
the office-keepers are not afraid of doing
a little illegal business if they are well
paid to do it, and the manufacture of
false characters for servants and mistresses is an
occasional occupation. In this way a dishonest
servant often gets into a position of trust, and a
respectable female servant into an immoral and
dangerous service.
The scale of fees at these offices is very elastic,