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The pay of managers and assistants varies very much. Some London houses provide lodging for the manager and his wife, but not board, and the assistants receive neither board nor lodging, but buy their food, if they think proper, in the house, at the same prices as the public. In other houses board and lodging are provided for the manager, and board but not lodging for the assistants; and in others again the whole of the employés are boarded and lodged like the servants in a private house. In the last case the assistants receive the ordinary wages of domestic servants. When female attendants are allowed board but not lodging the pay usually ranges from 9s. to 12s. weekly. Boys of fourteen receive 2s. 6d. a week, with board and lodging; older youths in proportion; and male assistants, without board or lodging, from 9s. a week upwards.
The pay of managers in London ranges from £1 to £2 a week, with board and lodging, and from £1 10s. to £2 without board. In some instances about £1 a week, with board and lodging, is paid for the services of the manager and his wife. In small towns and villages the wages will usually be less.
The number of assistants required will depend not only upon the size of the house, but also upon the character of the trade—whether lodgings are provided, or hot dinners, &c. In some London houses the attendants are all female; in others they are exclusively male, not even the manager's wife being allowed to share in the work. In a third class of houses both male and female attendants are employed. Each of these plans has been found to work well under different circumstances. The manager of a company which has opened houses in London with female attendants states that in no instance has any inconvenience resulted, nor have the young women been subjected to the slightest annoyance in the discharge of their duties. Everything depends in these matters upon the care exercised in selection and supervision.
Houses in small towns and villages may be worked by a manager and his wife, with one or more girls or boys to assist, according to the amount of business done.
