[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—You say (Spectator, January 2nd) that porters' wages are fixed at a certain sum because it is known that they will receive a certain sum of money per annum from passengers. I ascertained from the London and North-Western Railway that this is not so. Their wages are eagerly sought after by men of their class. You speak of a porter expecting 6d. for carrying trunks to a cab. Calculate the number of trains, out and in, in the day, multiply by three hundred,—how many pounds do you make it ? I would infinitely sooner " tip " the engine-driver and the man who oils the machinery at full speed. "Tipping" porters has the essential meanness of selecting out of a number of men the one that can make oneself personally more or less uncomfortable. I cannot imagine a reasoning being, who gives neither more nor less than an assigned proportion of his income every year, wasting any of it on those who least deserve it. One's own self does not enter into the question. Some men " tip " any one who looks hard at them.—I am, Sir, &c., A. F. POPE. The Birches, Nairn.
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