UK & The Euro.

[john sutton]

Who can remember when it was possible to be paying 21shillings in the pound tax?
In the late 60,s early 70,s there was a 15% unearned income tax and if you were paying top rate tax which I believe was 18 shillings and 6d in the pound and a large amount of it was investment income you could very well be paying 21 shillings on your top slice.
I actually only met one person paying that rate and he was not happy.
The investment income surcharge was a labour invention as punishment to the rich for being successful.At that time we were losing talented people to other counties (the brain drain).

Also does anyone remember when fork lift trucks were first introduced to the docks and the dockers insisted that they still had 4 man teams which meant than one driver and 3 assistants with nothing to do.

[Don Rafferty]

ron he was only the hod carrier what was the brickies earning??

John, the brickies were probably on their usual rate, so much per 100/1000 bricks laid, or yardage. I think the normal was one hod carrier to feed two or three brickies but that guys skill, speed and stamina meant he could feed more than one gang of brickies, and got paid accordingly..........and deservedly so.

I've still got my hod and wouldn't get rid of it, it's great for all manner of tasks where you've got awkward access, if you've got a couple of dozen turf to lay in the back garden of a terraced property, you just carry them through in your arms, couple of hundred and out comes the hod.

[j.sabourn]

#27.... The fastest Bricklayer at one time was a bloke called Ambrose. He used to be in the Guiness Book of Records. As most of my family were in the building Trade, I was told it was all timed on straight courses no bends or curves and laid for two hour stretches with smokoes in between. Laid over 1000 bricks in 8 hours, this was often scoffed at by others in the building trade. My father could keep 2 hod carriers going at one time. Whenever I laboured to him he was not an ideal man to work with and used to say I was too slow. He was very upset when I went to sea rather than go with him on the buildings. When mixing his cement he always insisted on a bit of washing up liquid in the mix. Cheers JS

[Jim Brady]

I knew a couple of hod carriers and they would go out for a few hours on a sunday morning and lay out the scaffold so that they were well ahead of the brickies on Monday morning.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[j.sabourn]

Re... Bricklayers wages in Australia, when I built this house about 2000 during the time of the Olympics in Sydney, all the brickies were over there and was hard to find in WA, they were charging then about 2 dollars a brick, I would imagine they have kept to about that price. Is a very lucrative business in Australia for good brickies, but is not like the old days now have brick cutting lathes and all the amenities. Used to cut a brick with the edge of the trowel. Anyone could set up in business at one time out here all you needed was a cement mixer and the experience. JS

[John Pruden]

lads when I was alive an 8ton skip of white mortar would be delivered at 7.30 am and you went home when it was empty 2 plasterers and 2 labourers non of this dry lining they do now you went home when the skip was empty because there would be another the next day. wet and cold in winter going home on the bus or train long days but good night sleeps and plenty of beer at the weekends that's if you were not working and if the plasterer never turned up for some reason you did the skip on your own no complaints kept you fit{paying for it now} jp

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates. The U.K. will come to love the euro in time? Why the yankee dollar has become a joke, they printing press are going 24x7 days a week to keep up with the demand for worthless paper,The Chinese will soon take over as number one, when the world stops useing worthless paper in trade? All The E.U. countries will have to join the Euro or the Chinese will buy up they money, they have billions of all types of money to do this in the bank, the only reason they have not is the oil price? but its going the right way at last down and down. Watch what happens !!!!! the pound has had its day time to bail out at the right rate? unless we are sold down the river by the government.

[j.sabourn]

John, think someone has mentioned being paid by the yardage. This is if I remember was called peace or piece work up the North of England. Was ok in Summer but most bricklayers would rather be on a wage in the winter when weather conditions made outside work impossible. The Carpenters, plasterers were mostly immune to this laying off if the house shell was up. Hod carriers had to be fit as running up and down ladders could be very strenuous at times. Nowadays any two story building going up here in Australia, usually see all the bricks being moved up to the scaffold on miniature escalators. When having a house built out here you choose the bricks colour of the pointing (cement) and just about everything appertaining to the house. Don't know the procedure as would never have been able to afford building my own house in uk, out here most people do so. If still in uk would probably still be paying off mortgage. Cheers JS

[j.sabourn]

I can remember one particular Xmas the only money that came into the house was my paper round money and Xmas tips. I was about 12, and was a bad winter and the building sites shut down which meant no money. I thought nothing of it, nowadays everyone including the animal welfare people would be up in arms. People nowadays expect everything to be handed to them on a platter. We now live in a welfare world where no one wants to work, hence one of the reasons the UK has such huge amounts of prospective would be tenants... JS

[Jim Brady]

This may upset some more fortunate people John.I like the reporters comments at the end " If they can scrape together enough to buy a pint and enjoy this time of year then good luck to them.I wish I could buy them all a drink this Christmas".If they do go for a pint he said it's not his place to judge.
Regards.
jim.B.

How long before we see a return to workhouses in Liverpool? - Liverpool Echo