Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(N.Z. gay) a male prostitute specialising in ports and finding clients/partners among sailors; seen as occuping the lowest rung of the profession, they were not paid but received gifts such as cuty-free alcohol or cigarettes.

2010

W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 66: Dockers were associated with trade around the Auckland ferry buildings and in the 1950s were linked to two Auckland bars, the Lily Pond in the Great Northern Hotel and the Snakepit (house bar) in the Waverley Hotel.