JAPANESE FACTORY GIRLS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 237, 4 October 1916, Page 8

JAPANESE FACTORY GIRLS.

i At tiie present time many of our ehope are filling with Japanese goods. Tie j "Japan Chronicle" of Kobe lets a little j light fall on the production of these J i cheap-priced articles. The typical condi-'. jtion of Japanese cotton mills has ibeen i : described many a time, observes the: j "'Chronicle/ , The great majority of the I ; employees are girls. These are kept in I •the mill compound, and fed and lodged j i there in the most "cheap and nasty" way ' ;possible. The mills are worked in two j ishifte, and the lodging is on "Bos and] I Cox" lines, the day shift lying down in I ithe bedding from -which the night shift jhas just risen—with Tesults about as insanitary as it is possible to conceive. The recruiting agents go througi the country enlistirsg Japan's , superfluous | daughters for the -work. The girls are j told of the good money they will earn I and of the pleasures of the life, and j most of all it i≤ impressed on them how i by this means they will be able to show their filial devotion and help their parents—who, what with taxes and the fiscal system, find it very hard to live. Inevitably consumption is rife in the mil] dormitories, and the girls frequently return to their homes phyekal wrecks, and infect their families with this ray- I aging disease. Indeed, the effects of the j system are so patent that the recruiting, agents find it increasingly difficult to : get young women to listen to their blandishments, and they have to go further afield, even to Korea- The direct consequence of allowing this system to con- j tinue is exactly the opposite of what is ! intended when the Factory Act 3= hung up from time to time at the instance of those who set dividends above human- j itv. fVery few of the young women rc-| j main at work in the mills for any length of time, and the standard of work consequently remains very low. 3ad work is lie chief handicap on Japanese industry, but the results of an endeavonr to improve technique are slow in showing themselves, while the returns from overwork and under-payment are immediate, and so long as Japan has superfluous! daughters and is utterly callous as to their welfare, foreign competition can be met. It is rather odd that nrhile Japan should think it such a tremendously mv 1 pertant thing to supply the Chinese with, cheaper cotton than Manchester or Bombay, she is willing to ruin so many thousand young lives for the purpose.

The latest and most fashionable mode of portraiture is a -curious return to tie old silhouettes. An artist -in London cuts quite a charming picture out of black paper, gives a few -touches in black and white, and the representation is done -while the sitter ■waits. Th 3 whole thing is done in fire minutes and costs sixpence a copy. Miss May Kane. I.S.T.M. (London), Trho ihas been appointed by the board~to superintend the Mackenzie treatment of the' infantile paralysis cases at "Wellington Hospital, has commenced her duties. Miss Eoley. of the Dunedin School of Maesags, has been appointed to the hospital for this department" aieo.