TALE OF A SHIRT.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 243, 14 October 1929, Page 9

TALE OF A SHIRT.

ULSTER AS WORLD CENTRE.

TALK TO ROTARIANS.

IMPORTANT LOCAL INDUSTRY,

Speaking to-day to fellow Rotarians on his classification, Mr. Fred Ambler, an Auckland manufacturer, stated that his subject was "The Tale of the Shirt. 3 '

Commencing in humorous vein Mr. Ambler said the question might be asked, "What is a shirt?" to which the reply was sometimes given, "It is something to fasten a stud to." It could be said that it started with neck or nothing, quickly ran to waist and thereby hung a tale. In sporting parlance it represented the last evidence of confident assurance when one was advised to put his shirt on such and such a horse. Proceeding to outline the evolution of the shirt-making industry, the speaker stated that a man named Rogers had the idea in London that there was scope for shirt-making and because labour wa" cheaply obtainable in Ireland he started his operations in that country in the county of Ulster. He employed girls to do the sewing, and after a while set up local distributing stations to dispose of the finished article. To-day Ulster was still one of the world's centres in the shirt-making industry. An important development took place when a Frenchman named Mercer evolved the system whereby cotton could be treated to give a. shiny finish and mercerised goods came on the market. After stating that later conditions had materially altered for the better since Tom Hood wrote his famous "Song of the Shirt," Mr. Ambler detaiiled the manufacturing operations current in the industry to-day. Specialisation in construction required most careful supervision. There were 26 different parts to a shirt, and if any single one became misplaced considerable trouble ensued. He believed in piecework, and his experience was that it had increased production 25 per cent, whilst costs had gone down. Incidentally he mentioned that under the modern system a girl could fasten 3000 buttons in an hour. Fashion took quite a big part in the industry, for, despite all that might be thought to the contrary, the young man of to-day was as fastidious as his sister. Speaking generally, New Zealand fashions in shirts closely followed those in vogue in England. Speaking as a manufacturer, Mr. Ambler claimed that New Zealand shirts were as good in quality and better in price than the imported article and the industry was deserving of the utmost encouragement.