IN DEMAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 93, 21 April 1939, Page 9

IN DEMAND.

GIRLS FOR FACTORIES. CLOTHING TRADE PROBLEM. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. There Iβ at present a distinct shortage of female labour, which is hitting the clothing industry hard. "Girle cannot be obtained for factory labour, no matter how attractive a proposition is placed before them. There simply aren't the girls available," one manufacturer said. "It is not. a joking matter to eay that one factor responsible is the declining birth rate. There me fewer girls in the country to-day than there were a few years ago." The increase of work in lactone* which- has revealed this shortage of necessary labour is largely attributable to the imposition of import restrictions. Orders are pouring in lines which formerly had been brought in from overeeas, and at the present time the extent of orders being received ie greater than the output. This appliee in particular to woollen mills, which are very active. The mills are taking in orders, but they cannot be kept up with, largely because machines are beinjr operated by inexperienced staffs. There are a few manufacturers whose activities are hindered not thrOujrh a shortage of labour, but through a shortage of material. These manufaeturere have been used to making goods from imported materials, which have been either cut out altogether or severely restricted under conditions of recently imposed regulations. v - ..'