FACTORY LIFE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 11

FACTORY LIFE.

FOR WELLINGTON GIELS. One hears a great deal nowadays of the way the young. Now Zealand girl, is fascinated with factory life. It is because of tho factories that the dressmakers of Wellington are'crying aloud, and crying in vain, for girls to sew for them, and it is the lure of tho factory that leaves the kitchens of the town desolate, and beguiles the nursemaid from tho care. of. the iuf ant citizen. It is easier to speak vaguely of the factories than- to say where tfiey, are, or what is the charm they exert. Technically, the workrooms of those dressmakers who complain that the girls they, want have gone off to factories are factories also, and it is possible that more girls are employed there ,than in any other occupation in Wellington, next of course to the Idomestio workers. Tailoresses are numerous in Wellington, and .the match factory of course employs I a number of girls, while in the boot' factories there are between fifty and a hundred girl operatives at work. _ Crease's factory is frequently mentioned in connection with girls' employment, 60 to that large building jhe writer made her way, asking permission to go through the various departments and see the girls at work. Here, as in some other factories, the chief interest to the visitor is in seeing the work that is turned out, not in.watching the girls as they- do it,for their duties aTe mainly, mechanical. In this factory one finds people at work grinding coffee, and ginger, and-pepper, making jam,- and jellies, .and confectionery, boiled sugar. sweets, and chocolates and caramels, bottling fruit, making essences—do we realise that essences of lemon' and vanilla are not imported but made in Wellington?—preserving lemon peel, and making the, tins for all their powdery,- fragrant products. ■'•-.•• , But the interesting part of the work is not done by the girls. They could not lift the huge boilers in which the-jam is.made, 20 gallons at a time, nor stand over the boiling sugar, nor manage the milling processes. For them the lighteri woTk is -reserved, of filling the tins and

bottles with-, fruit: and-jam, labelling the tins, making the' silver packets for the tea; and lining, boxes and tins with thin paper, and weighing and filling everything, from the small.bag of rolled oats to the little packets of jelly crystals or still smaller-packets oi- dried, herbs. • They have.variety in their, work; for iwhc.ii one thing, is finished.they-turn'to another, of perhaps .quite , a different character, ..but all the,time it is mechani-cal,-and a,.girl, niust have gained comparatively little in value when she- has become expert, at the iwork- she is set to do. ~, ■■.'.:. ~.. .•■ ■■ : •:• ,;,. r -...-,

The same is true of the girls employed in tho printing trade, though here there is opportunity for- greater advance in some cases. Perhaps taking the number of girls employed in the Government Printing: Office into consideration, the printing trade absorbs more Wellington girls than, anything except dressmaking and tailoring. . i A visit to Messrs. " Whitcombe . and Tombs's printing house gives a very good idea of the class: of work done, though of course there is not the same variety that there is in the Government Office, ,

whose' productions range"; from postage stamps to Parliamentary . There are some , thing 6. that one , knows instinctively have never been made; they have simply conie into : being—cheques, for oxample. The one; important thing about a cheque is' the handwriting that goes on it,; rand it is' a surprise ■ to discover'. a place where , they'' are actually being printed, and printed by, the hundred. It is the duty of. girls employed at "Whitcombe and Tombs's to numebr these cheques, 'and very .accurately' it has to be done. There are other things to be numbered by. hand—pages,'of books, and labels and tickets, and the machines for the purpose can easily, be' worked by the girls in charge. Another girl has a ruling machine, by moans of which sheets are ruled with long red linos, and another works an embossing machine, turning out stamped note paper, while various processes in bookbinding'may be entrusted to. girls..' w ;■ ] But speaking generally, the interesting work, and the ne'avy work,' is done by. men, the girls merely feeding the machines with cheques or leaves or notepaper. It is work that calls for , care and accuracy, and a girl who is intelligent and diligent will make herself of value to the firm but watching the work one does not see where the fascination of it comos in. The rooms are light niid airy, thework does not look hard, r either'does- it look alluring. The visitor to a printing factory is still puzzled to know why a girl should choose that work in preference ; to something more- distinctly feminine. /•'■ It was. suggested that,a firm of dealers in chemicals, Murdoeks, in Victoria Ptneet, employed a number of (oris, but

on visiting their office it was found that their works are in Dunedin, where between fifty and sixty girls are- employed. Still, their sample room contained specimens of much work done by feminine fingers. There were bottles of e*ery imaginable shape, essences, perfumes o£ every grade, the corks covered with white caps cunningly put on, bottles in packets, bottles labelled, powders and croams, and herbs and ointments, everything put up in the ■ neatest fashion. Here again one was surprised at the vc.riety and the finished look of the rrticles produced in New Zealand. One had riot realised, for instauce, that lavender water could be made liere in quantity, m<l having learned that fact, it was disappointing to find that the : flowers had to be imported. Surely New Plymouth or Nelson, or a dozen other places, could produce lavender of .quality as good as the South of England., Whether the North •of Auckland can compete with sad Messina for lemons, or Sicily for vanilla, must yet be learned. All this packing of chemist's wares is pleasant work for. girls, the principals say. work .that requires deftness and dexterity, and that pays well, and while Dunedin probably employs moro girls than .Wellington yet does, in this,direction also quite a number of Wellington girls .are being- employed. The jar of ointment, the bottle of invigorating tonic, the beautifying powder—these things must be attractively, arrayed, and sent forth on their journey into the world, and perhaps one may find that the girls employed in doing this are merely following the footsteps of that very feminine person of .olden times, the still-room maid. One may reckon these factories as having a distinctly feminine claim.