AN IDEAL FACTORY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 9

AN IDEAL FACTORY

Buskin spoke of the nobility of .'labour and the i joy in it. We may not always agree with him, especially in the dog days; but some employers at leasti are trying to make it a joy for ever for their hands, and in the control of contented staffs they are probably saving themselves thousands of pounds. A factory at Alexandria, one of the industrial suburbs of Sydney, comes to mind. ' More, than 100 girls are employed there in making matches, and'it is a guinea to a gooseberry j that ' you. could not get them to change their jobs. Listen to this. In the luncheon hour the management not only supplies the hands with hot soup every day in a commodious luncheon room, but ihej. also provide a special pianist, so that the girls can dance or sing, just as their fancy dictates, when the meal is over. The management' have gone even farther. They have had three splendid ironite tennis courts laid down at the back of the factory, bordered with grass and treeSj and with little shade kiosks scattered about, so that ( the girls can indulge in tennis if they wish. Eighteen months ago, when the courts were put down,'none of the girls could handle a racquet. In fact, they probably regarded tennis as the preserve of the aristocracy.- But with a practice alley for beginners, they have become tennis fans, and they rattle off the jargon of the game as well as any seasoned player. Then, after a game on the courts, there are hot and cold showers for the girls before they resume work, or before they leave the' courts, after work in the evening. - ,The manager says-that after travelling m most countries of the world he finds that the Australian, if well treated, gives better results than the average workei- abroad. We only . want golfnow for the' wharf, lumpers and the municipal council's road men, and limousines to take us all home from work, and the, world will be quite a bright old place. •