A. AND T. INGLIS'S BOOT FACTORY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2105, 28 June 1894, Page 35

A. AND T. INGLIS'S BOOT FACTORY.

At the rear of the splendid warehouse of Messrs A. and T. Inglis in George street, and fronting Great King street, stands their boot factory, a two-storyed brick building, which has been erected within the past few years. The firm at one time competed with the wholesale boot manufacturers but have retired from that contest, and the bootmaking branch of their business is now confined to supplying the boot and shoe department of their own retail establishment. This is in itself a " large order " necessitating the employment of a large number of hands, who enjoy the great comfort of steady work with no such drawbacks as half-time ; and the withdrawal from the wholesale trade has proved satisfactory in another way, as, the evil of "cutting" being avoided, the firm have been enabled to produce an article of a better quality than was previously the case. As a rule there is not much care expended upon making a boot factory a neat-looking buildtog, but, in the case of Messrs A. and T. Inglis's premises, while the internal arrangements are

such as to admit of the work of the factory being accomplished with facility and economy, the aesthetic taste of the by-passer is not shocked by the exterior, fronting King street, for it is distinctly presentable, and much more handsome than the exteriors of the bulk of similar building* in Dunedin. The factory contains an abundance of accommodation, and its rooms are all admirably lighted and well ventilated, while each also contains a fireplace, On the ground floor are a store room and packing room (the latter fitted with every convenience for packing), and a large apartment, its dimensions being 60ft by 30ft, in which the larger machines are fitted up, and accommodation is provided for a great many men and boys, who are engaged as benchers and fitters. There is one finishing bench in a corner of the room which is almost sacred. It is the bench from which an operative was elevated four years ago to a seat in the House of Representatives. It has not been used since its then occupant worked at it, and it is being kept, they say in the factory, for the Use of the senator against the time of his returning td it — a time which the senator himself perhaps trusts may be in the very distant future. The machines ia the room are 'bedded in concrete and include contrivances for leather cutting and sole and heel cutting, and Blake's sole sewing machine. The latter machine was patented, but the exclusive rights of the manufacturer expired some time ago. It is believed that few machines have given a greater return to the inventor than has been derived from this sole-sewing. machine t for in addition to the price paid for the machine itself, the purchaser was required to pay a royalty on the number of stitches sewn by it, a dial, similar in design to that which is attached to gas meters, registering each stitch as it is made. A lift in the corner of the room communicates with the Upper floor of the building, where the female workers carry on their labours, access being gained to it by them by a staircase leading from an entrance entirely apart from the room on the ground floor. In this department the cutting of the leather into the necessary parts required in the manufacture of boots and shoes, the preparation of the uppers* the finishing of the boots, and a variety of dther processes are performed by employees of whom experience ha 3 made expert operatives. The apartment contains' accommodation for over 100 girls, and in the factory, as a whole, provision is made for over 200 operatives — a number much in excess of the total at present employed. The machinery in the building is driven by a four-horse power Otto silent gas engine, and this engine also supplies the motive power to the lathes and circular saw in a cabinet factory which, as well as an upholstery factory, is situated in contiguity to tho bootmaking premises!