A FLOURISHING INDUSTRY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17078, 6 July 1926, Page 9

A FLOURISHING INDUSTRY.

EFFECT of the shingle. “ V\ All England can learn a lesson from Luton, the now recognised centre for the manufacture of women’s hats, which is to-day experiencing a remarkable wave of industrial prosperity. Ninety-nine out of every hundred working men and women are to day in employment there. Wages are high, and in many cases £8 to £lO a week is going into workingclass households. There are only sixteen unemployed in the whole hat-making industry, which provides work for 14,000 persons. In the whole town, with its 00,000 inhabitants, there are only 301 unemployed. One remarkable feature of the industry is the number of women who earn high wages. Cases are known where the mother and daughters in a family do the work and earn £2 to £3 a week each, while “father” stays at home and looks affor the house. “Women’s fashions in hats have changed, with the result that the pendulum of prosperity lifts swung over from the •milliners’ shops to Luton,” says Air. Mussev, assistant secretary of the Chamber of Commerce. “The silk-covered, heavily trimmed hats have been displaced by the ‘pull-over’ style, which are manufactured in Luton. Shingling has had much to do with the change. Again, the manufacture of felt bats for men has been largely taken up by Luton j manufacturers. Once upon a time there was a great ‘straw-boater’ industry Imre. ■The decline in popularity of the ‘boat- | er’ has meant that there are now only j three or four firms manufacturing llwm, while Micro are 400 linns making women’s ‘pull-over’ hals in felt or straw and men’s soft hats. Cheap electricity is also helping the prosperity. Eleetricitws cheaper here than in hundreds of other manufacturing towns. Engineering firms are now coming to Luton. Last year there were nearly 7000 men and women employed in engineering works here. To-day the figure is much greater.”