SAYING TO MARRY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19833, 23 June 1934, Page 11

SAYING TO MARRY

Eighty per cent, of the factory hands in Japan are girls who go to work for a period of three or four years in order to save enough money to marry. These girls, with very few exceptions, are lodged free in dormitories attached to the factories, states an exchange. These dormitories are in large, airy buildings standing within their own compounds, furnished in Japanese style with “tatami” on the floor and the “futons,” consisting of mattress, quilt, pillow, and sheets. Regulations order “futons” to be aired and sheets to be washed at regular intervals. The rooms, which usually accommodate 16, have to have a minimum height of 7ft, while each occupant is entitled to a floor space of two mats of 6ft by 6ft. The same sleeping room cannot be shared by two or more groups of workers whose hours of retiring differ because of shifts. The ventilation is adequately controlled by sliding “shoji,” the use of a common towel is prohibited, and so on. Regulations as to hygiere are posted on the walls. Spacious tiled bathrooms with an ample supply of hot and cold water adjoin the dormitories, and as in all Japanese dwellings, the rooms ana corridors glisten from much scrubbing i and sweeping, while the girls look as if long periods of the day were set aside for personal polishing. The dining rooms as well as the kitchens have tiled floors, the dining rooms usually being ■ furnished with wooden benches and tables, though in some cases the work- ; ers eat in the old-fashioned manner, l squatting on the “tatami.” In fact, ’ in matters of cleanliness it would be difficult to find anything in Europe to ■ surpass the hygienic conditions of the Japanese factory.