UNKNOWN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 96, 16 January 1918, Page 9

UNKNOWN

A WH TIME ECONOMY DEPARTMENT

PEEP AT A BIG SIDE-LINE

In the clothing department in. partir 'Ciilar tho AVar Office is ,- practising a •praiseworthy economy; mul saving ."money, handsomely into the bargain. 'The main receiving (knots are at Akloreliot, Chester, Heading, Huntingdon, ■Leeds, Dublin, and Lnrbert, where the 'clothing is sent from the battlefield and ironic camps. Large quantities are also teent by tho Overseas Expeditionary iForcps in France, . Egypt, Salonika, ■Malta, and Gibraltar. A lingo.business ■enterprise has : been built up at Doras? Iniry, in. tho heavy woollen district of "Yorkshire, by which discarded uniforms and other, articles, of.clothing are'dealt Tvith in such-a way as-to save the na-. tion hundreds ottlimissnds-of pounds.-, S'nce tli? ,vorli has.beon- in'progress kbont 45,000,000 separate art-iclw'have 'bem dealt with,- and- these include. 4.100,0,'K) jncket-s,. pairs, of ; trous?rs, 6?n,000 (jroatcoats." 903,000 pairs ■of riding breeches, 2,700,000 puttees, 3.50f1,C00 shirts. 856.000 caps. 1.800,000 r.nrdioinn inekptp. 13.000,000 Bocks." 2,700.030 pairs of drawers, 6.000,0 m ptlier article?. This- cartworn- clothing coniPK to De'wFh'nry in is run i.n.-tri'oks stri'icht into the big sheds at the three rnilwav-sta-tions. Here thp. bags are riDped open and the-contents-spread nut annncsf. ithe "p'ek-ers," whose nimble fincrors and ■trained eyes quickly discover irhieh carjiioiitK r' ]p ,,i r ] >,p se t 8 . 5 j3 0 f or rpnova%ion and which are-only fit for disposal to r>ig merchants and others, who put ■them "through their sppcial machinery prcivy-;ilory to Hie : r Vine. irw]r : :v----again into army clothing'.in the local faciyir.ips. . Between ninefy ond a Imn-dre-1 truck loads have' been received in e day.

There are close on 400 women sorters employed, who do their work so thoroughly that nothing is wasted. Garments which are beyond .repair- are carefull}, looked, over and sorted into. woollens,, worsteds, linseys,- and .-angolas, and 'other articles -capable of being restored are sent to a local firm of dyers and clean?rs, by i;hom they are fcleancd; Then they are repaired and J-eissued to the troops or. for the use-of Gentian nrisoners of war. In ton months the value of produce received iand 'disposed of at Dewsbury has reached tha sum of £658,650, while the twoithirds value of garments recovered fer reissue at all depots has been £341,502, making the handsome, total of £993,152. (Against this, expenditure; including enJisted men's pay, civilian wages, cleaning and repairing.: and so on, ras iantounte.d' to £67.308, showing a, net Eredit 'balance. of. £931,844..

Articles which are marked for lags iare reconverted into their origiflal rav istate by special machinery peculiar to the heavy woollen district. ind vised again in'the manufacture of,:wiy clothing for tho Army.- Up to the present sales of rags to merchants a.vl manufacturers in Dewsbury and neighbourhood." have amounted to over 1)1,000,'000. As showing the :omplc-teno a s of the arrangements to save, it may be explained that cotton rags are sent to [Woolwich Arsenal to be used as wipers and cleaning rags.- Cardigan jackets are repaired with tape taken from old fnittees and darned with wool found in discarded "housewives," which ska provide the needles and. thread vsud Sy the'repairers. ■'• '■ • •

Amongst the many valuable things Irwovered may be mentioned leather patches from riding breeches, £500 ■worth of gold lace, and thousands of ehij'ts for use by German prisoners of War, while soldiers' equipment, belts, pouches ,and so on, is !:eiit ijack_to oidnance'depbts'for'use, and thousands of towels arc. washed-and'issued again, DBlue trousers are reserved for tbe v:se of German prisoners, snd woo'len Scarves and belts are cleaned and prepared for sending out to the troops. There is plenty of evidence that, w'nat'ever its sins of extravagance in past Hays, the War Office has i-,t last'mended its ways, and is now fully launched on a campaign of economy and good management, at least as far as the soldier's bid clothing is concerned.