THE WORKING GIRL'S CLOTHES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 62, 7 December 1918, Page 4

THE WORKING GIRL'S CLOTHES

WHAT SHE PAYS IN SYDNEY. The difference between "pique" and "imitation pique/' between corsets nt is. fid. and corsets at 12s. lljd.; between nightgowns made over from lust ■ summer's blouses .and the articles bought over the counter—with special reductions if you get there between 9.46 a.m. and 10.17$ a.m.; into such recondite matters, says a Sydney paper, did the Board of Trade plunge with the aid of expert .witnesses and very unsophisticated members of the regal profession. The education of Mr. Heydon and his colleagues proceeds apace. The investigations of the board into what, constitutes a living wage for the woman worker, have now reached the stage where it only remains for counsel for the unions and the employers to placo their respective final arguments before the board.

The Inst of the evidence consisted mainly in a battle between what amount of clothing one eet of witnesses said a girl could exist on and what another and' equally positivo set averred was essential to her clothed comfort. The manager of a big retail establishment brought in a consignment of boots and wearing apparel, which, he stated, represented the full and free choice of a girl in his employ given carte blanche to select a year's requirements. There was one- of everything that most 'people are aware that a woman wears, and one of some things that are past the ken of the ordinary man unless he be a professional laundryman. The witness detailed the merits and prices of each, after which they were gravely passed from board >meonber to board member, (hence to the Bar table, where thoy wero piled by callous male hauds in an indiscreet heap. These were introduced as exhibits on the part of the employers, and were intended to show what a girl could buy to get the maximum value for the minimum of expense. Then the witnesses for the unioire proceeded to say what they thought of the exhibits, what time the board most industriously with pen and paper sought to follow the distinctions tnat were set up. The challenged garments were dug dp again and redistributed. ■ Towards the end of the afternoon most of the members of the board were getting the essentially fominine knack of tickling a given piece of material, from which any woman is enabled to deduce the amount of dressing used per yurd, the number of washings it will tear, tho shrinking index, the effect .011 Tom's or Mary's constitution, right down through the vista of durability to the moment where it ends up as a dust cloth or a patch for a husband's shirt. Other evidence was to tho effect that there are some 80 restaurants in and about Sydney where a woman can socure in comfort a decent meal for nineponce. The story was told of tie existence of a women's hostel run as a commercial proposition, where single rooms or cubicles may bo obtained for from 4s. 6d. to 7s. Gd. ii week; where there are six hot baths available without extra cost; where breakfast, dinner, or tea (each of three courses) mny be obtained at an all-round rato of sixpence, or a breakfast "tray" for fcurpence; where there is a library and a living room with on organ (a piano would lend itself to the base uses of ragtime), and where the only restriction is that you must bo home before 11 o'clock unless you have given notice, in which case somebody waits up for you. Unfortunately it was elicited from the witness that the is at the moment full up, and that it had been generally in that condition for some time.