THE STRAIN OF THE " STRIPPER.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 28 January 1914, Page 3

THE STRAIN OF THE " STRIPPER.

The yard is full of the raw material — tons of it. The lumbering waggon with its four-hofse team making its clumsy blundering noisy way along the rough ' road is hourly adding to the .stack, of the close bundled flax The stripper is working at top speed. For over eleven hours that day has it been working. The day itself is drawing to a close. The sun sank iv golden glory half an hour ago. Grey is creeping overall. Still die flax is being carried to the stripper bench and the stripper minder wet, with sweat feeds his Hi a chine inethanically, swiftly, a ton an hour. As the flax is fed into its jaws the stripper shrieks and screeches and snarls its strain as it rends and rives and rips—to be fu-ard miles away. It lias been shrieking its song ail da}', but in the quiet hour of the evening its seems more piercing than usual. Now its harsh diurnal stiain is nearly done. A sobbingshriek a snarl, a low screech, ahum, the machinery stops; and en the sky line the empty wagon with clanking noise lumbers over the hill into the darkening grey beyond.