LOVE A DUCK

NZ Truth, Issue 1199, 22 November 1928, Page 19

LOVE A DUCK

ONE of those indiarubber ducks, which used to be used for pacifying of babies m baths, but which —m a gigantic edition— Miss 1928 takes swimming with her. Take your pick of crocodiles, sea-serr pents or duck-byilled platypi.

taken to- another, department, where clever, girls quickly machine along the back of the stocking, putting m the required seam. These girls are paid by piecework and are very deft. Then comes the hardest work m the business—closing the toe. • The girl who does this must thread. three hundred tiny silk stitches on as many needles for every stocking she '^handles — so plenty of concentration is required. • The stocking as slipped over, a metal leg and examined for any N flaw. Then it disappears to the murky depths of the dye works, where men are employed, for the heat and the constant standing make such labor too trying for girlS. Into great washing machines, full Of the required," shade of dye, stockings are slipped, -contained m a bag of the exact .shade which they are to be dyed. They are dried m another machine, which, by centrifugal pressure, expels all water m a, manner which would make ' it very dear to the harassed housewife's heart. :• Then another odd corner of. the mill takes'): the stage.- The stockings are fitted over aluminium "legs," which are hollow and steam-heated from within. The. device at once completes their drying, shapes and presses them; but the effect, m a dim, light, looks rather as if a flock of. cjiorus girls were standing on their heads. Then comes the mating of stockings which, like the machines, have their own- individuality, and won't be paired with just any old .sock; the / testing for flaws, packing _and labelling, all work done by the deft .fingers of mill girls. The girls have< their own big-dining-room, and a breathing space m the shape of a. flat roof, which, if it wasn't for Wellington's rather badly-behaved climate, would make , an excellent tennis court, and whichv commands a sbleridfd view of the* 'city. Afternoon and morning tea is" provided for each girl, and, to . judge by the "rosy faces of- most of them, life m the mill is a happy business for all ; concerned.