SUNDAY AT THE SHELL FACTORY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 193, 21 July 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

SUNDAY AT THE SHELL FACTORY.

At a certain shell factory tiio week-end relief workers include artists, authors, Generals' wives, dukes' daughters, hunting women, Ministers' wives, golfers, women drawn from every branch of the educated classes. At half-past nine punctually the Sunday workers, in their blue overalls and tightly-fitting blue caps, and largo yellow gloves, each wearing a circular badge of white enamel lettered with "W.R.51.W." standing for Women Relief Munition Workers, walk into the factory and take their places before their machines. There is no hesitation or unnecessary waste of time. Each worker has the same machine every Sunday and knows where to find it. At five minutes past one a ten minutes' service is held in the old Parish Church, which is in the vicinity of the factory. When the short service is finished, a rush made for the canteen, where, on payment of a ninepenny ticket, authors and artists, accustomed to dainty lunches in Soho restaurants; Ministers' wives, with the remembrance of past Cabinet banquets in their minds; and all the other women, every one of whom is accustomed to the dainties of life, sit down at tnbles covered with American cloth iV'fcre a plateful of not too well cooked "joint and vegetables," and a mug full of water, and enjoy this roughly-served "dinner" as much as any meal they have ever eaten in their lives.