GIRL’S “JOLLY” HOME SECRETARY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 231, 19 December 1927, Page 3

GIRL’S “JOLLY” HOME SECRETARY

CHAFF IN FACTORY NO TIME FOR NIGHT CLUBS Chatting and laughing, Sir William Joynson Hicks, the Home Secretary, walked arm-in-arm with a pretty facvory girl, between crowds of her cheering comrades, at Blackburn recently. He was resuming his tour of factories and workshops in search of firsthand information in connection with the proposed Factory Bill. And he certainly got it—and at first hand, too. It was at the Pioneer Mill, Blackburn, that he encountered a group of mill girls, who gave him “ a bit of their mind,” as they put it. “Do you find your work arduous?” asked Sir William. “Hard enough, lad,” came the reply from one bright girl. “You look as though you enjoy it, anyhow,’ said the Home Secretary. “I have to work hard for my daily bread, putting in 14 hours a day pretty regularly. “I leave my house at a quarter to ten in the morning, and when the House of Commons is sitting I rarely get home till after midnight.” “But thou doesn’t call that work,” came the laughing comment of another girl. Sir William joined in the laughter, shaking his finger roguishly at the girl. He added: “Oh, dear, no. I am just passing the time away.” “And you don’t get home till morning,” shouted another daring soul. “I hope thou doesn’t go to those wicked night clubs instead of going home to thy lass.” “Night clubs?” exclaimed Sir William, “why I rarely get any time at home, let alone amusement, and only see my wife on a Sunday.” “Thou art lucky,” was a man’s laconic remark. “There is the man as I know would put in 14 hours a day willingly if he could only see his wife once a week.” “Now, Jim, thou knows thou could not get on without Missus,” twitted the girls.