In the Hibbert and Buckland factory, the warehouse stands at the corner of the large L-shaped workroom where the linking, seaming, inspection and mending departments meet. Girls who are to become operatives in one of these departments have, after a few months‘ work in the warehouse grown thoroughly accustomed to factory life and are familiar with the ways in which the various tasks are performed. They are, for this reason, in a far better position to decide which branch of the work they will take up, than if they had been thrust straight into one one of the specialised departments on leaving school.

Stockings are knitted to order, usually in lots of hundreds of dozens of pairs at a time. After the yarn has been issued to the knitters, a ticket is issued for the work and this ticket, or a similar one, accompanies the stockings through every stage of manufacture. As the stockings in batches are returned to the warehouse between the various processes they are counted and checked against the information that appears on this work ticket. Any discrepancies in their number or condition can, in this way, be checked at the earliest moment and put right.

Dyeing Warehouse.

Dyeing Warehouse