ALL CONFIDENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 32, 8 February 1939, Page 6

ALL CONFIDENT.

SUITABLE FOR JOB. £3000 A YEAR POSITION. AMUSING APPLICATIONS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 2. Even in Sydney there are not many £3000 a year positions going, and the pending vacancy caused by the retirement of the general manager of the Sydney County Council electricity tindertaking lias therefore aroused considerable interest. Fifty-two applications have liern received for the position, which involves the control of a f20,000,000 concern. Twelve of the applications are from New Zealand. 10 from New South Wales, and others from the other States of Australia, Great Britain, Samoa, SoutV Africa, Canada, India and the Malay State*. The applicants vary in age from 24 to t!0, and in experience from a cashier in a post office to a Rhodes scholar. The only tiling they appear to have in common is a boundless in their own fitness for the job. Perhaps the greatest confidence was displayed by a man in Queensland, whose application consisted of six short sentences as follows:— "1 noticed in the Press that you need a general manajrer. I hereby apply for the position of same. I have been manager for «ix years. 1 am a second-class engineer and have applied for first class, but have not ijualihed yet. Hut I feel quite capable of carrying out the requirements mentioned in the I'rese. I am 31 years of age. married."

A New Zealand accountant wrote ae follows: "Many men have held down executive jobs by bluff and subterfuge, others by sitting tight and treadiny; warily. Thii* type of management is very prevalent in New Zealand. ... I can walk into any undertaking, larjre or small, ami within half an hour detect any defect in organisation or control. One develops a sixth sense which tells one instinctively. I possess abundance of nervous energy and do not feel disposed to settle down in New Zealand. I can Jive just m>. happily on £4 a week ae on £4000 a year. When I get into harness I can rule with a rod of iron if the occasion demands it, or wink the other eye as the ea*e niav be."

A West Australian engine fitter, after stating that he "had fitted new cylinders and pistons to a vertical tandem compound winding engine." eaid he felt confident that Within the |K>riod specified he could adapt himself to the routine and functions of a general manager. A 2.1-year-old Victorian electrical mechanic submitted as h\n qualification that he "had a comprehensive knowledge of the three phase liiph voltage system and aleo of direct current engineering." A New South Wales electrical mechanic, aged CO. eaid his people had b&en officers in the British Navy for several generations, and he had been trained with their ideals—Fear God, honour the Kinpr. and do your duty without fear or favour. Among other applicants are a retired British oolnnel, a Rhode* Scholar, a former champion athlete, rifle shot and tennis player. One man wrote that he had "made research into the banana trade, written a thesm on the Xijrht Sky and managed a shipping company— varied experience Well calculated to give a sense of propriety, judgment and re«poneibility." One applicant enclosed a reference from A State Governor urging him to etay where he Was.