HANSARD RECORD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 109, 11 May 1939, Page 6

HANSARD RECORD.

FULL-TIME SYSTEM. REPORTING PARLIAMENT. NEW CONDITIONS OF SERVICE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. The terms of a recent announcement of the Public Service Commissioner regarding appointments of Hansard reporter* forecast an important change in the method of stalling this branch of the legislative service. Future appointments are to be on a full-time basis with a -iilary up 1o flil.'i per annum, and the appointee* are to lie utilised when Parliament is not .sitting, in various reporting, secretarial and other responsible duties. Verbatim reporting of Parliamentary debates a highly skilled task, and it is not ea-y to recruit, this service, for the ren.-on that shorthand speeds of about 200 words per minute are rarely attained. A speaker is noticeably slow in nt I era nee at l."i() words per minute. and the average pace, is about ISO words in that time. While it is comparatively esiriy to psecure shorthand writers capable of making accurate records on the l">0 word per minute ba-is, the numbers who arc proficient up to 200 words per uinutu appear to be extremely limited. Staff Totals Nine. ITaiu-anl was once recruited almost entirely from journalistic ranks, but the relative conditions havii >o changed that it is many years since newspaper reporters transferred from that interesting sphere into Parliamentary reporting for the ollicial record, although at first glance, the remuneration seems attractive. Han.-ard men under the old terms of their engagement were required for the se.-.sion only, an average period of four months in the year. The staff totals nine, of which one receives £.">.">(> per annum, and eight iltot). Half a. dozen typi.-ls have been introduced of recent years to the shorthand writers in making prompt transcripts, as members expect to receive the full record of their (-peerhc.s within an hour or so after delivery. Tin- quick production of the verbatim record i,s made possible by an interesting system of team-work. The ollicial reporters each take a "turn" of five minutes, and if everything is working (-moothly, the reporter who recorded in the Jii>t live minutes of the hour has time to complete the transct ipt before tli' , ninth Hansard man is taking his turn in the House. However, if the Legislative Council is also sitting, another verbatim record must be taken. u lid the transcribing cannot be completed before the next reporting turn must be taken. 100.000 Words a Day. During an average day's sitting of the House of Represent dives the Hood; of talk runs close to a total of 100,000 ; words, which it printed in a newspaper would monopolise about ten pages. Members of the Press (iallery are therefore obliged to make a representative (■election of the most interesting features, and they provide a survey of tin; committee discus-ions, which are not recorded in Hansard. Will the human dement always have to be relied upon in taking the full record of Parliamentary talk'/ An experiment now being tried in the Supreme Court in Wellington nia_f have some significance future of Parliamentary reporting*. Supreme Court proceedings are recorded on a dictaphone, a staff of typists in an adjoining office making the written record from the cylinders. Thie system is said to be working smoothly, saving a considerable amount of time in making the trmwwipts, as the records can be distributed among many typists. Really high-speed shorthand up to verbatim standard seem* to be somewhat of a disappearing art, and it niav be that if Parliament encounters increasing difficulties in securing suitable recruits for Hansard, that it may ultimately adopt the electrical method of recording debates. The present system, based on shorthand, costs about £0000 per annum to provide the typed record of members' speeches, and over £5000 to print results is the Parliamentary Debates, the circulation of which is almost entirely free.