THE TRAINING OF POST OFFICE JUNIORS.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20381, 30 October 1931, Page 13

THE TRAINING OF POST OFFICE JUNIORS.

TO THE EDITOB OF THE PBCSS; Sir, —During this time of stress the Government injist seek every possible ujeans of reducing expenditure. One case of wastage is in our Post Office system of giving homework to juniors in preparing them for higher stations. The homework idea is good, but - why not confine it solely to necessary points? It is taken for grantcd r that" » student joining must,, be intellectually sound, and possesses" a good knowledge of Arithmetic and English, while handwriting shoull be at least fairly good. The home>vorK attends to these accomplishments in any case, but why on earth they should waste their time studying geometry, magnetism, and, electricity as well is beyond lue. What good does it do them? The Post Office keeps, and presumably, trains, a staff of engineers .whose work requires a knowledge of magnetism aha electricity, and that should be -sufficient. The Department must waste tons of paper-each year-in sending.out she&yea

of questions and lessons, while hundreds ol pounds sterling must be squandered in material- for printing these papers, in empbying typists, and highly paid instructors to check worK that can't possibly do the students atotn of good. . Though these things were learnt w the good old days, when the offices were smaller and a Postmaster had to b© more of a. handy man, if anyone can show me how_ our PXX staffs are improved by swotting the subjects plained of, I will be both, surprised and pldased to think that the money is not . wasted. —Yours, etc.* > ALMOST WHITE: October 28th, 1931. [When this letter was referred to the Chief Postmaster, Mr P. J. Shanks, he said: It is obviously an advantage for the junior members of» the Department to be as well educated as possible, particularly in the subjects which will be of most use to them. Uor that purpose a .Departmental correspondence school was created m Welj lington some years ago. The studentspay fees for their tuition and thus there is no unnecessary expense , incurred by the Department. The three subjects mentioned —geometry, magnetism, and electricity—are of considerable use to'students in the mechanicians' branch of the service, most of the staff ofwhich is recruited from tho junior ranks of the Department. Some of the subjects are necessary for the draughting officers, and others are Honorary for technical officers, other than those in the engineering branch. All junior officers are required to pass qualifying examinations before they are promoted, and these -examinations, serve a vefy useful purpose in determining the fitness of the candidates.]