Auditor Joins Institute

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31563, 28 December 1967, Page 2

Auditor Joins Institute

Mrs Margaret A. Rowe, an auditor in the Department of Education, has been elected an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries by the institute’s council in Ix>ndon.

She is the first Christchurch woman to be elected since 1953 and she joins six other women members in Christchurch.

Mrs Rowe is a heartening example to others attempting higher education part-time and by correspondence. She decided to study for the university entrance examination six years after leaving school. Now she is working toward a bachelor of commerce degree at the University of Canterbury. “1 had always wanted to go on and study at school but felt 1 had to go out to work. It was only after I married and had a home of my own that I had the opportunity to do so,” she said yesterday. After two years at Avonside High School Mrs Rowe

continued her education by correspondence at her parent’s farm at Inchbonnie, on the West Coast. Her first job was with the Bank of New Zealand in Greymouth and she worked there with the Ministry of Works before being transferred to Christchurch. Her interest in accountancy and allied subjects grew when she was given leave from work to study accountancy at the Technical Institute. Although this was aimed mainly at helping her in the book-keeping exams for university entrance she then made up her mind to work for the London institute’s examinations.

Although her election to the institute will not mean instant promotion “every qualification helps,” and a cash grant goes with election to the institute. Was all the hard work worth whole? Very much so, said Mrs Rowe. “I’ve found it very rewarding. I was getting very stale at my work but now I take a much greater interest and get more satisfaction from it,” she said.