THE CALIGRAPH AND HANSARD.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 5252, 25 July 1885, Page 4

THE CALIGRAPH AND HANSARD.

[WELLINGTON POST.] Few people have the slightest conception of the amount of labor Parliamentary reporters have to undergo in reporting and transcribing by the ordinary methods, the long-winded debates of members of both branches of the Legislature. Each quarter of an hour turn in the Hansard Gallery, for instance, takes the reporter an hour at least to transcribe into fairly legible writing, and frequently a heavy turn cannot be completed before he has to take up another one. The result during past sessions has been disastrous to the health of the reporters on the "New Zealand Hansard staff. Palsied hands from excessive exercise of the muscles, impaired digestion with all its concomitant ills, and haggard countenances and debilitated bodies were the outcome of the laborers of the staff in days now happily gone by. We say gone by, because a brighter era has set in for the reporter, mechanism having been a greater friend to him than his employers, who, draining his life blood by over-work, care little for the consequences, well knowing that fresh human machinery is easily procurable at no additional cost. Since last session Mr Barron, the chief of the Hansard staff, has imported from America seven " caligraphs " or type-writers, whereby the transcriber can sit upright in his chair and transcribe his notes without difficulty or fatigue at a much greater speed, and in a decidedly more legible manner, than by the pen and ink process. The caligraph is an instrument of unique design and beautiful finish, constructed of brass and steel, polished, japanned, and nickel plated. It occupies less than a cubic foot of space, and is an ornament to an office or parlor. The method of operation is easy and effective, and any one can write who knows the letters. Though manipulated similarly to a piano, it requires no such long-continued discipline of the fingers. The key-board in front contains all the letters, figures, and punctuation marks upon little glass discs half an inch in diameter. Each key is touched as desired by the fingers of either hand with a quick staccato movement. The paper is placed between two rollers upon a carriage which travels back and forth upon the top of the machine.- An inked ribbon moves automatically below the paper. The type are fixed at the end of levers suspended about a concentric circle. The depression of any key brings its corresponding type up to the centre, striking it against the ribbon, and making a clear impression of itself upon the paper. As the type falls, the carriage with the paper moves forward the space of one letter, and it is ready for the touch of the finger tips upon the next following letter. By the use of carbon paper, from four to twelve copies can be made at once. Although the Hansard reporters have only had some two or three months' practice (the instruments having arrived a couple of months before the meeting of Parliament), they are able to transcribe their notes at the rate of some 50 words per minute, and the work is more in the nature of recreation than labor. The advantages over and above the saviug of physical exertion will be apdarent when we mention that Major Atkinson was placed in possession of a verbatim report of his speech on the Budget, printed by the caligraph, within two hours of its delivery. Another saving will ultimately be effected. At present members are permitted to correctand alter their speeches in the Hansard proofs, and the cost of the emendations and alterations is very considerable. If, however, as will doubtless be the case before long, the caligraph slips are sent to the members for correction before being printed, there will be no necessity for alterations in the printer's proof. The cost of each machine is only LlB, and in every respect they are worth the intrinsic cost many times over.