WORK OF TELEGRAPHISTS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17251, 19 August 1916, Page 13

WORK OF TELEGRAPHISTS.

[From Our Correspondent.] SYDNEY, August TO,

One of the pointer made by the Post and Telegraph Association in the claims made on behalf of members, now being: heard by Air Justice Powers in tbe Federal Arbitration Court, is that tiro hours of telegraphists in Australia are excessive,' the work ill-paid, and 1 the system of speeding-up the Department a menace to the operators’ health. In support of tbe detailed allegations on this score the * association yesterday called as a witness Dr Chisholm Ross, one of tho leading specialists in the Commonwealth on mental and nervous diseases. Dr Ross stated that he had examined men suffering from telegraphist’s cramp. The symptoms included visible spasms of the hand or arm, loss of flexibility, and pain or discomfort before fatigue. It was caused by the weakening, or breakdown, of the central controlling mechanisms of tho nerves. He had inspected the work ot telegraphists, and had come to tho conclusion that to do the work one would need to ha almost superhuman. A condition of tension was visible on almost every face, and evidence of weariness,/ attributable to brain fag and other causes. The work required a degree of mental alertness and a great deal of strain. He could not imagine the work becoming completely mechanical. Ho did nob know how the officers managed to carry on for six hears at the rate ho had seen-them working. The spare timo obtained in broken shifts would not be of much value, as there would be considerable mental tension, owing, to the fact of having to get back to work The disease would be practically incurable if one had to return to the same kind of work. To Mr Skewcs (for the Public Service Commissioner): Thirty-six- hours. work a week was too long. If men were worse treated in England, It d.d not follow that the hours were not- too long here. • , • s To Mr Wilson (for the association). The strained look on the men’s faces was tho first thing that struck him on entering the room. Ho had never seen it before in any other body oi men at work.