ASTOUNDING SPEED

Northern Advocate, 31 October 1932, Page 3

ASTOUNDING SPEED

GIRL STENOGRAPH.ER

OVER ;100 WORDS A AIINUTE

(Special to "Northern Advocate.”)

NAPIER, This Day,

Ability of freak character in the writing of shorthand is possessed by a Napier girl, Alias Coralie Phillips, who, without, long experience, lias developed a sliced exceeding 300 words per minute. Inquiries are being made to secure authentic information as to the world’s record shorthand writing under the Pitman system, and it is thought that Aliss Phillips, if her present speed does not equal the record, will have little difficulty in doing so. She appears to be able to write shorthand faster than the average person can read. A pressman who was offered the opportunity of seeing her at work was quickly convinced. Aliss Phillips went though a three-minutes’ test at the end of which the reader was on tlio verge of being out of breath and tongue-tied, Aliss Phillips herself was naturally tiring a little under the strain of maintaining such a speed.

The possibility of the. writer knowing the piece which was read to her was eliminated by the fact that tho reader took with him an old copy of “Hansard’’ and read a passage chosen at random. Aliss Phillips took the passage, containing words of varying length, and afterwards read it back with a margin of error of less than one per cent.—tho margin allowed for an honours pass in Public Service examinations. One passage of 900 words was called in three minutes 11 seconds, at the end of which the reader confessed he had been unable to maintain the pace right to the end.

“I knew you were not going 'fast enough, and I wanted to tell you to hurry, ’ ’ remarked Aliss Phillips, The girl has had loss than three terms of tuition at a Napier shorthand typewriting school, following an elementary course at a high school. Her remarkable speed has been developed quite recently, and since the early part of September, when she accomplished 110 words per, axinute. She has added 20 or 30 words per minute to her speed every -week.’ It is understood that the Public Service Commissioner, Air P. D. N. Versehaffelt, was surprised to learn that any girl had accomplished a speed exceeding 250 words per minute, and he has arranged for Alias Phillips to bo given special tests- at an early date.