LONDON TELEPHONE GIRLS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20130, 15 December 1928, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONDON TELEPHONE GIRLS.

UNPOPULAR " REFORMS." "JUST THE C.IUDY LIMIT." London telephone girls are so annoyed, says tho Sunday Chronicle, that they can scarcoly look a telephone in the mouthpiece If they could bo put through to tho Postmaster-General 'or a three minutes' heart-to-heart talk they would givo him a piece of their nnnds that would make him slam down tho receiver with burning cars. The trouble has to do with the Post master-General's orders governing tho appointment of female teloplionists in tho London district. Ono of tho things that tho girls aro indignant about is tho ordoi that they must show their vaccinatiof marks, and that if these are not satisfactory to the postal authorities thoy must undergo rovaccination. A reporter who called .tip a London Exchange girl to ascertain her views on this delicato matter was left in no two minds about the resentment that tho girls feel about it. " It's a scandalous inquisition.'' sho said " How would tho PostmasterGeneral liko to havo to show his vaccination marks to any official who wants to look at them ?"

But there is a whole list of reforms that tho authorities want to bring about. Tho girls object to the rules that: Girls must ho at least fivo feet tall in their stockinged feet. Tlicy must not havo husbands —and if they decido to take ono they must give up their job. They must promiso to live at homo with their parents, and can only go into lodgings on obtaining a signed certificate that their parents approve tho lodgings in question. They must not speak with a local accent. Another girl characterised tho regulations us " just the giddy limit." " They'll be wanting us to produce Sunday school certificates of good conduct next," sho said. *' I fail to seo why marriage should dohar us from continuing in our jobs. Do the authorities think that matrimonv will put such a sharp edge on our tongues that sensitive subscribers will bo offended ? As for obtaining certificates that our 1 parents approvo of our lodgings —why, it's just absurd Modern girls have long passed tho stago when they can be mollycoddled in that way.'! .