NO MORNING TEA

Southland Times, Issue 21853, 2 November 1932, Page 11

NO MORNING TEA

TELEPHONE GIRLS’ SORROWS. ALL HOPES NOW DASHED. The telephone girl in Berlin will have to do without her morning cup of tea, which has been banned by the Post Office Controller. After receiving a deputation on the subject there was some hope that the department would relent and, at least, modify the original order. In the order it was stated that, except in special circumstances, casual reliefs outside the authorised meal periods were not to be allowed for the purpose of light refreshments. The girls claimed that a break before noon for refreshment was necessary for health, and the matter was under discussion since the early part of May until August this year. All hopes are now dashed, and the Post Office has come to a final decision on this vexed question. There will be no modification of the Controller’s order, and casual reliefs for refreshment will not be allowed. A South African correspondent writes to the Daily Telegraph:—“lt is perhaps fortunate for the Controller’s peace of mind that the girls are not South Africans. Throughout the Union the 11 o’clock cup of tea or coffee is so deeply rooted a national custom that to ban it in a public service office—or for that matter, anywhere else—would require the courage of a Mussolini to think of it and the power of a Lenin to enforce it”