SECRETARIES’ WORK

Taranaki Daily News, 3 November 1934, Page 8

SECRETARIES’ WORK

ITS GROWING IMPORTANCE. FUTURE ECONOMIC SYSTEM. Company law and its relation to secretarial work was mentioned by the principal speakers at a social function held at the conclusion of the third annual general meeting of the New Zealand Institute of Secretaries at Wellington. The past year had been one of tremendous import to the secretarial fession in New Zealand, for it had seen the passing of some legislation which was very desirable and necessary, said Mr. E. A. Wallace in his presidential address. The amending of the Companies Act, 1908, was a very commendable piece of legislation. Since that Act was first gazetted in 1908, a vast change had taken place in the business structure of the world. The growth of the joint stock company method of trading had assumed amazing proportions, and even in this small country they found that most enterprises resorted to the cover of company legislation. The Government was to be commended upon the method it adopted in arriving at the fundamental structure of this new Act. They must admire and give credit to those members of the New Zealand Society of Accountants who figured so largely on the committee appointed to undertake this important work. The Hon. J. A. Young, Minister of Internal Affairs, in proposing the toast of “The Institute,” said that there was no doubt that as time progressed they would find certain parts of the companies law would want alteration and improvement and the Institute of Secretaries would be of value to any Government in giving advice for the perfecting of such legislation. _ * “You are greatly honoured in that your very worthy member, Mr. Barton, was the chairman of the Companies Commission,” said the Minister, “and I desire to say as a member of the Government that we can thank him and his colleagues for the splendid and painstaking services they have rendered.” In the course of his reply to the toast, Mr. Barton said that it was difficult to forecast the coming economic system, but he thought that it would mean more work for the Society of Accountants and more dependence by the community on the efforts and knowledge of the accountant and the auditor and on the properlyeducated and reliable secretary. REMARKABLE CHARACTERISTIC. “I think it is one of the remarkable characteristics of the period we have been passing through for the last five or six years that our public accountants have been perhaps busier than ever before,” said Mr. Barton. “As we develop the new idea of co-operation between the State and organised private enterprise we must depend more and more upon skilled professional men. One of the disquieting features of our present state of administrative life, politically and economically, he said, was that the conduct of Departments of State seemed to be becoming concentrated more and more on the shoulders of one man. While that was the strength, it was also one of the weaknesses of the present system. It would be possible for leaders to carry the burdens that would be increasingly laid upon them only if they were able to command the services of reliable secretaries. The work of an accountant and of an auditor could be scheduled, but the work of a secretary could not, for there was a high degree of personal-touch necessary between an employer and a secretary.