Page 7 Advertisements Column 4

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12063, 18 July 1917, Page 7

Reporting debates in the Chinese Senate is not an easy task. One of the earliest nets of tho Republican Government was to found an institution for the training of parliamentary reporter?. A special system of shorthand was evolved to overcome tho perversities of Chinese script, and altogether £4OOO was spent on the establishment. At the opening of tho new Parliament twenty reporters were present, all presumed to be capable of taking down speeches verbatim. Four of these represented newspapers, and the others were charged with the task of supplying an official report. Their notes when transcribed were unintelligible. After a week's trial both the Government and the Press decided to givo up any hope of obtaining a verbatim report of the debates, and to content themselves wJith a summary.