WIMIN KLARKS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19807, 26 November 1919, Page 9

WIMIN KLARKS.

Soirir. people want ;t lot for their nioiiov. Covernmeiu. Departments, in portu-iil:ir, *eem to expect the earth Cays ih-M. ill tho “Daily iMail Ti;n~ uiy .rih ;ni.. so many thousand* nl’ mil* Jion.s tor so many years, on nothing in. particular, they are now reforming. In luiurn ilicir demand* arc. going to ho enormous, ami I have just been studying a sample oi : I limn.

Un December and following days an examination is to he held of girk aged between eighteen and twenty, who wain C ivi 1 Service jobs at a salary which, complete with war bonus, amounts to £ll3 a year. The papers - which may ho obtained on application by anyone who wants them—state that will he offered to not. fewer than 171 of those who compete.---providing that, they obtain the necessary aggregate of marks.

All that-, of course, was quite nor* mat and uninteresting. Hut in the. middle of the pages which eon tain a description of the. examination 1 cumo acres* some paragraph* which made mo dizzy. They concerned the subject of spelling.

Candidates, it seems, arc to he presented. with a. passage spelt in an alleged phonetic fashion, and they will he required B) write it out in ordinary English. That there, nm.y be no mistake about the nature of the trouble in store lor the candidates a specimen is given:

Thi joi in lief (so the wind cffolrff begins) ov aulmosr. mil wield animalz iz, ve.ri gr;nt. Too mai sec. it in evri nioeslnrn ; in thi lisnm bon ml ov thi hair, thi plaifool loop ov tin mbit, thi song ov thi lark, thi soft hiving koo ov lid div, in thi hlakbird rufling out hiz lelherz. Thi sens of living iz immifeslli inlens in them all.l and iz in itself an ekskwizit plczhnr. Thair apitiets seem, ever fresh; that rush too tin hangkwit spred hi, mother erlh with a gnstoo that thi cpikyoor never noez.

Tliore. is a- lot more of it, but I am not equal to copying it out. This son:, of thing maiks wun feel lick imitating thi plaifool leep ov Un mbit.

And even this is not all that the Civil Service Commissioners want, for their XT 18 a year. In addition to pa.saing the examiuation, candidates arc required to sign a document. 1 hereby undertake.they must say, “that if successful in the forthcoming competition for the above-men-tioned situation, I will re.-rle. either with niy parents or guardians, or with relations or friends approved by them.’’ And the. parent or guardian of tlm candidate. must, certify that that undertaking will he carried out.

It is impossible to believe flint the paragons who obtain “ the necessary aggregate of marks” in the forthcoming inquisition will sell ns stamp*: any faster than thn girls who carry out the work at present.

But it will be a relief to know that they are equal to wrestling with phonemic spelling, and that they are all living with people, of whom their parents thoroughly approve.