Type Writing and Shorthand.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume III, 1 October 1900, Page 63

Type Writing and Shorthand.

. . AS AN EMPLOYMENT FOR WOMEN IN SYDNEY,

By M.F.W

.B end-of-the-nineteenth-century employment for women, which appears to appeal to a great number of young persons of average education in

Australasia, seems to be

type and shorthand writing. It may be interesting to New Zealanders to hear how those engaged in this line of industry fare in the sister colony of New South Wales, especially in the metropolis. In Sydney the modes of obtainiug training are about the same as on the " other side " of the Pacific. Various firms of typewriting agencies have rooms in which they give instruction in their special make of instruments, whilst the different copying offices take pupils either on payment of premiums or at the rate of five shillings a week (paid by the learner) for a term of three or six months.

When proficiency is gained in both typewriting and shorthand (there is very little scope now for the mere typewriter) three channels of employment are open : — l. To start a copying office for outside work and to take pupils. 2. To get an appointment under Government (decided by competitive examination). 3. To go into a mercantile or lawyer's office, or become a private secretary. The rate of payment for Government servants in this branch ranges from £75 to £130 a year, but the average may be struck at £104 per annum. Positions

are difficult to get owing to the keen competition among women workers.

Of typist copying offices run by women, there is no end in Sydney. Many amateurs who have done a little copying for "Pa " think they would like the kudos of a little office of their own, and relying for their clientele upon their large circle of gentlemen friends with whom they have danced and flirted, they solicit patronage without having gone through the necessary drudgery which training entails. Alas ! here as in other branches the indifferent amatqur spoils the business of the professional without greatly benefiting herself. A society bolle, whose circumstances had so greatly altered that she took to typewriting, margined a note in a valuable document thus : " Please excuse grease mark, I have had sardines for lunch." The amateur finds the typewriting path thorny, and usually retires from the business with the remark that "it is too mechanical an occupation for her."

"We have," said a lady who runs the largest and most successful copying office in Sydney, " not only to contend with the vicissitudes of trade, but with the incompetency and want of training in our sister workers, which often reflects on woman typists as a whole, and makes employers say, ' I prefer giving ray work to a man.' "

The wage-earning typist, when engaged in a private merchant's or lawyer's office, or in any similar employment, gets from 10s to £3 a week, but the average might be struck

at 80s.- The hours are according to private,, agreement (there is no Act in force here to regulate hours of labour, as in your highly progressive colony), but usually the time is from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The work must necessarily be taken up by fairly educated gitls, indeed, the need of a sound English education (with languages as a valuable adjunct) goes without comment as a necessity. Intelligent work can only be done when the worker understands to some degree the nature of the documents to be copied. A knowledge of technical terms in the arts and sciences, law and medicine is almost essential, and the society girl who has received only a smattering of general knowledge must feel sadly handicapped when she -enters the arena of public work with her practical, well-informed sister. New Zealand women, who above all things

are " thorough," will score over young Ausfcralians, who, though clever, are a little inclined to be superficial. Of professionals, as yet there are not so many that the - field is overcrowded, though incompetency ■ still strives to keep a footing. The typewriter, taken as a whole, is a neat girl, and she can usually be singled out among the stream of women workers who pour into the city every day by boat, tram and train, by the trimness of her attire. | There is usually no "divorce" between her skirt and her waistband, her plachet does not gape, and her sailor hat is set straight on her carefully dressed hair, bhe has to work all day and go home in the full gaze of the world, therefore, as the neat dresser is generally the neat worker, if she is wise she advertises herself by her appearance.