The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-12-05
CoNcERNING RoMEN.
HOW ENGLISH WOMEN ARE MAKING THEIR
WAY INTO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT.

HOW ENGLISH WOMEN AXE MAKING THEIR
WAY INTO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT.
The experiment of employing ladies to
do actual clerk work, says Fraser's Maya
sine, was tried several years ago. and has
been SO markedly successful that it is now
being rapidly and widely developed. The
scheme has, fortunately, always had the
strong support Of government. We turn
naturally, therefore, first to the postofice
as the principal department of the civil
service as yet experimentalized upon in
this manner, for in no less than four of it's
branches are female clerks employed.
The four branches alluded to are the Tele
praph department., the Receiver and Ac
connt Generals Office, tie Returned Letter
and the Savings Bank Department.. In
the Central Station (St. Martins le Grand)
of the first of these departments no less
however, in the manipulation of telegraph
instruments. The galleries at the top of
the new general postofice, which com
prises the premises of the Central Tele
graph Station, viewed during tue daytime,
with not far short of 500 clerks, the greater
number of them women, ali busily at
work, make a sight worth seeing, nor is
the like of it probably to be seen anywhere
else in the whole world. In mentioning
| that the staff of this department is mixed,
we should not omit strongly to emphasize
| the statement that it is so only out OF sheer
necessity, as otherwise the Government is
rightly of opinion that where female clerks
are employed they should work entirely
apart from clerks of the male sex.
We now pass on to the branch of gov
eminent employing lady clerks under the
control of the Receiver and Accountant
General of the Postoffice, and officially
known as the Telegraph Clearing House.
This branch, which affords employment
| to between forty and fifty ladies at the
present time, and is likely to be increased
to the number Of sixty, was established in
1871, and placed under the control of
Mr.. Chetwynd, Receiver and Accountant
General of the Postoffice.
We must now turn our attention briefly
to the female staff of the Returned Letter
Department of the postottice, where forty
ladies are employed. The particular
duties that have been allotted to the fe
male clerks ia this Office are called "return
ing work }" because i5 consists in returning
the ordinary correspondence unable to be
delivered by the department. Before the
letters are handed over to these clerks,
however, they are dealt with by male
clerks, who extract all letters of money
value, or any letters that are not of fit
character to pass into the hands of females.
In the former case the reason for Withhold
ing them is not by any means because
there is any distrust entertained of the
honesty of the clerks in question, but
very many of these letters contain bonds
of agreement, letters of credit or bill of ex-
| change, which can not be at once returned,
as it is not clear who the actual senders
! are; and it is doubted whether female
clerks would understand how to deal with
them, not being familiar with business
documents of this kind.
The chief private establishment in which
we find ladies working as clerks is in the
Prudential Life issuance Company, Lud-
gat Hill. Here there are between sixty
and seventy female clerks attached to what
is known as the industrial branch of the
Office, and engaged to great extent, in
copying out letters and other documents,
and in writing out dockets, connected with
the life policies issued to the poorer
classes. Besides this some of the more
experienced of the female clerks are en-
gagged in correspondence, the gist of the
letter being given on 8 slip of paper, or
noted in the corner of the letter to which
it may be a reply. There is but one uni
form scales of salaries, which commences
with f32 year and rises to E62. There
may be an idea with some that female
clerks employed in an Office of this kind
are not very select, but in the present in
stance the reverse is the case.