CLERICAL WORKERS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 138, 9 December 1930, Page 8

CLERICAL WORKERS

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l was interested in the letter "appearing in the "Evening Post" of the 6th December under the norn de plume "Clerical," as his experiences are identical with my own. Your correspondent inquires, "Where do the many hundreds of partially or wholly unemployed clerks, etc., come in in the scheme?" Apparently they do not come in in the scheme at all unless employers patronise the Labour Exchanges when requiring clerical or professional assistants, and even if they did I am afraid one would be sadly disappointed, as the male clerk will soon be as extinct as the dodo, being supplanted by members of the opposite sex. ■ The Hon. S. G. Smith, Minister of Labour, recognised this fact, because in piloting the Unemployment Bill through the House of.Representatives he made the following statement: "To-day there is no avenue for the employment of male clerks in any capacity. A large number of these men are compelled by necessity to do their utmost to undertake pick and shovel work. It is felt that wader a properly controlled system it may be possible to take some of these men, and, under the provisions of this Bill, provide a proper system of vocational training which will enable them to earn a livelihood in a line of employment different from that in which they are now engaged, because they are not capable of earning a living wage by the use of pick and shovel." With regard to the clerical .jobs in the Public Service certain examinations have to be passed before anyone is eligible for them, and although I do not hold a brief for the educational authorities it does not seem to me to be fair that an outsider should be appointed to fill any clerical job offering if he has not paid the fees and passed the necessary examinations. Tf the truth be told I expect there are several on the list who have passed their' exams, but as yet no vacancy has arisen, and it may be some time before one actually does. Surely they are entitled to the preference.—l am, etc., CLERICAL No. 2.