THE VIRTUE OF BREVITY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 84, 9 December 1913, Page 6

THE VIRTUE OF BREVITY.

, A LOCAL INSTANCE. Officers’ reports to public bodies resemble Police Court proceedings as regards the quantity of essential principle. Loug^CpiU't result iu. tfottrihg" tsara!;f>V of any smd s.<rs quietest : pipc&if(l|ngs ; : ,hiiw| ; ba woilfem the whole rfst'of the 1 , saving and doihg. Similarly',;" l au officer’s report may he long and windy and he not worth the' time spent in reading it, and another may he brief to the verge of hrusqueness and still convey much useful information, many solid opinions, and many fruitful suggestions. Of the officers in Stratford who 'furnish reports to public bodies perhaps the most consistently brief is the Matron of the Hospital, a hose report is invariably as short as- possible, consistent always, however, with the rules of grammar and etiquette. Her report to the Board this morning contained forty-three written words divided as folohvs: — Information 17, address,. super and sub-scription 2G. The fact that twenty-six words were used on formal necessaries indicates that the rules of etiquette were not forgotten, and the fact that the information supplied had merely to be copied out to form an| acceptable “Personal” paragraph for the “Post” testifies to the fact that the unwritten laws of good taste ... / a -in writing and the very much overwritten laws of grammar were well borne in mind.