ANGRY TYPISTES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 240, 30 December 1927, Page 7

ANGRY TYPISTES

PROTEST AT CANBERRA AN "OFFENSIVE" NOTICE Indignation has been caused among women employees, mostly typistes, of the action of the Federal Capital Commission in posting at Gorman House, Canberra, their boarding-house, a new set of rules for the conduct of the building. A demand is to be made for the withdrawal of the notices. It is considered that there is an affront in the posting of the stipulation that intoxicating liquor must not be taken into rooms, and that men must not be entertained by residents in their private rooms. The commission will be asked whether similar notices have l>een placed in other boarding-houses, and if not, why Gorman House was selected as a starting-point. Another rule which is objected in provides that private parties must cease at midnight. The girls complain that they have lost considerably by the transfer to Canberra, and that employees of the commission have received better treatment than has been given to public servants. They point out that the sit-ting-room accommodation available 1.0 them is inadequate, and that improvements which the commission promised to undertake at least three months ago have not yet been begun. They have formed a house committee to deal with the complaint about rules, and with a large nupiber of other matters which have caused dissatisfaction. In some of the depart - ments which have been depending on temporary typistes, it is. feared that many of the girls will decide not to return to the Federal Capital after the Christmas and New Year holidays. Women employees received another shock when they found, a large quantity of clothing which they had placed on lines at the rear of Beauchamp House, where they are accommodated, had been stolen. The theft is the first of its kihd reported in Canberra, and the assistance of the police has been sought.