KIT OF ALL TRADES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 74, 22 November 1940, Page 46

KIT OF ALL TRADES

N a busy Government department to-day, in ‘an office of two hundred girls, a woman sits behind a desk and supervises their activities. I already knew that this was no ordinary woman; in short, she had a story, and my journalistic nose led me to her lair. It was a very charming and very comfortable lair. And this woman was the dominating figure in it. I liked her-her frank eyes, her humorous mouth, her broad shoulders encased in a grey tweed tailor-made. All her life people have called her Kit; an abbreviation of her own Irish nameKathleen. The diminutive was strangely incongruous with her tall physique and forceful personality. Yet to those who know her, she remains "Kit." ‘And So She Began Yes, she had a story-and what is more, she could tell it. I explained my weakness for beginnings, so good humouredly she started in from her sixteenth year. As the story progressed, I found myself marvelling; for this woman, by sheer force of will and character, has reached places that any man might envy. At sixteen, while living in London, she took her first job with a typewriting firm. The salary was £2 a week, quite an amount in those early days. But Kit regarded this position merely as a pipeopener. Her next job was with the London branch of a leading New Zealand refrigeration company. When she started there, she had improved her salary by 5/-. Then came 1914-and the war, and as most of the men were called up, it fell on Kit’s shoulders to engage and train girls to fill their places. Finally, | the leading salesman was called up, and Kit asked for his place. She got it. A Bold Step "It was most interesting work," she said. "I was usually up at 4 a.m., making the rounds of the meat markets. The men soon got used to a woman working amongst them, and they accepted me as one of themselves. It was grand experience, During this time, another big meat firm offered me a job with them at £800 a year. A fortune! I had no intention, however, of deserting my own firm, but I decided on ‘a bold step. I bearded our manager in his office, and asked him for the £800 a year instead! Dumbfounded, he asked me why? I was only a girl, how could I expect such a salary? I said, be-

cause I’m worth it! It seemed a pretty good answer to me. After a great deal of arguing, he consented to cable the home office--and the answer came back approving my new salary. After that, I drifted to managership of the London branch. The conditions were extraordinary, of course, with all the men called up for service. But it gave me my chance." She Came Back So Kit, at the youthful age of twentyfive, sat on meat boards, attended deputations, and generally distinguished herself. Then she got an idea in her head that she would like a holiday-a paying holiday. She accomplished this by securing a transfer to the firm’s New Zealand office. She had a glorious trip out, with a memorable month spent in America en route. : Once in New Zealand, she settled down again on her job. She liked New Zealand. A couple of years later, she took a trip Home-but she returned. This was her home. "Then," she said, "a new job presented itself. Some meat companies carry a soap factory, fed by their surplus fats. My company was putting a new soap on the market, and I asked for the job of exploiting it. I got it. And what a thrill that was! Planning my publicity campaign-getting everything in. readiness!" Selling Soap "With another woman canvasser, we set out in the car for one of the southern towns. My companion was in charge of the door-to-door canvassing-while I tackled the grocer’s shops. I remember driving round the block, getting up courage to make my first call. My luck was in, though, and I brought off a big

order. After that, the going was easy. We made a great success of our campaign, and repeated it in other cities." This ambitious young woman worked so hard in all types of weather that she eventually went down with rheumatic fever. : "It was a pretty rotten spin," she said. "T was on sick leave for eight months, and to me, the inactivity was almost worse than my illness. Meanwhile, the depression had gathered, and as my old firm was feeling the pinch, I decided to look round for another job. This time it was a new departure. I became a motorcar saleswoman — selling mostly to women." Cars And Insurance Kit was on this job a year, and made a great success of it, then the car firm was hit by the depression, and most of its employees were dismissed. Kit was among them. She was out of a job a week. Then she answered an advertisement for an insurance salesman one bright, early morning . . . . She found a queue of three hundred men ahead of her-all with the same idea. Kit slipped away to a ’phone, and made an appointment to see the manager. The outcome of that interview was a good job organising women’s group insurance, Here, once more, she was in her element. She eventually took on the task of organising group insurance among women teachers throughout the Dominion. "This meant constant travelling," she said. "I motored from the North Cape to the Bluff. I lectured to schools, stayed in funny little out-of-the-way hotels-I had breakdowns and every kind of adventure-and I loved it all." Still " Going Places " But a heart, left weak through her bout of rheumatic fever, now began to trouble her, and regretfully she was obliged to give up her insurance work. But to Kit there was always an open door ahead. She is that type of person. She stepped into her present position, She is 50 years of age-and looks 40. Her vital, eager mind will never let her grow old. She has been "going places" since she was sixteen years old-and she is still on her way.