QUEER JOBS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 82, 17 January 1941, Page 2

QUEER JOBS

Ballot List Revealed Strange Occupations

tions were referred to in the Gazette listing the names of men called up in the Second Territorial Ballot, and a brief look at the more unusual occupations shows the amazing complexity of modern life. Among the Wellington names alone these unusual jobs were named: hosiery topper, sand blaster, carpet weaver, radiotrician, cooper, oil blender, tiler, steel furniture maker, paper ruler, steel rigger, small-goods man, battery waxer, and clicker. There were no fewer than 12 shorthand-typists. It is interesting to notice the new industries that have come into existence since the last war. Radio, for example, is the occupation of nearly 50 Wellington men called in this ballot, 14 radio technicians connected with the Government services, 6 give their occupation as that of radio engineer, 4 programme and announcing staff, 1 coypwriter, 6 radio servicemen, 7 radio assemblers, and 2 tadio salesmen. The hosiery industry, too, is a newcomer. There are 15 hosiery machine operators, not counting 2 hosiery pressers, 3 hosiery toppers, 1 hosiery machine legger operator, and 4 hosiery machine mechanics, Other mechanics of specialist type who will join the new Territorials are: oxide operator, dictaphone mechanic, envelope machine adjuster, vulcanizer, springsmith, knife setter, cycle mechanic, iron machinist, 2 cash register mechanics, 2 felt makers, a pumice worker, steel melter, file maker, jig maker, brush maker, milling machine worker, several process workers, pianoforte mechanic, 3 boxmakers, a die-setter, sound engineer, light engineer, heating engineer, lift installer, lens grinder, a milking machine expert, and a scientific instrument maker. So the new Army will not lack men for technical jobs. C) VER 500 different occupaMany Clergymen Professional men rub shoulders with labourers. There seem to be a very large number of clergymen of all denominations called up, several dentists, doctors and lawyers, and accountants of many types, such as cost accountants. The meteorological service claims 5 men, 7 were analytical chemists, 2 biochemists, a physicist, 3 bacteriologists, 2 stockbrokers, 3 industrial chemists, an air pilot and a Judge’s Associate. There are ‘also 3 Y.M.C.A. secretaries, 3 physical culture instructors, a zookeeper, a statistician, a bath attendant, 2 artists, 2 violinists, a lecturer in music, and a lighthouse keeper. The Government services will be hard hit when these men go into camp, judging by the large number of Wellington men who are Government clerks. There is also an inspector of explosives on the list, a Hansard reporter, an "examiner," a sleeping car attendant, a traffic inspector, no fewer than 4 land and income tax assessors; and, to even that

up, a taxation consultant, 3 cable joiners, several librarians and mental hospital nurses, a chief siteing draughtsman of the housing department, quite a number of policemen, a "searcher," a compiler of a cattle catalogue, and a deer stalker and a chamois shooter. What is the layman to make of the following occupations? Spotter, soap boiler, porcelain enameller, battery operator, meat preserver, foreman propagator, silk screen processor, lithographic plate grainer, which is apparently different from the man who is a lithographic multigraph transferer, a laster, a striker, salt hand, guillotinist, match maker, paint shader, oven and doughman, advertiser, carpet planner, core marker, assistant pedologist, tailer-out, slag worker, blowing machinist, acid chemical mixer, filer improver, tiler improver, lead burner, and the man who says he is a metal-refiner and lead oxide expert and another who says he is a V.S. stitcher? Better Known Callings Better known callings are: journalists, who are named in plenty, a theatre manager, 2 or 3 jockeys, 2 monumental masons, waiters, stewards, ships’ crews, a hat blocker, a remarkably large number of barmen, a funeral director, a solitary office-boy, a slaughterman, a showman, indentor, coalman, footman, piston-maker, advertising specialist, projectionist, 2 toymakers, 4 tobacco workers, 6 typewriter mechanics, 4 bottlers,

3 glass bevellers, 2 stair builders, 2 golf club makers, 3 wicker workers, 2 mattress workers, 4 chair makers, 2 tea blenders, 6 French polishers, and 5 fur cutters. Some of the men state their occupations in rather vague or lofty terms such as student of science, organiser, — ventive officer, and discharger and of ships, ht

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