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PITMAN'S SHORTHAND CERTIFICATES.

The following Certificates are issued :

THIRD CLASS OR ELEMENTary CertificATE, for thorough know

ledge of the " Phonographic Teacher "; " Shorthand Primer,

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Book I."; or 20th Cent. "Manual or "Instructor," as far as Chap. xvii. Fee 6d. Every student after having worked through the "Teacher" is recommended to test his knowledge by applying for this Certificate. SECOND CLASS OR THEORY CERTIFICATE, for a thorough knowledge of the 20th Cent. "Manual"; or "Instructor," Chaps. i-xxvi. ; or "Shorthand Primer, Book II." Fee 2s. FIRST CLASS OR SPEED Certificate. Speed Certificates are granted for 60 words per minute and upwards. Fee Is. 6d. FULL CERTIFICATE OF PROFICIENCY.-When a Second Class Certificate and a First Class Certificate for 80 words have been obtained, a Full Certificate is issued, certifying that the holder has a thorough theoretical and practical knowledge of Phonography. Fee Is.

Forms of Application for the above Certificates, containing full particulars, can be had gratis and post-free from any of the Offices of Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.

Erratum.-In the announcement of the results of the annual medal competition of the London Phonetic S. W.A. in the Journal of 11th July (page 557), the initials of the bronze medallist should have been given as Mr A. G. Dickinson.

NOTICES.

Each Notice should be written on one side only of a separate piece of paper. Every Notice under the head of Correspondence must give full name and address.

Correspondents are requested to write their address clearly in ordinary longhand. If they wish to receive replies in Phonography, a star should be attached to the name; thus, John Smith.*

Notices of all kinds must reach Bath at least eleven days before the date of the Journal for which they are intended.

Every communication addressed to the Editor of this Journal must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer.

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Gentleman wishes to meet friend in district for mutual speed practice, or would assist learner for reading. Chas. Steward, 96 Bromley st.. Stepney, London, E., near Stepney Station, G.E. Ry. [34] Phonographer wishes to meet another in district of Southwell for mutual improvement and speed practice. Beeson, Burgage villas, Southwell, Notts. (34)

Advertiser (German lady) desires to correspond with French lady, and would correct German letters for like service in French. Liesel Binz, Dudley House, Richmond rd., West Kensington Park, London, W. Correspondence invited in German with readers everywhere; pictorial post cards or otherwise; prompt replies. Edward Hodgson, 41 Cleveland avenue, North Shields. 134]

Pictorial post card correspondence desired. Good views only. Prompt replies. J. Howard, Chase Heys, Churchtown, Southport. [35] Correspondence desired. Picture post cards, French, Spanish, or Phonography. All parts. Sam Morris, 147 Perry st., San Francisco, Cal., U.S.A. [34]

Pictorial post cards. Correspondence desired in longhand or shorthand. Replies to all. J. Stewart, 11 Cavendish st., Lancaster. [35] Pictorial cards. Exchange desired. Replies to all. Kindly say whether local (Oldham and Manchester), provincial or foreign views preferred. James Barrow, 116 Robinson st., St. Werneth, Oldham.

Post cards, pictorial exchanged (Tuck's £2,000 competition). Prompt replies. Fred Bean, 164 Loughboro' Park, Brixton, London, S. W. Pictorial post cards.-Correspondence desired (longhand or shorthand,. John E. Stokes (Beira and Mashonaland Railways), Umtali, Mashonaland, Rhodesia, Africa. [35]

Associations. 1d. per line of ten words.

Phonetic Shorthand Writers' Association (London District I.P.S.). The Arcadian Restaurant, 8 Queen st., Cheapside.-The principal Shorthand Association in the kingdom. Meetings held every Thursday evening from 7 to 10. Regular speed practice conducted at various rates by experienced phonographers. Lectures by well-known shorthand writers; discussions, etc. Speed examinations held periodically. Centre for Society of Arts shorthand examination and for Pitman's medal competitions. (Members sit at these examinations and at the I.P.S. Teacher's Exam. at reduced fees.) Shorthand library and other advantages. Fees, including speed practice, 10s 6d per annum or 38 per quarter. All phonographers (ladies or gentlemen) are eligible for membership. Prospectus, with full particulars, on application to Secretary, H. J. Cork, 2 Reedholm road, Stoke Newington, London, N. [34]

Typists' Section, I.P.S. (the N.U. of Typists is incorporated with this Section). Examinations for teachers and typists, lectures, demonstrations, discussions, employment bureau, advice on typewriting matters, etc. Annual subscription, 5s; members of I.P.S., 3s 6d. Rules, Examination Syllabus, Forms of Application, etc., from the Hon. Sec., Geo. Colebourn, F.I.P.S., 151 Second ave., Manor Park, Essex. Examinations periodically. Copies of last papers (March and July), is per set. [44] Evercirculators and Libraries. 1d. per line of ten words. An evercirculator is a manuscript phonographic magazine, consisting of articles written by the individual members, one member acting as conductor. The book passes round, and each round members contribute an article and remarks, or take part in the discussion. A leaflet containing further particulars forwarded from the Phonetic Institute, Bath, on receipt of id stamp. [1] Evercirculator paper in three varieties, of superior quality, five quires Is 6d; headings and title-pages, 3d per doz.; covers, cloth is, leather is 6d. Samples for id. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd. [x] New Thought Evercirculator. Devoted exclusively to shorthand characters. Bright and interesting. New ideas. Only willing members wanted. Address Jas. Moores,* jun., 129 Cleggs lane, Little Halton, nr. Bolton. 34] Endeavour Evercirculator.-Wanted, two young Churchmen and Conservatives to discuss questions of the day. Reporting Style. No entrance fee or subscription. J. H. Haisle,* Belton, Doncaster.

The Ossory Evercirculator.-Commencing. Reporting Style. Members wanted, either sex. Interesting articles, essays, discussions, questions, etc. Entrance fee, 6d. Particulars stamp. Send immediately. T. J. Cullen, Coolowley, Grogan, Ballybrophy, Queen's Co.

Educational Evercirculator.-Advertiser desires to form an evercirculator devoted to subjects of interest to elementary school teachers. Particulars stamp. Mr J. W. Thomas, 78 Commercial rd., Abercarne, Newport, Mon.

The best Library is the Telegraph, established ten years, circulating all the magazines, including Australian magazine; quarterly subscription, Is 3d; always vacancies, particulars stamp. Conductor, J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London.

The 20th Century Commercial Library, over 160 books available for the use of members. Shorthand, typewriting, French, German, Spanish, and commercial books, together with copies of all English and foreign shorthand magazines. Subscription one penny per week. Splendid opportunity of studying large selections of works at a small cost. Full particulars for stamp. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E. Second-hand Books, Shorthand or Phonetic. for Sale, or Exchange, or Wanted, id. per line of ten words; Miscellaneous Books, 3d. per line. Wanted, copies of Parody's Spanish Phonography, and the following vols. of the Phonetic Journal-1871, 1872, and 1886; Pitman's Shorthand Weekly, vols. 3, 4, 6, and 7. Address, Isaac Pitman and Sons, 31 Unior. square, New York, U.S.A. [39]

Copy of Pitman's Phonetic Journal wanted, 3rd Jan., 1903, containing biography and portrait of Robert A. Ababrelton. Apply Charles F. Booth, 13 King William st., London. [34]

For sale, Dictionary, 2s 8d; Instructor, is 9d; Gleanings, rod; Reporter, rod; Psalms, 7d; Prayer Book, 3s (latest). F. Hawkins, Priory st., Dudley. Books worth buying for the Holidays. All is id each, post free, all in good condition. Tom Brown's Schooldays in Shorthand; Verbatim Reporting by McEwan; Commercial Correspondence, series two or three; Phonography adapted to French; A Special Parcel of Shorthand Books. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E.

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For the Holidays. All is 6d each, post-free. All in good condition. Reed's Reporter's Guide; Reporter's Hand-book and Vade Mecum; Pitman's Reporter's Reading Book with Key in longhand, marked for speed practice; Book of Common Prayer in Shorthand; Special Parcel of Assorted Shorthand Magazines. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E. [36]

Swan pen, nearly new, 7s 6d. Wanted, latest edition, Phonographic Dictionary. E. J. Crampton, 10 Falsbrook rd., Streatham, London, S.W.

Wanted, text-book and other works in Odell's System of Shorthand; good price given; also 1st edition of Pitman's Shorthand Dictionary. State price to William H. Lord, 59 Halkin st., Leicester.

Reporter, is 1d; Key, 3d; Handbook for Teachers, is 1d; Manual, gd (20th Century, 10d); Progressive Studies in Phonography, 6d; Phonographic Phrase Book, 7d; Reporting Exercises, 3d; Esop's Fables, 3d. Post-free. W. A. Foyle, 13 Fairbank st., East rd., London, N.

For sale, Twentieth Century Instructor, 3s; Business Training Manual, 25; 9 Graduated Dictation Books, 3d each; 3 Shorthand Instructors, 2s 6d each; Tales and Sketches, 6d; Warren Hastings, is; 3 Shorthand Teachers (20th Century), 3d each; 2 Esop's Fables, 3d each; Key to Instructor, 3d; Key to Teacher, 3d; 5 No. 2 Note-books, id each; Exercise book of Commercial Forms, 4d; Commercial Copy books, I and 2, 4d each. Chandumal Gopaldas Vaswani, Old Postal rd., Hyderabad, Sindh, India.

Reading practice for the coming holidays, etc. 6s worth shorthand magazines in new condition, all different, post-free is 6d, sent any part of the world for money order for 2s; splendid and unequalled value. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E. [37] For sale, few copies of Oliver McEwan's Verbatim Reporting, post-free, Is Id. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E. [36]

SUBSCRIPTION RATES.-This Journal may be ordered through any Bookseller, Newsagent, or Railway Bookstall, or by post direct from the Publishers. The terms to all parts of the world are 1s. 8d. per quarter; 3s. 3d. per half year; or 6s. 6d. per year, payable in advance. Subscriptions may commence with any number. Monthly part, 5d., post-free 7d.; terms of subscription same as above,

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In various ways of late the newspaper press of this country has been bestowing attention upon the position and prospects of shorthand writers and typists, and especially upon the position and prospects of the large and growing contingent of lady typists who now take part in the daily work of the world. Any reference to this topic in the columns of a newspaper leads inevitably to a flow of correspondence-a circumstance which we may welcome as affording evidence of the prominence which the "twin arts" have attained in public esteem. Unfortunately, the people who write letters to the newspapers are largely recruited from the ranks of the complainers. The pessimists, of whom this generation has a plentiful supply, are unquestionably ready penmen, and do succeed in making their voices heard. And so we witness the otherwise strange phenomenon that the fault-finders keep well to the fore. And the lady shorthand-typist has been coming in for her share of the general grumble. We have employers complaining of the inferior quality of a large proportion of the candidates for employment. Their lack of general education is insisted upon, and there is lamentation over their unfitness to undertake the work which they are eager to be paid for performing. And then from the other side are heard certain grumblings about employers and their practices. Sometimes, too, from the same source there rise piteous complaints concerning the invasion of the "profession" by multitudes of the incompetent, and of an alleged general lowering of

salaries as a consequence of that invasion. Various remedies, some of them impossible, many of them illusory and likely, if adopted, to bring worse evils in their train, are, of course, suggested. For the most part, the remedies proposed are, in point of fact, impracticable—which is the real reason why they fail to secure adoption. As soon as a good, sound, practical, and effectual remedy gets generally known, we may be sure that it will not be long before it is adopted.

But it would be, we are convinced, a mistake to take the bulk of our complainers too seriously. If one could get them individually, and cross-examine them on the extent of their experience of the evils concerning which they write so eloquently, it would turn out, we suspect, that much of what they tell us rests on little more than common hearsay. The tendency of their comments is to create what we are persuaded is an entirely erroneous impression-the impression, namely, that there is among shorthand-typists a noticeably larger proportion of incompetents than in any other calling. We do not believe anything of the kind. There is no occupation in which there are not a certain number of workers whose want of knowledge or of capacity precludes them from ever accomplishing good work. These incompetents are always and everywhere competing (in a sense) against the competent. They are always receiving small salaries, and they do prevent anything like a general rise of salaries. And there are always employers who are attracted by "cheapness," and who will run the risk of having an inferior assistant, so long as they have not to pay him much for his services. As human nature is constituted, we are afraid that this kind of thing will endure. The recognition that we are not all equally competent, that there are forms of work for which very special training is necessary, is a good thing; and the best business men and the best clerks of both sexes understand and apply the lesson of these facts. No employer need engage an incompetent servant if he does, he has only himself to blame. It is impossible to prevent uneducated people from learning shorthand or typewriting; it is equally impossible to prevent "dunces at figures" from taking up "bookkeeping," and persuading themselves that they possess a thorough grasp of the principles of accountancy, notwithstanding the glaring and melancholy fact that they are unable to cast a column of figures correctly.

But

it is quite easy for employers to refrain from accepting the services of these geniuses. If they want competent assistants, male or female, they can get them on condition that they are prepared to pay them proper salaries. Let them show a full sense of their duty in this respect, and the result will be to encourage the competent and to discourage the incompetent; and the cause of the old, old complaint, though it will not be entirely removed, will be powerfully neutralized.

Mr G. Brown, F.I.P.S., F.Inc.S.T., desires correspondents to note that his address is now 77 Kimbolton avenue, Birmingham.

Mr Norman Porritt, in the August number of the Phonographic Record, has an interesting article on "Therapeutic Scepticism." The young medical practitioner often blames a drug for not acting as he expects it to do, when it is his want of experience in not selecting the appropriate remedy which is to blame. The old practitioner uses fewer drugs, but makes up for this in the increased fervency in his faith in what he does use. Dr Thomas Wilson and Sir W. R. Gowers contribute articles of purely medical interest.

A volume of "Lectures to Business Men," which were delivered at Birmingham, is promised by Messrs Longman. They have been edited by Mr W. J. Ashley, formerly of Harvard, who is Professor of Commerce in the University of Birmingham. Sir R. Lloyd Patterson deals with the British linen industry, and Mr Elijah Helm, secretary of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, with the cotton industry. Mr B. W. Ginsburg, the secretary of the Royal Statistical Society, writes of British shipping, and Mr C. H. Grinling of British railways as business enterprises. There is a paper on British trusts.

Testimony was borne to the value of shorthand in secretarial work at the thirteenth annual conference of the Federation of the Grocers' Associations of the United Kingdom, held last month at Birmingham. In discussing the appointment of secretary, Mr H. B. Dutton, of Chester, suggested the advisability of providing an assistant secretary who was a shorthand writer, and could take notes of proceedings of committees, etc. Mr H. S. Aylmore, of Brighton, was also favourable to the secretary having a shorthand assistant who could accompany him and take a full note of the proceedings of the Federation and its committees. The conference supported the idea, and eventually the General Purposes Committee was instructed to make arrangements which would carry out the objects desired. There can be no doubt whatever that trade societies and similiar bodies may materially increase their value to their members generally by having a shorthand writer in attendance at the meetings of their executive and other committees to take notes of the speeches for publication in the official organ of the society.

Mr J. Griffiths, A.C.P., F.Inc.S.T., lecturer on bookkeeping, Merchant Venturers' Technical College, and teacher of shorthand, typewriting, and book-keeping to Colston's Girls' School, Bristol, has been appointed teacher of shorthand and book-keeping in the Merchant Venturers' Technical College branch classes, to be held at Chipping Sodbury during the coming session.

Another Seventeenth century diarist who made a portion of his entries in shorthand is about to be published. The diary is that of Henry Osborne, a younger brother of Dorothy Osborne, of whose published letters it is a necessary complement. The date is from 1651 to 1670. Some of the entries are in a shorthand of the diarist's own invention, which has been deciphered and translated by Mr Henry Bradley for the editors, Lady Algernon Osborn and Dr Furnivall. ¡

The Postmaster-General's report indicates that letter writing is on the increase. There can be no doubt that the facilities which shorthand and typewriting furnish for dealing with business communications have resulted in a considerable increase in the number of letters sent out from the offices of commercial men. In the old days many letters went unanswered from the absence of means for dealing with them, and a certain amount of loss attended the neglect. But nowadays the shorthand-typist has made it an easy matter for the business man to reply to all communications. The

letters sent through the post last year averaged 61 per head of the population, or a little more than one letter per week to every inhabitant of the British Isles.

It is worthy of note that the pictorial post card hobby has added largely to postal work and receipts. From the Postmaster-General's report it appears that last year there was the large increase of 99 per cent. in post cards, following on an increase of 62 per cent. in the previous year. This is stated to be almost entirely due to the traffic in pictorial post cards. If we may judge from the great output of these artistic souvenirs at the present moment, there would appear to be a likelihood of a still further increase in the Post Office returns. Many of the most enthusiastic collectors and correspondents are phonographers.

With no previous knowledge of shorthand, Thomas Young, aged 15. of Castle Blair Park, Dunfermline, succeeded in taking Pitman's Theory Certificate after only one week's tuition. The candidate was coached by his brother, Mr A. W. Young (of Robertson's Business Training College, Glasgow), who being on holiday gave special attention to his instruction, with the noteworthy result indicated above.

TYPEWRITING NOTES.

In dealing with time-saving appliances in a Public Engineer's Department, Mr C. H. Cooper, M. Inst.C.E., thus writes in Public Works for July:-"A capable shorthand clerk saves some hours a day of the chief's time, while a typewriter not only saves clerks' time and that of the chief, but also the time of correspondents who receive typed replies. The utility of a typewriter cannot be better exemplified than in the case of Major-General Baden-Powell's book on the Matabele war. This had to be written in a very limited space of time, and was typed by a lady at the rate of one hundred words per minute direct from dictation, the author correcting the pages as they came off. In order to save the typist's time, the typewriter should be extremely light to the touch, and should allow of speed without the letters fouling. The Remington appears to be one of the best machines. One great advantage of a typewriter is that at the same time a letter is typed a good carbon copy can be made by placing in the folders hereinafter referred to."

Mr A. S. Wright, who has for about a year past acted as dealer for the Fox typewriter in this country, has abandoned the sale of that machine, and joined the Remington staff.

The Globe for 6th August contained the following paragraph: "Not being satisfied with making fortunes as handwriting experts, some Americans now claim that they can tell the difference between typewritten heets done by different operators. In a recent law case, where a long typewritten document was in question, it was alleged that one of the pages included had been substituted for another sheet. Although to a casual eye all the sheets seemed to be the work of one hand, experts showed that the spacing and punctuation were different and the writing shaky. The experts were unable to trace the person who had done the bogus typewriting, but they agreed that it was a young woman, and only a beginner at typewriting; that she was nervous and not very strong, and that her education was only moderately good."

To decide whether two specimens of typewriting are the work of the same operator surely requires no very keen insight. Probably any expert operator could tell from a very cursory examination of the two documents. To decide the sex and physique of an operator from a specimen of work is, however, a task of a very different order, and we are not sure that a grain of salt is not required as a digestive in regard to these points.

The Ideal Typewriter Company, Ltd., was registered on 27th June by E. K. Brown, 65 Haymarket, London, S.W., with a capital of £5,000 in £1 shares, the objects being to

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The advent of the specialist in the art of preparing advertisements is probably due in large measure to the fact that the ordinary business man, although he knows what he would like to make known about his business, has never paid sufficient attention to the best methods of setting forth the announcement on its literary and artistic side, and therefore is not the best judge of what will catch on. He has faith in his commodities, but does not always see the best way to make them known, and so the advertising agent and the writer of advertisements is called in. In some degree it may be said, perhaps, that the man with a genius for successful advertising, is, like the poet, born, not made, but a good share of the knack of "getting there" by means of advertising may be acquired by the right use of means to ends.

Some very striking examples of smartness and of enterprise have been afforded by our greatest advertising companies during the past few years, and the persistence with which they bring before the public, in season and out of season, the merits of some commodity, has been generally associated with the work of the artist and the specialist. Great strides have been made both in the ingenuity and resource displayed in the conception and drafting of some of our pictorial advertisements which have been characterized by striking boldness of artistic treatment. In the case of the leading advertisers, the advertising business is a department in itself, generally in the hands of an advertising manager who has all the resourcefulness of the journalist and the eye of the artist combined, and the result is calculated to hold its own, in the multiplicity of devices for attracting public attention.

Occasionally one sees examples of so-called artistic advertising-that is advertising by the pictorial method-which are distinctly not pleasing, and yet it should be, I think, a fundamental principle for advertisers that the most successful advertisement blocks are invariably those which are the most artistic and pleasing. Hideous blocks may catch the eye but will never commend the article to the public, for the sufficient reason that they do not convey an impression which the mind can dwell upon with enough pleasure to retain. Bad taste in advertising is inexcusable, besides being unprofitable. It is possible to entirely miss the mark by a mere whim, for the man who would "get there" with his topical or pictorial advertising device, must heed the popular taste just as surely as the man who writes a popular song. An advertiser needs something of the journalistic instinct of being able to see how his idea will look in print, and how it will strike the average man who represents the public.

Advertising is not by any means confined to the specialist and the artist, and there is a change coming over the methods of many of our most successful advertisers which amounts almost to a reaction from illustrative blocks to letterpress. At any rate, although the illustrations will continue to be used, it has been discovered that we have not by any means exhausted the possibility of different kinds and sizes of type, which may be employed as effectively as, and used more freely with, a pictorial block. Some of the examples of the use of a combination of illustration and letterpress of late have been remarkably effective. The use of letterpress for advertising purposes is, moreover, just the department in which the average business man or his secretary or confidential clerk may improve his methods, because it covers that part of the advertising output which can be prepared independently of the advertising agent.

The clerk employed in business, especially in businesses in which a great deal of circularizing or catalogue work is required, will find it worth his while to pay a little attention to this subject of the effective use of letterpress for advertising purposes, and should not lose the advantage of any good models which come under his notice. The preparation of a circular is one of the commonest forms of office work which is likely to fall into the hands of the confidential clerk or secretary, and an essential part of the qualification for such work consists in an eye for the right selection of attractive type and the best methods of displaying the same. One of the faults of the inexperienced in the preparation of such matter is the tendency to crowd too much into a given space, and, therefore, the art of estimating how much will go into the space and the best way of displaying the matter, either by variations of type or paragraphing, is a necessary condition of success.

When the "copy" for an advertisement has been prepared there is still a wide field for experience and discretion in the method of bringing it into public notice in such form as will be most effectual for the business for which it was designed. It is here very often that money may be wasted, or may be made to produce a handsome return, in advertising, according to the discretion brought to bear. For a large business the advertising agent comes in very usefully at this point, but there is no reason why every business man, and everyone employed in an office charged with the administrative work of the business, should not seek to make himself familiar with the secret of judicious advertising. There is nothing very abstruse about the matter, and it is worth a little attention because it very often happens that the man who can prove himself useful in the advertisement department of a business, is just the man to develop the qualities required for a successful manager.

Next to persistent advertising must always come the question of judicious advertising, the selection of right media, and times and seasons for pushing certain things. It is a remarkable fact, but experience shows it to be true, that very often the otherwise shrewd business man is not the most judicious in the selection of advertising media. Everyone can appreciate the broad fact of the value of a large circulation, and especially for articles of universal consumption, but in very many cases an even more important consideration is the character of the circulation enjoyed by the paper or magazine. The man who advertises a particular thing in a journal circulated almost exclusively among persons who must of necessity use and be interested in such things, knows that whatever may be the circulation of the publication, every single copy will hit the mark, and his announcements in such a publication will always be effective advertising. This principle is illustrated by the numerous trade journals, and those devoted to technical subjects or to such subjects as are of interest to particular classes of society.

The necessity for a right discrimination as to the value of an advertising medium is one which concerns the candidate seeking to enter a business career, as well as the business man, because it is in the journals devoted to his own line of life that he will find advertisements of vacancies, or will be able to reach those interested in the offer of his services. A little observation will show that even the daily newspapers, alike as they are in their general characteristics, have peculiarities of their own. In the leading daily newspapers, for instance, the advertisement columns of the Daily Telegraph are looked to for clerkships, etc., those of the Daily News for newspaper men and reporters, the Daily Chronicle for artisans and mechanics, the Morning Post for domestic servants, etc., in high life.

In conclusion I think it may be very well said that the art of advertising consists of, or at any rate presupposes, these two things (1) the cultivation of the faculty of preparing the announcement in the most effective form to catch and please the public eye; and (2) to select such directions for its appearance as will reach exactly the kind of people who will be interested in the commodities offered.

(To be continued.)

OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY.

MR J. C. ROBERTS, F.I.P.S.

Mr Joseph Clement Roberts holds an appointment as official shorthand writer to the Government of Barbados, West Indies, and is permanently assigned to the Legislative Council, the upper branch of the island legislature. He is an enthusiastic phonographer, and a fellow and local representative of the Incorporated Phonographic Society.

He is a native of Barbados, and is a descendant of Mr Renn Roberts, of Wexford, Ireland. His father, Mr Henry R. Roberts, was a shorthand writer, and was at one time in business as a druggist in Bridgetown. A great and disastrous fire

there, however, destroyed his business, and he thought it advisable to seek a new occupation. He had previously studied Taylor's shorthand, and this fact led him to take up reporting as a pursuit. That was not the only result of his stenographic knowledge. In later years his old note-books attracted the attention of his son, who on visiting him in 1882 in British Guiana, asked his advice as to learning shorthand. "Do not learn the imperfect system I practised," was the response; "take up a more modern system, and the best you can get." At first that wise recommendation was not adopted, for on returning to Barbados the son took up Tay. lor's system, studied it from the text-book and from the special compilation of arbitrary characters which his father had prepared for his own use, and began to use it. But he found it insufficient for

his requirements, and after a time abandoned it in favour of Pitman's Phonography. The latter method he practised until he could follow a speaker. Then, in the eighties, he began his career as a reporter, securing engagements in that capacity from time to time on three successive newspapers.

In the year 1894 he held the post of sub-editor and reporter on the Barbados Herald. Up to that time the authorized reports of the debates in the Legislative Chambers had been reported and published under contract with the proprietor of the leading newspaper in the island. In this year, however, a change was determined upon, and an Act was passed providing for the appointment of two shorthand writers, one to the Legislative Council and the other to the House of

Assembly, and the publication of the debates in the Official Gazette. The reporter who had previously undertaken the work for the newspaper proprietor became the official shorthand writer in the House of Assembly, and Mr Roberts was appointed in a similar capacity to the Legislative Council. That post he has retained down to the present time.

Apart from his official duties, he has been entrusted with a large and varied assortment of special reporting engagements, a few of which may be mentioned to illustrate the nature and variety of the calls upon the shorthand writer in the West Indies. There were annual meetings of the Young Men's Christian Associa tion to be officially reported; public discussions on a "Rum Duty Bill" introduced by the Government, the

provisions of which created much excitement among distillers and liquor dealers; the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Commission in connection with certain serious charges against a local clergyman. There was an important conference of parochial and other medical officers of the island, summoned by the health authorities of Barbados, when a great cholera scare had broken out, and it became necessary to decide on the precautions to be adopted; and in 1897, there was an important Royal Commission to inquire into the condition of the West India Islands. Then was formed the Imperial Department for the West Indies, which held its first conference in January, 1899. On all these occasions Mr Roberts prepared the official report. Beside special engagements such as those just enumerated, he has many times acted as official shorthand writer to the Court of Bankruptcy, and has taken notes professionally of legal proceedings in other courts, and of business meetings of public companies.

From this sketchy record it will be seen that even the island of Barbados furnishes large scope for the work of a really able and efficient shorthand writer, and that the tasks that have to be performed are exacting enough to satisfy the most conscientious of reporters. Mr Roberts has been on many occasions complimented and thanked by public men for the accuracy and skill with which he has rendered their utterances, and he justly values the written testimonials to the same effect which are in his possession.

He has kept himself "up-to-date" as regards the system and its presentation in the text-books, and

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