Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

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. [43] Those wishing to improve their speed in shorthand should join the Kelvingrove Shorthand Circulating Library. Circulating all the best magazines, Australian, etc., only is 3d quarterly. All particulars, David Cook,* 157 Kent rd., Glasgow, W. [50]

wich.

Rambler Library circulates all shorthand papers, subscription is 3d per quarter, or 4s 6d per year. Gripton's School, High st., West Brom[56] Members wanted for Coronation Stamp Exchange Club. Entrance is. No further subscription. Rules and all particulars of Secretary, P. Waters, 80 Montgomery st., Hove, Brighton.

Second-hand Books, Shorthand or Phonetic, for Sale, or Exchange, or Wanted, id. per line of ten words; Miscellaneous Books, 3d. per line.

For sale, unbound, all good condition, post-free: Shorthand World 1902, Is 6d, Pitman's Shorthand Budget for 1902, 2s, Phonetic Journal 1902, 15 6d, the 12 Phonographic Monthly Supplements, 9d. W. J. Park, 43 Devonshire st., Islington, London.

What offers ? Newnes's Oracle Encyclopædia, complete, unbound. Splendid condition. No reasonable offer refused. 30 parts, each part cost 6d. T. Louis Nunn, A.I.P.S., 285 Dewsbury rd., Leeds.

For sale, or exchange for Civil Service text-books, Cassell's Popular Educator, latest edition, 32 parts complete. What offers? J. Lewis, 45 Walter st., Dowlais, Glam.

For sale, cheap, 96 nos. Phonetic Journals 1900-1, post-free, 2s; 48 nos. Phonetic Journals 1902, post-free, is 6d; or the whole 144 nos. for 3s, post-free. Hebblethwaite, 58 Ridge rd., Stroud Green, London, N.

Wanted Shorthand Bible and Testament; write stating lowest price to Herbert Greenwood, 15 Princeville st., Bradford, Yorks.

Shakspere's works wanted. State particulars. 199 St Vincent st., Birmingham.

A quantity of shorthand reading books, cost 11s, will send post-free for 4s 6d. Bishop, Railshead, Isleworth.

A few copies of Pitman's or Hugo's German Weekly wanted. Paton, Meric lodge, Downfield, Dundee,

For sale, the following books: Shorthand, Baker's Reporting Hints, cloth, 9d; Reporter's Companion, 1849, 6d; ditto, 1863, 6d; Phono Instructor, 1856, 6d; Phono Reader, 3d; Key to Business Correspondence, 3d; Book of Psalms, 1865, 1s; Reed's Reporter's Guide, 9d; Sleepy Hollow, 3d; French Phonography, 6d. Penmanship, Perry's (821), Is; Mitchell's, 6d; Hughes's, 6d. Book-keeping, Amsdon's Guide for Brewers, 3s 6d (cost 7s 6d); Civil Service, 6d; Elements of, with Key, 6d; For Builders and Contractors, is 6d; Foster's, 6d; Haddon's, 6d; Hamilton and Ball's, Is; Henderson's, 6d; Hutton's 6d; Hunter's Self Instructor, Is; do. Studies in Double Entry, Is; do. Examination Questions, with Key, Is; do. Progressive Exercises, with Key, 2s; Jackson's, 25; Nixon's, 6d; Nichol's, Is; Marsh's Teneduria de Libros (Spanish), 3s 6d; Hale's Solicitor's, 2s; Kain's do., 35; Guide for Law Students, 6d; Tolmie's, 6d; Sherriff's, Is 6d; Sarll's Double Entry, Is. Letter Writers, Hunter's Manual, gd; Mercantile, 6d; Austin's, 6d; Payne's, Is; Anderson's, 2s; Hunter's Précis, Is; Johnson's Digesting Returns, 6d; Thomson's Indexing and Précis, Is. Miscellaneous, Howard's Art of Reckoning, 4d; Tate's Counting House Guide, 2s 6d (cost 7s 6d); Banker's Clerk, is; Builder's do., Is; Clerk's Instructor, 6d; Custom House Clerk's Guide, 6d; Pearce's Merchant's Clerk, Is; Complete Ironmonger, is 3d; Moore's Instructions to Articled Clerks, etc., 2s 6d; Harrison's Manual of Typewriter, 6d; Lewis's Handbook for Buyers and Sellers, and Manual of Commercial Law, 2s 6d; Mackie's Modern Journalism, Is; all clean and perfect, and post-free. James Hinnigan, 33 Granville st., Sheffield.

Guinea Swan fountain pen, practically new, 15s 6d. 109 Marner st., Bow, London, E.

For sale, all post-free. 6s worth of Shorthand Magazines, is 3d; Vicar of Wakefield, is; Reporter, 9d; 10s 6d Parker fountain pen, 5s 3d; Progressive Studies, 6d. 7th edition Phonographic Dictionary. What offers ? J. W. Cooper, Station House, High lane, nr. Stockport.

Reading practice for the forthcoming examinations, 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. [49] For sale, copies of Oliver McEwan's Verbatim Reporting, post-free Is Id. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E. [49] Advertiser, stamp collector, will be pleased to send parcel of different shorthand magazines to any phonographer, any part of the world, sending him used stamps, different values. Ordinary letter stamps not required. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E. [43] Do you require shorthand books or magazines? Write to J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London, S.E., with penny stamp for full list. Thousands of books and magazines for sale. [49]

Wanted, Pitman's Business Life, from July, 1902, up to present date. Must be clean and in good condition. State price to F. H. Forrest, 31 Bowling Green rd., Stourbridge.

For sale, Spanish books. Walter Jones, 103 Myrtle st., Liverpool. [44] Cassell's Encyclopædic Dictionary, 50 parts, 14s 6d or exchange. Smyth, 63 Hemingford rd., London, N.

For sale, Reed's Shorthand Writer, 2s 6d; The Young Journalist, is 9d; Pitman's Guide to Journalism, Is; Facsimile Reporting Notes, vol. 4, 3s; The Shorthand Magazine, vol. 29, 2s 6d; Chapter in Early History of Phonography, rod; How Long? a symposium on length of time required in obtaining verbatim speed, 2s 6d; Phonetic Journals from 4th Oct., 1902, to 19th Sept., 1903, 3s; Manual of Phonography, 8d; Reporter, is 4d; Key, 4d. J. S. FitzGerald, Caherciveen, Kerry.

Lightning Business Phraseograms, by Oliver McEwan, published at 3s 6d; few copies for sale, is 6d each post-free any part of the world. J. H. Simmons, 2 Rokeby rd., Brockley, London. [50]

For sale, 190, vol. 52, Phonetic Journal; vol. 26, 1901, Shorthand Weekly; clean, unbound. What offers? James Johnson, 378 Hawthorne rd., Bootle, Liverpool.

For sale, new, post-free, set of Facsimile Reporting Notes, 4 vols., 125; separate vols., 35 each; back numbers, 3d each; the Shorthand Star, vols. 1 and 3, bound, cloth, 10d, paper, 7d; Reporters' Magazine, bound vols., 5s 6d each, back numbers, 44d each, unbound vols., 4s 6d each; Transactions of the International Shorthand Congress, 1887, 7s 6d. James W. Taylor, F.Inc.S.T., 74 Leathwaite rd., Clapham Junction, London, S.W. [43] For sale, shorthand books; list sent on receipt of stamp addressed envelope. Books, c/o 7 Gill st., Hanley, Staffs. [43] For sale, all Phonetic Journals for last year except those of the 4th and 18th January, and six Keporters' Journals from May to October, 1903 (inclusive), and one Reporters' Magazine for April, 1903, 3s 6d. H. F., 796 Seven Sisters rd., London, N.

For sale, second-hand French, Italian, Portuguese, German books. Queen's Empire, Sacred Art, Panorama of Paris, Barcelona, Atlas of England and Wales, Citizen's Atlas. M., 295 Camberwell rd., London. Skerry's Geography, Manual, Hints; Skertchley's Physical Geography, lot 2s; Pitman's Manual and Reporter, is 6d; or would exchange for Hall and Stevens' Mathematics. W. Martin, Ebenezer villas, Whitehead, Co. Antrim.

What offers? Manual, Select Poetry, Tales and Sketches, Phonographic Reader, Phrase Book, Reporter's Assistant, Extracts, 1, 2, 3, Psalms, Pilgrim's Progress, Self-Culture. A. B. C., 26 Warriner Gardens, Battersea, London, S.W. [43]

Scarce Shorthand Systems, post-free.-Byrom, 1767, 10s; Cadman, 1835, 35; Clive, 1821, 45; Cook, 1856, 35; Cooper, 1858, 35; Davidson, 2s 6d; De Stains, 1842, 7s 6d; Gawtress, 1819, 4s; Gurney, 1817, 5s 6d; Ditto, 1825, 5s 6d; Ditto, 1835, 5s 6d; Harding, is; Hinton, 1832, 4s 6d; Jones, 1862, 2s; Ditto, 1871, 2s; Ditto, 1880, 2s; Lewis, 2s; Ditto, Prayer Book, 1832, 5s; Lyle, 1762, 7s 6d; Macdougal, 1841, 35; Mavor, 1807, 1s 6d; Moat, 1833, 3s; Molineux, 1813, 3s; Ditto, 1823, 35; Nash, 1783, 10s; Odell Supplement, 2s; Ditto, New Testament, 1843, 10s; Palmer, 1774, 5s; Pocknell Exercises, 1882, 6d; Pitman Vocabulary, 1850, 35; Rich, 1764, 15s; Ditto, 1792, 15s; Short Hints on Shorthand, 1869, is 6d; Soper, 1856, 3s; Taplin, 1791, 5s; Taylor, 1786, 7s 6d; Ditto, 1807, 5s; Ditto, 1814, 5s; Thompson, 1868, 2s; Ditto, 1863, 3s; Towndrow, 1859, 2s; Weston, 1740, 155; Whitehead, 1835. 5s; Williams, 1826, 7s 6d; Young, 1869, 2s; Coggin, New Testament, 1849, 7s 6d. Tate, Kendal st., Carlisle. [44] Clearing out, all clean and perfect, post-free.-Pickwick Papers, Pitman's Shorthand Library, 2 vols., 4s; Reed's Reporter's Guide, is; Script Phonography, 1s; Defence Phonetic Spelling, Latham, 1872, 15; Plea for Phonetic Spelling, Ellis, 1848, 2s; Reporter's Reading Book and Key, is; Gospel Epik, Barham and Pitman, is; Phonographic Lecturer, vol. 2, 2s 6d; Phonographic Journal, vol. 3, 1844; Ditto, Correspondent, 1845, 4s; Reporter's Handbook and Vade Mecum, Reed, is 6d; Pitman's Teacher's Handbook, is; Reed's Fonografic Reporter, 1850 to 863, 14 vols., cloth, 325 6d; Ditto, 850 to 1854, 5 vols., bound, 11s 6d; Phonographic Herald, vols. 1, 2, 3, 1860 to 1862, bound, 4s; Phonographic Reporter, 1860, 1861, bound, 4s; Fonographic Star, 1848; Fonographic Correspondent, 1848, bound, 4s; Reportin Magazin, vol. 1, 1864, 2s; Fonografik Korespondent, 1871, 2s; Shorthand Magazine, vols. 6 and 7. bound, 3s; Ditto, vols, 8 and 9, 38; Phonographic Examiner, vol. 1, 1853, 2s; Reporters' Magazine, bound, vols. 5, 13, 16, 2s each; Dot and Dash Shorthand, Noble, 6d; The Pentateuch Shorthand, is 6d; Phonotypic Journal, vols. 3, 4, 5, 6, 2s each, bound; Phonetic Journal, bound, 1876, 77, 78, '79, 81, 84, 85, '86, '87, '90, 2s each. Tate, 66 Kendal st., Carlisle. [44] More Bargains, post-free.-Teacher, 2d; Key, 3d; Manual, is; Key, 3d; Reporter, is 3d; Phrase Book, 6d; Progressive Studies, 6d; Leaves from the Note-Book, Reed, 2 vols., 2s; Reporting Exercises and Key, rod; Reader, 3d; Æsop's Fables, 3d; Extracts, 1, 2, 3, 6d; Selections, 2 and 3, 4d; Easy Readings, 3d; Reading Lessons, 5d; Key to Exercises Manual, Ditto, Reporter, 3d; Reporter's Reader, No. 1, 2d; Book-keeping, 6d; Pitman's History of Shorthand, is; Pitman's Reporting Practice, cloth, Is 6d; Dictionary, 2s; Commercial Letter Writer and Key, is; Tales and Sketches, cloth, 1s; Legal Shorthand Reiter, Stoddart, is; Shorthand Clerk, Evans, is; Prayer Book, 2s; New Testament, 2s; Nye's Shorthand Dictionary, 2s; Ditto, Dimbley, 2s; Reporter's Assistant, 6d; simple Shorthand, Heather, is 6d; Macaulay's Essays, Phonography, 5s; Robinson Crusoe, new, 2s; Bible, Reformed Spelling. 1850, 4s; SloanDuployan Instructor, 6d; Ditto, Learner's Reading Book, 6d; Ditto, Exercises, 6d; Ditto, Reporters' Rules and Abbreviations, 6d; Reed's Two Trips to India, is; The Vicar of Wakefield, an Exercise in Phonography, Is 6d. Tate, Kendal st., Carlisle.

[44]

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

THE RIGHT USE OF WORDS.

The power to express one's meaning with precision is far from common. Yet to the business man it represents a kind of skill that is worth cultivating. It is one of the elements that make up that efficiency which everybody affirms to be an urgent necessity of the times. Accuracy in the use of words may not always mean pecuniary gain, but carelessness or looseness of expression often means pecuniary loss, and in commercial matters it may have other and often more serious consequences. The average business man is a little apt to overlook the importance of choosing words that are free from all possible ambiguity. In many instances he is somewhat disposed to regard as mere pedantry the distinctions that the legal mind is given to drawing between alternative forms of expression.

So long as

he and the person with whom he is dealing understand each other, strictness of language is quite a secondary matter. Thus he is prone to argue. But sometimes it happens that the two persons to a transaction do not understand each other in precisely the same way. Sometimes it suits the purposes or the convenience of one party to the transaction to interpret the language used in one particular manner, or to insist upon a strict interpretation being placed on that language, although there may be very good reason for thinking that he knew when the language was employed that it was intended to bear quite another meaning. Resort is then had to the law. And by the time that the judges have discovered and declared the true meaning of the terms used in the correspondence, written memoranda,

[blocks in formation]

Not only among the mercantile class, but in the professions great care is essential to see that just the right words are employed in every instance. To the legal draughtsman something like a special training with this object in view is almost indispensable. It is to the lawyer that the ordinary man of business entrusts the preparation of special contracts. The lawyer should be, and to a considerable extent he necessarily is, an expert in words. But lawyers are not always as careful as they ought to be. Leases are documents of no little antiquity. Their ordinary phraseology is the outcome of long experience, and its meaning has been discussed and expounded in a multitude of legal decisions. Yet during the present year it became necessary for a judge of the High Court to construe a clause in a lease giving a "right to re-enter" in case the lessee should "commit any breach of the covenants" contained in that document, "and on his part to be performed." There were in that document, as usual, two kinds of covenants-affirmative covenants, or covenants to do certain things, and negative covenants, or covenants not to do certain things. It was alleged that there had been a breach of a negative covenant, and the question arose whether it could be said that the lessee had committed a breach of any of the covenants that were "on his part to be performed." Could he in any strict sense perform a negative covenant? It was held that he could not.

The decision followed older decisions, though the precise expressions used were in those cases somewhat different. Careful practitioners frame the clause so as to make the right of re-entry arise if the lessee fails or neglects "to perform or observe" any of the covenants, because to perform is understood to refer to affirmative covenants, on the ground that you can only perform a covenant which provides that you are to do something, whereas, although you cannot perform a negative covenant because it does not prescribe your doing anything, you can observe it by abstaining from doing the act which it binds you not to do. This illustrates at once the importance of verbal ac curacy, and the necessity for that duplicating of terms to be met with in legal documents-a duplicating sometimes attributed to more sordid motives.

Mr F. G. W. Lester, hon. secretary of the Boro ugh Polytechnic S.W.A., and conductor of the Borough Polytechnic Nos. 1 and 2), the Ipsden and the Mizpah everci rculators, requests correspondents to note that his address is now 40 Kenwyn road, Clapham, London, S. W.

Mr F. Booth, F.Inc. S.T., wishes correspondents to note that he has changed his address to Broseley, Clarence road, Sidcup, Kent.

Mr John Johnson, F.Inc.S.T., teacher of Phonography at the Dewsbury Technical Schools, desires phonographers to note that his address is now 16 Myrtle avenue, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury.

Mr W. H Fenton, L.C.P., qualified secondary teacher (Board of Education teachers' register), has removed from Southwell, having been appointed form and commercial master at Arnold House School, Blackpool.

The August-September issue of La Fonografia, the organ of Italian Phonography, edited by Signor Francini, of Rome, contains excellently reproduced facsimiles of the first page of the first number of this Journal, and of a letter of the Inventor of Phonography relative to the Jubilee. The magazine contains a good summary of the Italian adaptation, in the shape of a double page chart, and some business letters are given in the system. In several departments the magazine shows considerable improvement.

The new Handbook of the National Federation of S. W.A's. has just been issued for the season 1903-4, and is one of the most complete and attractive guides to the many and varied phonographic activities of the Federation which has yet appeared. The Federation has secured the large number of 74 contributors to its Lecture List, these being represented by 132 lectures. Associations therefore need experience no scarcity of mental pabulum during the coming season. Associations in want of suitable matter for dictation at speed practice will be interested to learn that there is now a plentiful supply of counted matter in the Dictation Matter Exchange.

The use of shorthand in the adjudication of the amateur brass band contest at the Crystal Palace, described in our issue of 17th Oct., is the subject of appreciative comments in the British Bandsman. Mr G. S. Cope, our contemporary states, "assisted Mr Warwick Williams in the Reed Section by taking down in shorthand his remarks, and afterwards transcribing them. It is a useful idea, and certainly renders the notes more spontaneous." A contributor observes "With the innovation of an expert shorthand writer we are certain of a voluminous account of our methods."

Mr J. Stringer, shorthand and typewriting master at the Mercantile College, Clifton street, Belfast, and teacher at the City of Belfast Y.M.C.A. classes, has lately adopted a very practical method of answering a criticism that pupils could not write at a high speed, and that, in fact, shorthand could not be written at the high rates claimed for Phonography. He got a pupil at his shorthand classes at the Mercantile College, Miss H. Halliday, to take a note of a paragraph selected with the approval of the pupils at the Y.M.C.A. class, and (dictated at the rate of 160 words per minute. She then read the piece back amid the hearty applause of the 250 pupils present, and in the presence of Mr D. A. Black, Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. This performance effectually disposed of any cavilling about the speed at which a properly trained pupil could write, and the ease with which Phonography could be read.

"The Man in the Gallery," as one of the contributors to the Local Government Journal styles himself, is responsible for the following stories: It is said that a certain tradesman, whose education had been evidently neglected, was chosen as being specially eligible as a manager of the schools under the new Education Act. One day he made a visit of inspection, and being of Artemus Ward's opinion that "a man who cannot spel korrectly is of no akount," asked the teacher's permission to put a question. This was, how would the

class spell egg-wiped. The strange word proved to be quite unknown to the scholars. The school manager explained that it was E-g-y-p-t, remarking "I seen it in the paper this morning." Another instance of free and independant spelling is quoted as having occurred in Lancashire. In the "suggestion book" of a local club, a member, who happened also to be an alderman, wrote "I sujest 2 coppyes of the Dayly Telegrapht," to which another member of a facetious turn added: "I suggest two copies of Mavor's First Spelling Book for the use of members."

In association with the reporting of Mr Chamberlain's Glasgow speech, the Daily Mail of 7th Oct. gave an interesting illustrated account of the method by which the verbatim report of the address is recorded in shorthand on the spot, transcribed in longhand, transmitted by telegraph to newspaper offices hundreds of miles distant, and set up in type within half an hour of the speaker's utterance of the words. The reportorial part of the work has been described many times before, but this is, we think, the first time that such a comprehensive account of the telegraphic operations involved in connection with the Wheatstone transmitter has appeared. It is a curious fact that the typewriter does not figure at all in the story told in the Mail. As the corps of newspaper reporters transcribe their shorthand notes while seated directly under the speaker, in individual “takes" containing from 100 to 150 words, they are unable to utilize the writing machine, but the Post Office might with advantage to its own staff and the editorial and linotype staffs in the newspaper offices, transcribe the Wheatstone tape by means of the writing machine instead of in handwriting. As a number of copies can be produced by the use of carbons, much laborious hand work would be avoided if typewriters were used.

TYPEWRITING NOTES.

The Financial News for 7th October contained a description of the No. 10 Yost.

The School for the Indigent Blind (Children's Branch, Wavertree), Liverpool, has ordered eleven Blickensderfer typewriters for the use of scholars.

Sir Lewis M'Iver, Bart, M.P., is a great believer in the time-saving advantages of the shorthand writer and typist. During his stay in Edinburgh, a lady typist with a Densmore typewriter was in constant attendance at his hotel for correspondence, etc.

In response to our invitation (page 783) for instances of ministers who use the typewriter for the production of their sermons, a Glasgow lady writes: "I have a cousin, a minister in Edinburgh, who has had a typewriter for twentyfive years, or perhaps longer. He always types his sermons on it himself, and finds them very much easier to read. The machine is a Remington."

It is becoming the popular fad to have the home letters of tourists typewritten and bound in book shape with an attractive cover. A slip cover of leather is an effective one for a book of this description, showing a series of small sketches done in pyrography of places described in the letters. "For a set of letters from a friend travelling in Holland," says a recent writer, "I have a leather cover with Dutch scenes; quaint Dutch maidens, windmills, tulips and distinctive scenes are done in pyrography and then tinted here and there in natural colours.'

The Daily Telegraph has been giving space to a daily correspondence upon the subject of "Sham Education." Apparently everybody is complaining of the schools and saying that they do not turn out young people proficient in the three R's, and in other every-day commercial subjects, such as geography. One correspondent goes so far as to say that such difficulty has been found in obtaining good writers that the use of typewriters for invoicing as well as correspondence

has been obligatory. There is no doubt some truth in the various letters of complaint. The schools do not, as a whole, give such an education as enables a lad to start in an office with as thorough a grasp of the subjects called for in daily life as an experienced hand will have gained. Perhaps it can never be expected that the schools will do this. Experience will to the last be the best teacher. It might, however,

presented during the session :-Four at 160 words, five at 150, 10 at 140, ix at 130, 14 at 120, 14 at 110, 41 at 100, 33 at 90, 24 at 80, 22 at 70, 38 at 60, 115 at 50, 99 at 40, and 115 at 30 words per minute Total, including Society of Arts and Pitman's speed, 565 certificates.

be expected that in this day of keen national competition first INC. SOCIETY OF SHORTHAND TEACHERS.

attention in all schools intended for the training of young people for a commercial career, should be given to commercial subjects, such as reading, writing, arithmetic, commercial geography, shorthand, typewriting, and bookkeeping.

The Field for 3rd October takes up the question of personal luggage on railways, and makes special reference to the question of the carrying of typewriters by passengers. A decision of Lord Chief Justice Cockburn's is cited, which shows that in isolated cases, at all events, a passenger might successfully decline to pay for the carriage of a typewriter as luggage. A typist carrying a machine for use in work at the end of his journey could probably make a successful fight of it. The judgment is as follows:- Whatever the passenger takes with him for his personal use or convenience, according to the habits or wants of the particular class to which he belongs, either with reference to the immediate necessities or to the ultimate purpose of the journey, must be considered as personal luggage. This would include not only all articles of apparel, whether for use or for ornament-leaving the carrier herein to the protection of the Carriers Act, to which, being held to be liable in respect of passengers' luggage, as a carrier of goods, he becomes entitled-but also the gun case or the fishing apparatus of the sportsman, the easel of the artist on a sketching tour, or the books of the student, and other articles of an analogous nature, the use of which is personal to the traveller, and the taking of which has arisen from the fact of his journeying."

ABERDEEN SCHOOL BOARD EVENING CLASSES.

The annual presentation of medals, prizes and certificates gained in connection with the Evening Classes of the Aberdeen School Board took place in the spacious hall of the Aberdeen Grammar School recently, when there was a large attendance of pupils and others. Mr John Keir, convener of the Evening Schools Committee of the Aberdeen School Board presided, and was accompanied on the platform by Professor Paterson and several other members of the School Board, Mr John Morgan, convener of the Education Committee of Robert Gordon's College, etc., Mr Duncan Clarke, M.A., head master of the Higher Grade Evening Classes held last session in the Grammar School, and Messrs Laing. Craigen, Dean, and Gill, Pitman's Shorthand teachers were also present. After addresses by the Chairman, Prof. Paterson, and Mr Morgan, in the course of which hearty approval was expressed by each of the speakers at the arrangement come to between the School Board and the Governors of Gordon's College in regard to evening school work, Mr Morgan presented the prizes to the successful candidates, when the following students received certificates, etc., in Pitman's Shorthand :-Miss J. Symon, firstclass Society of Arts certificate, Pitman's speed certificate for 160 words, with School Board bronze medal and book prize; Miss M. C. Arthur, first-class Society of Arts certificate, Pitman's speed certificate for 150 words and book prize; Mr R. Wilson, first-class Society of Arts certificate, Pitman's speed certificate for 150 words and book prize; Mr J. Robertson, first-class Society of Arts certificate, Pitman's peed certificate for 150 words and book prize; Miss H. Silver, Pitman's speed certificate for 140 words. Six students also received second-class, and 10 third-class Society of Arts certificates. Besides these certificates the following School Board speed certificates were gained and

LONDON DISTRICT.

The first annual meeting of the London District was held at Pitman's Metropolitan School, Southampton row, W.C., on 26th Sept., Mr B. de Bear in the chair. The chairman read a characteristic letter from Mr James Pirie, M.A., expressing his regret at being unable to be present.

The report, in briefly reviewing the work of the year, referred to the successful start which had been made, the value of the papers read, the satisfactory increase in membership (including a valuable acquisition in the person of Mr H. E. Blain), and future prospects. The financial statement showed a balance in the treasurer's hands of £3 135. 3d. On the proposition of the Chairman, seconded by Mr J. W. Taylor, the report was adopted. The addition to by-law 3 was adopted without opposition.

The following were elected as the Council for the ensuing year : Messrs De Bear, Blain, Booth, Cottingham, Doble, Houghton, Mathews, McNeil, Tanner, Taylor and Warner. Mr Booth was elected auditor. At a subsequent Council meeting the following officers were appointed: Chairman, Mr De Bear; Vice-Chairmen, Messrs Blain and Doble; Secretaries, Messrs Tanner and Mathews, the latter to act also as treasurer.

Mr E. J. Cross (Manchester) addressed the meeting on "Membership of the Society: what it means to Teachers." He said the wonder was that there were isolated teachers content to work alone when there was the help of such an organization as this at their disposal, and especially when one knew the immense amount of unselfish work done by the Executive to make the Society what it aimed to be. It should be remembered that though they worked for the shorthand teacher, they were, in working for his interests, working also for his students, for the system, and for the institution where he taught. It was thought at one time that good teachers would be indisposed to give away their best ideas in the treatment of lessons, but the contrary had been the case. In fact, he had always found shorthand teachers a very unselfish body of men (Hear, hear.) He would include in the benefits of membership: the possession of a diploma recognised by educational authorities. enrolment of name in public lists, facilities for association and interchange of ideas with other teachers, discussion of teachers' questions by teachers, the engendering of greater confidence in plans and methods of work, assistance in obtaining better appointments and conditions of work, provision of satisfactory tests for students, and a thousand-and one other helps. Messrs Blain, Ramshaw, Shallard, Tanner, Powley, Doble, Sandiford and the Chairman took part in the discussion. The meeting then adjourned for tea, after which

Mr G. F. Sandiford (Manchester) read his paper on "Reason or Rote in the Teaching of Shorthand," which raised an interesting discussion in which Messrs De Bear, Doble, Jones, Houghton, Tanner and Booth took part. On the motion of Messrs Mathews and Doble, the meeting accorded the lecturers a very hearty vote of thanks, which was acknowledged by Mr Cross. An open discussion followed.

I.P.S. TYPISTS' SECTION.

LONDON DISTRICT.

The first meeting of the winter session will be held on Saturday, 24th October, at St. Bride's Institute, E.C., in conjunction with the teachers' and general sections. The proceedings will commence at 3 o'clock. At 4 o'clock the medals and diplomas gained by the successful candidates at the recent examinations will be distributed by Miss Marie Corelli. Members will receive admission cards, which must be presented at the door. The following have been elected members:-Misses M. D. Edwards (Cheltenham), Carry Squire (London), A. Graham (Ayr), Messrs. C. M. Lawrence (Aberdeen), C. H. Clarke and F. H. Brown (London). It has been decided to issue free to members a monthly record of proceedings of the section. This should prove particularly interesting to those members unable to attend the meetings. In accordance with Rule 10, notice will be given at the next meeting of a proposed addition to Rule 5, viz. "That the membership fee for apprentices and employees shall be 2s. 6d. per annum."

INCORPORATED PHONOGRAPHIC SOCIETY.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE. (Continued from page 827.)

THIRD SITTING.

On the resumption of proceedings after the luncheon hour, Mr W. OULTON, J.P., Chairman of the Liverpool Education Committee, took the chair, and a paper was read on "COMMERCIAL EDUCATION "

by Mr J. MONTGOMERY, of the Liverpool City School of Commerce. After succinctly tracing the growth and development of education in this country, and particularly during the Nineteenth century, and describing the existing curriculum at the ordinary secondary school, Mr Montgomery remarked that the commercial educationist takes up the school program and says:-" I think that for youths destined for a commercial career some of the subjects in this curriculum might be replaced by others. I think some might be dealt with in a different manner so that the whole course, while affording as good a mental training as ever, might acquire greater interest for a certain class of students and greater applicability to the needs of their future life.' did not this commercial educationist-claim to encroach upon the province of practical business training. He did not claim to turn out a commercial Admirable Crichton, able to show "the old man" how to do things the moment he crosses the threshold of an office. Commercial education did not claim to put a young man half-way up the ladder of life; it claimed only to give him a chance to mount faster from the bottom, and entitle him, perhaps, to some concession in the matter of apprenticeship as a set-off to the additional years at school which a thorough commercial education entails.

He

Referring to the school curriculum, we wanted, he said, instruction in modern languages instead of in classics, but not instruction in modern languages treated as if they were classics. It sufficed to know a dead language; you must possess a modern one. You might study Latin as you would the ancient weapons in a museum; you might know how they were used but you were not expected to use them. You ought to know and be master of a modern tongue as the soldier knows and is master of his rifle. Modern languages ought to be taught so that the future merchant might be able not only to enjoy the poetry of Goethe and Corneille, and the philosophy of Kant and Descartes if he so desired, but also to know what Leroy Beaulieu and Roscher have to say about free trade and protection, to learn directly from his trade papers of other countries what they are doing in his line, instead of waiting till valuable information has percolated, too late and in a garbled form through the press of his own country. He should so learn that he could go himself and have a chat with his customers in Vienna or Rio Janeiro instead of employing a linguistic German.

To attain this facility in modern tongues the Englishman, more than any other, requires a phonetic and phonographic training which will enable him to master the spoken languages of other countries without being misled by the instinc. tive tendency to pronounce the written language as if it were English. Before attacking foreign languages at all, the ear, the English ear especially, ought to be trained in the gamut of civilized phonetics, without any reference to the usual characteristics by which they are represented. When these sounds have become familiar, their graphic signs should be used to indicate the pronunciation of foreign tongues. And here it seemed to him that the I.P.S. could do good work in striving for the establishment of a normal pronunciation for English itself.

In other subjects, similarly, commercial education aimed at rendering the existing instruction more applicable to the actualities of life without in any way prejudicing their value from a purely educational point of view. In Geography, for instance, they would not merely expect the student to learn

that the former capital of England was Winchester, and that the present one was London on the Thames, but to learn why London became the capital and why it was on the Thames. In history would it be less edifying and useful for a Liverpool boy to learn what great historical events caused the port of Venice to decline and the port of Hamburg to flourish, than to learn why Henry VIII. beheaded one wife and married another? Were the Law Merchant of England and the Sale of Goods Act less worthy of study than the Tests Act or any other of those amiable statutes that employed one set of bigots to cut another's throat? Were the rules of arithmetic and algebra less usefully exemplified in questions relating to the cost of products, exchanges, sinking funds, and return on capital, than in considering the efforts of imaginary men digging imaginary ditches for no imaginable reason whatever? Would it not be to the advantage of those who would have to vote some day on the commercial policy of their country, if they had devoted part of the closing years of study to the principles of economics and the treatment of statistics? Could not some of the science teaching be replaced by book-keeping, of which Goethe said that it was one of the greatest inventions of the human mind, and that only those who were ignorant of it could deny its value as a mental discipline?

Commercial education, as it exists in every civilized country except this, differentiates too much and too early from the older types of education to be conveniently associated with them. The recognition of this fact had led to the multiplication of splendidly equipped institutions which bid fair in time to overshadow all others. The three degrees of commercial education corresponded closely to the three degrees in the business world itself-the degrees represented in a bank by the clerks, the accountant, and the manager, in an insurance business by the clerks, the secretary, and the under writer-in short, the muscles, the nerves, and the brain of the trading community.

The first stage had for its aim the creation of efficient clerks and accurate correspondents, book-keepers, stenographers, and typists, etc, with enough knowledge of ordinary office organization to pass readily from one subordinate post to another. Ample provision for this type existed in the numerous commercial classes, day and evening, with which such a city as that was studded; and the completion of such a curriculum as they provided had become a necessity for those who had the slightest ambition to rise. A certificate from one of these schools should be exacted from every applicant for a paid post, and an apprentice coming from an ordinary school should be compelled, and offered facilities, to gain such a certificate during his apprenticeship.

The second stage had for its aim the preparatory training of higher-class business officials-men expected to work without guidance along a given line of policy, men knowing the working of the machinery of trade thoroughly, so as to get the best possible results out of it once it is set in movement. This training was furnished by the higher conditions of the commercial high schools on the continent, in America, and in Japan. Here the subjects of the first grade were supplemented by foreign languages, accountancy, commercial theory and practice, commercial mathematics, commercial history and geography, the principles of economics, commercial law and technology.

The Day High School of Commerce would supply this type of education, and among its functions it would afford a home and a career to professional commercial teachers, and a centre for the accumulation and ordering of facts and experiences of value in higher commercial education. The course of study and the standard of attainment in the commercial high school ought to be controlled by the public authority, and possession of its diploma should entitle the holder to a certain recognition by the business community. The net result to the community would be the existence in its midst of a class of young men who would look at their business as a far more interesting and important game than ping-pong or football. The principals of business houses had the decision of this matter in their hands. If they did

« AnteriorContinuar »