WOMAN'S WORK 3^ Comfortable dining-rooms and sitting- rooms are also provided. Annual leave is granted— ten days to those who have served over six months but under two years, and 14 days to those who have served over two years. In case of illness, half-pay is allowed up to one month. The O.P.O. Staff Candidates for the National Telephone Company must be between the ages of six- Gerrard Exchange. Sitting'room By permission of the yuHonal Telephone Company teen and twenty-five. Under the Post Office regulations, however, the higher age limit is nineteen. Candidates must be unmarried or widows, and must fill up an application form which can be obtained from the General Manager, P.O. London Telephone Service, G.P.O. (South), Carter Lane, London, E.C. An examination similar to that for the National service must be passed, and copies of papers set at past examinations may be obtained from Messrs. Wyman & Sons, Ltd., Fetter Lane, London, E.C, price 8d., post free. The hours are longer than in the National Telephone service, being 48 weekly (not necessarily distributed evenly over the six days), but the pay is slightly higher, for probationers receive iis. a week under the General Post Office, as against los. under the National Telephone Company. The scale varies at different Exchanges, and is slightly higher in the London postal area than outside. In London, as already stated, probationers receive iis. a week for the first year on the " unestablished service," and 14s. a week the second. If the telephonist's work is satisfac- tory at the end of her second year she passes to the " established service." and the follow- ing is then the scale of pay : At eighteen years of age, t6s. ; at nineteen, iSs. ; at twenty, 19s. 6d. ; at twenty-one. 21s. ; beyond twenty-one. by increases of is. 6d. per week per annum to 28s. The Croydon, Epsom, Kingston, Rich- mond, and Sutton Exchanges pay los. a week during the first year in the unestablished service, and after that the pay is 2s. a week less than the London rate until twenty-one years of age is reached, whilst the maximum reached by further small increases is only 24s. a week, as against 28s. in London. The Barnet, Esher, Harrow, Burgh Heath, and Purley Exchanges, again, pay slightly lower rates than the last after the established ^ service class is reached, and * the maximum is only 22s. The Provincial Service The conditions of the telephone service in the Provinces and in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales are very similar to those for London, but the pay is less. In great towns such as Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, and Liverpool, for example, the pay is from 10 per cent, to 20 per cent, less than in London. A Healthy Occupation The work of the telephone operator is healthy, and the action of stretching her arms up above her head, and to the right and left of her, develops the chest and arms, and turns thin and weedy girls, after a few months' work in the operating room, into strong ones. There are no anaemic, unhealthy- looking girls in the operating rooms. From these particulars it will be seen that the telephone systems offer employment to a class of people who might find difficulty in obtaining equally pleasant work in other walks of life, whilst the scale of pay, the hours of attendance, and the other conditions make the telephonist's calling a favourable one in these days of stress when usually a great deal of work has to be done for a very little money. There are few callings for the class of women to which telephony appeals that offer per- manent positions so easily secured. There are many better paid — the Civil Service, for instance — ^but much more difficult and keenly competitive examinations have to be passed before a post can be obtained. All professions and occupations for women will be dealt with in ?^VERY Woman's Encyclopedia. The Author of the above article will be pleased to write a personal letter to any reader of Every Woman's Encyclopedia who requires information or advice as to hoiu she may earn her living. Write, stating full qualifications, to the Editors, Every Woman's Encyclopedia, enclosing stamped addressed envelope, marked
- ' Employment, ' ' for reply.
