TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 543 



The extra women taken on have been almost entirely auxiliary clerks. 

 Their employment is considered as temporary only and the scale of pay is 

 sometimes the same, though generally slightly below that of the men displaced. 

 In some cases local authorities are paying to the enlisted men their ordinary pay 

 less Army allowance. In a few towns women, are engaged as head office clerks, 

 and in others they are emploj'ed as library assistants, in one case as the chief 

 assistant (permanent). One town has employed a woman as a police inspector 

 and another as a sanitary inspector in place of a man. 



Women are also employed in some towns as street cleaners ; they work 

 8 hours instead of 9 hours and are paid i^d. per hour instead of 6d. 



Civil Service (investigated by Miss A. C. Franklin). 



The work of the Civil Service is best considered under clerical work, as, 

 save in the Post Office, the extra women who have been employed since the War 

 have almost in all cases been taken on for work of a clerical nature. 



It has been impossible to obtain information for all Government Depart- 

 ments, especially those such as the War Office and the Admiralty, in which the 

 work of the War presses most heavily. 



Since the War women have replaced men in several Government Departments, 

 but precise information is very difficult to state, for in many of the offices duties 

 have been so re-arranged that the responsible work has been divided amongst 

 the senior members of the permanent staff — or by promotion — and women have 

 only been taken on in the lower grades of the work. The proportion of enlist- 

 ments, especially amongst the lower grades and in the Post Office, has beeh 

 heavy — 20 per cent, up to the middle of February — and places had up to 

 February been filled by men and women up to four-fifths of those who had 

 left. Much of the work of the higher branches is very technical and requires 

 considerable experience as well as judgment, and it has been difficult in these 

 branches to discover substitutes, with the result that enlistment in them has 

 been discouraged from the beginning. Women are taken on in various ways ; 

 since May 9 the Civil Service Commission has sent women to various Depart- 

 ments ; many Government offices have engaged women privately, from applica- 

 tions received by the Department officials or Ministers concerned or by personal 

 recommendation — others have been engaged through the Labour Exchanges ; 

 some were women who had qualified by examination ; others have had no 

 experience. It was hoped that sufficient women could be obtained at the 

 Treasury scale, but this has not proved to be the case, and there has been a 

 distinct shortage of capable women willing to enter Government rather than 

 private employment at the rates laid down. 



Women clerks have been engaged in practically all Departments. The 

 scale of wages laid down by the Treasury is as follows : — 



For typing, operating duplicating machines and ordinary sorting or routine 

 work, 18s. to 20s. a week, with overtime at the rate of 6d. an hour. 



For ordinary clerical work, 21s. to 25s. a week, with overtime at the rate of 

 7d. an hour. 



For shorthand-typing, 26s. a week, with overtime at the rate of 9d. an hour. 



For higher clerical and supervising work, 30s. a week, with overtime at 

 the rate of 9d. an hour. In normal circumstances clerical posts at this rate 

 are only sanctioned in a proportion not exceeding one to five of those at the 

 lower rate. The normal hours of attendance are determined by the Heads of 

 Departments at their discretion, and are not less than 42 hours a week. Over- 

 time of less than half an hour on any one day is not counted for the purpose 

 of overtime payment. Ordinary leave on full pay may be allowed (subject 

 to the exigencies of the Service) at the rate of one day for each month of 

 service, as well as on the usual public holidays. Sick leave on full pay may be 

 allowed up to a maximum of six weeks in the year, insurance contributions 



