Petty pilfering on the part of a customer does not exactly create a longing in their minds for continued dealing with that person, and, difficult as the shop-lifter is to shake off, every endeavour is made to discourage his patronage. Judging by the increasingly heavy losses which are incurred through this cause in many of the larger establishments in Dunedin, the indications point to a growth rather than a diminution of the evil.
Strange as it may seem, women are the worst offenders, but whether this is due to the frailty of the sex or to man's natural honesty, reinforced by a lack of opportunity, is a matter for individual examination.
The drapery establishments are, of course, the chief sufferers, and a Daily Times reporter was assured yesterday by the managers of several establishments that their losses in the way of mysterious disappearances run into several hundred pounds every year.
Male workers supplanting women
Girls are not usurping the positions of returned soldiers in the Dunedin banks, and conditions are slowly returning to normal. Contrary to the state of affairs before the war a few women will now find permanent employment in the banks, but they will not be occupying positions in which they could be regarded as entering into serious competition with the men.
That was the result, in effect, of certain inquiries which were made by a Daily Times reporter yesterday respecting the position, and, in addition, there appears to be no dissatisfaction locally with the conditions. During the war period the number of girls that were employed in the banks here ranged from 10 or 12 in the smaller institutions up to 18 or 20 in the larger banks, and a proportion of these were engaged on the ledgers or in other clerical work.
Since the signing of the armistice and the consequent return of many men to their civil occupations the managers of the various banks have adopted the policy of drafting as many girls as possible out of their employment by giving them the three months' notice which was provided for at the time of their engagement.
In one bank which formerly employed between 15 and 20 girls there are only six left, and practically the whole of these are engaged on typewriting and on the adding machines - work that is largely mechanical in its nature and that is not greatly favoured by men.
Severe Christchurch frost
It is now stated that the frost experienced at Christchurch on Monday night after the snowfall was the most severe recorded for 14 years.
The thermometer at the magnetic observatory gave a reading of 6½deg of frost, but most people (telegraphs our correspondent) believed that this was inaccurate, and it now appears that the instrument was buried by the snow, and was thus protected to a considerable extent.
Privately-owned instruments recorded 17deg of frost. If it had not been for the snow covering, vegetation would have suffered far worse than has been the case.
- ODT, 5.9 1919.
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