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STAFF TRAINING Training Schools Recruits to the Post Office receive their main training on the job, but this is supplemented by a fairly complete scheme of training at established schools. For many years, school training was restricted to instruction in Morse operating, but during recent years the schools have been extended and now provide complete courses in : Morse operating and sub-office work : Machine-printing operating: Radio operating: Radio mechanicians' work: Electrical and general mechanical work : Telephone-exchange mechanicians' work: Telegraph mechanics' work : Line construction and cable-jointing work : Typing. The schools are fitted with up-to-date apparatus conforming to that in actual use. The courses vary from eight to twenty weeks of full-time intensive training under competent instructors. Refresher courses are also provided as required. Correspondence School The Post Office Correspondence School now provides sixteen non-technical courses and seventeen technical courses. A small charge is made for each course. Modern methods of teaching by correspondence are employed, and every effort is made to establish good teacher-student relations so that students feel encouraged to ask for further comment on any point not clear to them. The courses are revised frequently both for material content and for improved exposition from a teaching viewpoint. The school facilities are widely used by Post Office employees, who speak highly of the tuition. By arrangement with the Education Department Correspondence School, courses are also available in English, arithmetic, and geography for those officers wishing to qualify by examination for promotion from the Second to the First Division. HEALTH OF STAFF The following table shows the average number of days on which employees were absent on sick-leave during the years ended the 31st March, 1949 and 1950 :

Average Absences

The death of 42 officers occurred during the year.

Year Ended 31st March, Each Sick Employee. Each Sick Employee, Excluding Long-term Absences of Over Eighty Days. Each Person Employed. Each Person Employed, Excluding Long-term Absences of Oyer Eighty Days. 1949 Days. Days. Days. Days. Men 11-87 8-25 6-21 4-26 Women 13-44 10-08 8-28 6-15 1950 Men 11-49 7-88 6-21 4-21 Women 12-77 9-41 7-62 5-57