UNIVERSTAY

orderly arrangement the writer must add neatness and, as we have said, legibility of handwriting.1 Such abbreviations alone should be employed as are current in, and well known to, the trade. Mistakes through neglect of these points may give rise to litigation and loss to the party ultimately responsible. Punctuation is but little regarded by many men of business; a good letter writer, however, will carefully attend to this, as a false construction may often be put upon a letter not provided with stops. Rules for punctuation are given in the best grammars, and may be easily learned by one acquainted with grammatical analysis.

The writer of a reply should begin by setting out the date of the letter received, and that of its receipt; after shortly recapitulating its substance he should reply to the contents categorically, and distribute the matter of his own letter in paragraphs, besides observing of course other principles of letter-writing above named.

In either case attention should be given by a beginner to usages in respect of letter-headings, dates, and addresses. Every business letter should bear upon it the name of the person to whom it is addressed; this may come either just before the salutation, or on the left-hand side of the signature. beginner should also observe the way of signing a letter according as it is subscribed by a principal or by a person authorised by him; and if there be an enclosure, he should note the practice of indicating it by a mark in the left-hand corner of the letter at the top. It should be described in the body of the letter.2

§ 25a. The following abbreviations are in common use for correspondence or in connection therewith. Those marked

1 Students of German should practise themselves in reading letters written in the Gothic character.

2 This guides the clerk who makes up the letter, and also the recipient. 3 Other abbreviations used in business will be recorded in their special connections.

with an asterisk are drawn from Continental practice exclusively :-Messrs., in French MM., stands for Messieurs ; o.s., old style1; a.m., ante meridiem, in the forenoon (German, V/m., Vormittags); p.m., post meridiem, in the afternoon (G., N/m.); inst., instant, of the current month (G., d/m,, dieses monats, or simply ds.), (F., ct., courant); mo., month; ult., ultimo, of last month (G., v/m., vorigen monats); prox., proximo, of next month (G., n/m., nächsten monats); id., idem, the same; yr., year; *a.pr., anni praeteriti, of last year; *a.c., anni currentis, d/J., dieses Jahres, of this year; *a.f., anni futuri, of next year; P.T.O., please turn over (G., w.S.u., wenden Sie um, and in F., T.S.V.P., tournez s'il vous plaît); per pro., or p.p., per procurationem (G., ppa., per procura, and in F., p.pon 2); P.S., postscript; N.B., nota bene, take note; c/o., care of (G. per Adresse, and in F., aux soins de); P.O., Post-office; P.P., post paid (G., frankirt, and in F., fc., franco); Reg., registered.3

"It

$26. Shorthand is now in widespread use, and, as facilitating the despatch of much daily correspondence, has become a necessary equipment of correspondence clerks. has educational value in sharpening boys' wits, and gives a capital training in analysing sounds," is the recorded experience of a leading Headmaster. 'Phonography,' invented by Mr. Isaac Pitman, has done most to popularise the art, and most favour is shown to his system. Proficiency in it is only attainable through patient, regular practice extending over at least

6

1 Letters from Russia and Greece are dated in the old (Julian) style,

but traders usually add the Western style below; thus, 12 January.

2 A person empowered to sign a letter per pro. is said to "hold the firm's signature." See further under 'Agency.'

3 As to the Post-office Regulations, see note below.

4 Stenographie; sténographie.

5 Dr. WORMELL, as cited by Mr. Quick, in notes on LOCKE's Thoughts on Education, p. 232.

6 It has been adapted to French, German, Spanish, and several other languages.

a year. Until the speed of 120 words per minute, or normal rate of speaking, is reached, there is no sufficient practical knowledge of the art. The highest speed on record seems to have been an average of 280 words per minute.1

The time of a business man or his employee may be further economised by the use of a type-writer. The highest rate of speed, we believe, that has yet been attained in setting words by such an instrument was ninety words per minute,3 and this in lieu of handwriting at the rate of thirty words per minute.

up

§ 27. A copy of each out-going letter is taken on a damped sheet of tissue paper in a letter-press; and the Letter Book1 is 'posted' or indexed from day to day. An easy way of remembering how to address the envelope is to extend the flap upwards and to write on the part beneath it. The stamp should then be placed in the right-hand upper corner.

Incoming letters pass from a corresponding to a junior clerk, who dockets them, that is, folds each lengthways, and endorses upon it the name of its writer, with its date, the date of receipt, and sometimes that of the reply. They are then bestowed in pigeon-holes, or are placed in the appropriate compartments of a case, which is periodically cleared as any drawer becomes full, its contents being then placed in a 'transfer case."

'5

But clerical duties in respect of correspondence may not end here. The system applied to the digesting of a series of letters, used in Government departments and there called Précis-writing, has been adopted by some traders, and will

1 An English achievement.

2 The Remington instrument is in favour, as to which see HARRISON'S Manual of the Remington type-writer, or MORTON'S Instructions on the Remington standard type-writer. 'Type-writing' is in French dactylographie. 3 Accomplished by an American typist.

4

Briefkopirbuch; copie-lettres. 'Press copy' is Abdruck; copie à la presse. 5 Such, for example, as the apparatus patented by the Amberg Company.

probably come into general use in large houses, from the convenience it affords as regards rapid reference to correspondence on some particular matter, thrown into a brief connected narration of the leading points. A précis is a pithy analysis of original letters intermediate between such originals and an abstract of them. "The merits of such a précis are (1) to contain all that is important in the correspondence, and nothing that is unimportant; (2) to present this in a connected and readable shape, expressed as distinctly as possible, and as briefly as compatible with completeness and distinctness."1

For

§ 28. We have yet to mention two processes of communication auxiliary to correspondence. The inland telegraph and marine cables are mainly supported by men of business. the sake of economy in particular, although also maintaining secrecy, firms that do business with distant parts usually employ their own code ciphers.

The following international abbreviations may be noted: F. S., faire suivre, to be forwarded; R. P., réponse payée, reply paid.

One of the most recent applications of electricity is the telephone, which is almost entirely used by men of business. A description of this, as of the typewriter and the telegraph, must be sought elsewhere.'

1 From the Examination Syllabus of the Civil Service Commissioners. 2 Telegraph (Kabel); télégraphe. 3 Telephon; téléphone.

4 For the rules and regulations respecting postal and telegraph business see The Post-office Handbook issued half-yearly, or The Post-office Guide, which appears quarterly. In the Handbook there is a useful table of 'approximate time occupied in course of post from London to certain places abroad.” (pp. 11, 13.) Cf. Bartholomew's Atlas of Commercial Geography, Map No. 13.

LESSON VI.

MERCANTILE PERSONS; CAPITAL AND ITS

ORGANIZATION.

Legal Capacity - Capital — Organization of Business — Partnership – Corporations-Companies-Circulars and Advertisements.

§ 29. A SHORT Statement of the rules of legal capacity in relation to business will complete our sketch of the general law of contract in England. This part of the topic determines the limits within which contractual rights and liabilities may arise and be enforced. Disabilities exist in respect of certain

classes of persons.

Minors are persons of either sex who are under twenty-one years of age. They were by Common Law liable only for the price of 'necessaries' supplied to them. This is a relative term, embracing whatever is suitable to the particular person's social rank.1 All other contracts made by them were 'voidable,' i.e., they could either enforce or repudiate such at will. Their ratification of a contract on coming of age must have been in writing, according to an act of George IV. 'The Infants' Relief Act, 1874,' made absolutely void any contract for the price of goods other than necessaries, or for the repayment of money lent, and any account stated,'2 being an admission. of liability.

This as regards any litigated case is said to be a question of fact, to be ascertained or determined by the jury.

2 See a later lesson under 'Debtor and Creditor, Infra as to minors becoming partners.