Two Women Inspectors are employed by the Irish National Education
Board. Their salary is £150-10-£300, the same as that of Men Junior
Inspectors; Men Senior Inspectors receive £300-20-£700.
There are two Women Organisers, whose duty it is to organise weak schools.
There are also 14 Organisers of Domestic Economy; their work is similar to that of Inspectors; they travel about and have authority in the schools; they do not inspect general subjects, but confine themselves to cookery, laundry and domestic science.
There are also six Women Organisers of Kindergarten.
The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.
This Department has recently employed a few women upon various kinds of scientific work. Three women are appointed as Assistant Naturalists in the Fishery Branch, at a salary of £150 per annum, and two as Junior Assistant Naturalists at £2 per week. They are appointed on the nomination of the President, without examination, but they must possess the necessary scientific qualifications and have taken a recognised course of study. These posts are non-pensionable. The Fishery Branch deals with questions relating to the natural history and diseases of fish, fish-hatcheries and laboratories, the protection of undersized fish, the effect of methods of capture, international investigations, and grants in aid of fishery research. The women are engaged upon the same work as men, except that they do not write technical reports and are not liable to be called upon for sea duty.
In the Herbarium and Library of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew there are two Women Assistants at £150-10-£300 (the Men Assistants' scale is £150-15-£300). Scientific qualifications are required for these posts, and there is an examination by the Civil Service Commission. The Library is maintained for official consultative work, to supply the basis of an accurate nomenclature throughout the establishment and as an aid to research. The Herbarium aims at representing the entire vegetation of the earth with especial regard to that of British possessions. A scheme for preparing a complete series of floras of India and the Colonies was sanctioned by the Government in 1856, and has been steadily prosecuted ever since. The principle work of the staff is the correct identification of the specimens which reach Kew from every part of the world, and their incorporation in the Herbarium. It is visited for the purposes of study and research by botanists from every country.
The scientific work in the various branches of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries would seem to afford some scope for women of scientific attainment. Sir T. Elliott, formerly Permanent Secretary to the Board, in his evidence before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, said he considered that women could do good work in many directions, and that their help might be especially valuable in entomology.
The Public Trustee's Office.
The Public Trustee's office was established in 1908, under the Act of 1906. Two Women Inspectors—or more correctly speaking, Visitors—are now employed, one of whom receives a salary of £200 and the other £180.