It is unnecessary to dilate on the advantages to be derived from the use of Shorthand, seeing that these are acknowledged by every person who is in the daily use of the pen, although many are unconscious of the fact. For instance, three methods may be employed to write the date of the present year. First by the common longhand, as « One thousand eight hundred and ninety; » secondly, by the Roman letters mdcccxc; thirdly, by the Arabic numerals 1890. The first method is long and cumbrous, though perhaps necessary in some legal documents; the second is ancient, and very inconvenient in writing; but the third is by far the best, and approved by the common sense and practical use of all who use the pen, both for brevity and legibility: and this is Shorthand. A man's life ought rather to be estimated by what he does than by the number of years that he may live; and as the use of Shorthand enables him to perform at least five times more work than he can execute with the ordinary longhand, so much therefore may be put to his credit in the ledger of life. The threadbare objection that Shorthand is difficult to learn is now well-nigh exploded, and I know of no art nor science of such universal value that is conquered with so little practice as Pitman's Phonography; for thousands of boys, and hundreds of thousands of men are now using it in their daily correspondence and business with perfect freedom, elegance, and truth. A proof of its simplicity and brevity is this: that we spell as we speak, every letter is made to express one sound and one only—as, for example, the letter m , whereas the same letter in the common longhand requires seven inflexions of the pen to make it.

Sydney has made grand progress of late years in this useful art, for there is scarcely a department in the public service or a mercantile house of any note in the city but derives daily advantage from its use; and the calls for good writers are both numerous and urgent. In this wonderful age of electricity, railways, telephones, and sharp practice, we must live fast and travel fast, or the business of our halls of legislation and our courts of law will lag behind and leave us where our fathers were eighty years ago. A good speaker utters about a hundred and twenty words a minute, and without the use of Shorthand it is impossible to give a correct transcript of those words on paper; but with Pitman's wonderful and perfect system every word may be taken—yea, even to the rapid delivery of two hundred words a minute, though but few writers attain to this extraordinary speed. Nor is it desirable that any public speaker should gabble away at such a terrific pace, for it is more than probable that in such case there would be more wind than wisdom in what he said.

[A special interest attaches to this article, which was written for the Journal, in shorthand, on the date given at foot, the writer then being confined to his bed. He died in March, 1890, in his 80th year, and the article appeared after his death. He was the eldest son of the late Mr Samuel Pitman, and brother of Mr Isaac Pitman, the inventor of Phonetic Shorthand.]