War-Time Duties Of Post Office Telegraphist At Awarua Station

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28008, 30 June 1956, Page 13

War-Time Duties Of Post Office Telegraphist At Awarua Station

A period of service at the Awarua Radio Station during the war, when Japanese and German messages were listened to. has been among the most notable experiences of Mr Lionel Newton, a senior telegraphist at the Chief Post Office, Christchurch, who retired yesterday after 40 years with the Post and Telegraph Department. Before he went to Awarua, Mr Newton had to learn the Japanese morse code with 72 characters of the language. One of about 60 telegraphists who went to Awarua during the war, he was not allowed to tell anyone what he was going to do. “We would be on listening watch and if we picked up a message we would take the frequency and advise the direction finding department at Awarua, which would get a bearing, and in turn advise the Navy authorities in Auckland,” Mr Newton said.

When the telegraphists listened in they did not know what was in the messages they passed on or just where and what they came from, “but we had our own suspicions,” Mr Newton said. They heard Japanese submarines calling their control points, but every so often they would change their frequencies and have to be picked up again. Also, an exactly similar signal might come up 12 different times, and the impression would be that it was one submarine repeating its signal whereas there might be 12 different submarines.

From the different morse and different tone of German messages, the telegraphists could distinguish between Japanese vessels and perhaps German raiders running the blockade, he said.

“What did you do to amuse yourselves when you were virtually isolated at Awarua during the war?” Mr Newton was asked. “We drank beer,” he replied. “If we had not we would probably have gone mad.” Mr Newton began his career with the department as a telegraph boy at Little River in 1915 and two years later went to the Morse training school at Palmerston North. From there he was appointed to Inglewood and the Trentham Military Camp in 1918. Short periods at Thames and Auckland preceded his transfer to Christchurch in 1922 and he has been here since.

Known in the service as an outstanding telegraphist, he was one of the first officers to be trained in the present machine printing which replaced Morse in the early 1920 s. “I think it is the worst thing that ever happened,” Mr Newton said laughingly when he was asked his opinion of the change to machines. “The personal touch has gone. With Morse you could tell an operator you were working with in another town by his individual touch.” However, he admitted that the machines had big advantages if they were used Morse operators averaged about 30 words a minute when he began, but at rush periods they could become snowed under. Sometimes over Christmas they would have to work round the clock to clear Christmas greetings messages.

There was no doubt that the present system was a great one for newspaper work. In the days of Morse about 15,000 words would be lodged from a race meeting at Timaru and the operators would be busy until 1 o’clock in the morning, said Mr New-

ton. “I could tell you a few things about reporters’ writing too.” Mr Newton has been running schools in Christchurch for training operators for several years. It used to take three to five years for a person to become a good Morse operator, but if they can adapt themselves it takes about six months to become reasonably capable on a machine.