Lifetime in stock and station work

Press, 29 May 1981, Page 20

Lifetime in stock and station work

Mi' R. L. (Lindsay) Edgar, who retires at the middle of next month from the position of Christchurch branch manager of Wrightson NMA. Ltd. has spent all of his working life in the stock and station business in Canterbury. Born in Timaru, he was brought up on a farm at Seadown in South Canterbury and out of Timaru Boys' High School he joined the National Mortgage and Agency Company. Ltd. in Timaru as an office junior at the end of 1936.

Before going into the Army in 1942 during World War 11 he worked in the grain, seed and merchandise department, of the firm, spending one season helping the grain, seed and merchandise representative.

His war service took him overseas to the Middle East in 1943. and he subsequently served with the 26th Infantry Battalion of the. 2nd New Zealand Division from the initial operation in Italy on the Sangro River to Trieste. Back home again in 1946 he rejoined his old firm and in 1947 he went to Tcmuka as a stock agent where he remained until he went to Ashburton as head auctioneer in 1955. While in that capacity he was also in charge of the rural property business and initiated an urban side to the business too. In 1963 he became manager of the Ashburton branch of the firm' and while in this position- land was purchased and a seed dressing plant established. In 1968 he was transferred to Christchurch as assistant manager and in 1970 became branch manager. After the merger of National Mortgage and Wright Stephenson and Company. Ltd. in 1972, he remained on as manager, a position he has held ever since. In Christchurch he also extended the company real estate business to include an urban section and has recently seen the completion of one of the most modern seed dressing complexes in the country.

The'Chatham Islands are served by the Christchurch branch of the firm and Mr Edgar has usually made one trip a year to the islands, where he says they have a very loyal band of clients, who identify very closely with the person in a firm with whom they deal. Mr Edgar has served as chairman of both the. Stock and Station. Agents’ Association in Christchurch and Ashburton and is an associate

member of the New Zealand Real Estate Institute and holds a certificate of properly management from the institute. On the eve of his retirement. he says that he is proud to have been the manager of a branch of the largest stock and sfation company in New Zealand, which is also part of one of the largest companies in New Zealand, Fletcher Challenge Ltd. He has happy memories of his associations with farmers and their wives, whom he has found vet'y helpful and hospitable. Everyone, of course, he says, is different and therefore a person dealing with a wide range of people has to be something of a psychologist. He remembers taking a wellknown farmer to buy cattle and before lie met the prOs.pective vendor he would want to know about his interests and hobbies, so before they got round to completing a deal they were always on very friendly terms. As a stock auctioneer in Ashburton Mr Edgar liked to be able to draft up as many of the store stock that he sold as possible so he knew what he was selling, and he derived some satisfaction from the fact that some of the great names in stock dealing had enough confidence in him to give him buying orders to fill. in his business dealings with farmers he says that he has been motivated by a

belief in honesty and firmness and also fairness and understanding.

He counts himself fortunate since being in an executive position to have always been well served by a loyal and good staff. In these days of escalating costs his advice to farmers is that they should watch costs closely and 'endeavour to maximise production. Before each season he urges farmers to organise their seasonal finance and to prepare a cash flow budget so that they can plan and manage their own financial resources.

When he was in Temuka he remembers selling his first farm land in about 1948 for the equivalent of $6.50 per acre for 1208 acres. That is a far cry. from current land prices when hundreds of thousands of dollars are involved in property deals. He says that the problem facing the young farmer today is to get the opportunity to'farm. In his retirement Mr Edgar, who is a committee member of the New Zealand Metropolitan Trotting Club, plans to go into business. He will be succeeded by Mr George F. Ritchie, who started with National Mortgage in Dunedin and at one time was a stock agent at Mayfield. In more recent years he has been in the North Island and has lately been with the rural finance division, in the head office of Wrightson NMA, Ltd, in Wellington.