STRETCHING THE LINES.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 478, 10 April 1909, Page 11

STRETCHING THE LINES.

A TELECRAPH LINESMAN'S EXPERIENCES. INTERVIEW WITH MR. JOHN BLACK. Mr. John Black, Supervisor of Telegraph Stores, is among those who have retired owing to having reached the age limit. He has been connected with the Telegraph Department for nearly 45 years, and his experiences in the days when the "wires that speak" were few and far between, are more than ordinarily interesting. Mr. Black was born in Tayport, Scotland, in 1843, and when but 11 years of age, left the land of heather and crag in, a schooner trading out of Dundee. After a year's sailing he evinced no desire for the life of a landsman, k> was apprenticed to : the sea on the ship Bolivar (not tho vessel that Kipling wrote ef), and in that fine vessel traded all over the world, experiencing several narrow escapes. A popular trading ground with this good ship was the west coast of Africa, within a few degrees of the line. Adventurous Times. They were brave, adventurous times, evidently, for Mr. Black states that more than once the. Bolivar was boarded by searchparties from the old warship Spy, under tho impression that she was engaged in the slave-trade. She was an .honest trader enough, and how she traded on occasions would hardly suit tho unionist seamen of to-day. It used to be their duty to go jshore and hunt up cargo from the negro bribes—ivory, gold-dust, produce, curios, vtc.—and he had at times been as long as <oyen weeks, inland, bartering , gingham Jhirts, bright-coloured handkerchiefs, cheap neck-ties, dungaree trousers (which the natives did not wear, but kept them as curios}, ind other articles of attire for whatever ihey could get of any marketable value. Coin of the realm bad no great. attraction for them, but they liked the smaller ones— they would refuse a half-crown, but rush » threepenny-bit. After serving over four years on the Bolivar, Mr. Black returned to Scotland, and studied navigation, and afterwards secured his second mate's certificate. He subsequently shipped before the mast in the ship Robert Henderson, which paid a -visit to Dunedin in 1860. Cold-Mining. On the vessel's next voyage to the colony, Mr. Black left the ship, and was in Dunedin ifhen the Gabriel's Gully rush broke out, ind he went up to try-his fortune there. He and two others struck a rich bit of ground, and wero getting' good gold when they were ejected by another gang. "Might was right up there," said Mr. Black, "and they were eight to our three, but a fre<! fight came off before we were got out. We had pegged out our claim all right, but, like half of those in the gully, we had no miner's right, neither had those who succeeded, us. We made about £300 a piece in about three weeks, and the others made a lot of money after we were kicked out. There was a warden, .but be had no more power than my little finger, and the police ,- Fere ciphers. Each man or party had. to ight for their own, and fight they did. Utor Gabriel's Gully I followed the gold round to. Shotover, Dunstan, and other Otago fields, for a couple of years. I caught scarlet fever at Dunstan, and soon after I recovered I was engaged (in ,1864) as a temporary lineman, and helped to raise the arst telegraph post in Dunedin. After that I was one of the party that stretched the line between Chrfetchuroh and Nelson, via Blenheim—that was when Alfred Sheath was Government Electrical Engineer. While on this work, I worked with Mr. J. K. Logan (Supervisor of Electric Lines), and we had a pretty rough time scrambling through bush and Bwimming the rivers. I remember that tho pole* we used were Western Australian saplings, which the Government had-purchased from the consignees of a brig ' that was wrecked on Ashley Beach. These posts havo boon replaced years ago. It took between 13 and 14 months to lay tho line between Christchurch and Blenheim, and another four months to carry it on to Nelson. At the completion of the work (in 1866), I.was made ' a permanent lineman. Nine Hours In Flood Waters. "Two yeara later I was shifted 4 Havelock, as a more handy station from "which to work the section. While there I experienced the big flood in tho Wairau, and came near losing my Me -in the Kaituna Valley. I was about to cross, tho ford at Cullen's Hill, when I saw a wall of water, about three feet high coming down, the valley. I jumped for my horse, which was a good swimmer, and hung on to him until I was washed off, after mat ing three attempts to cross. Then I swam about, occasionally getting a rest on a log, cmtil I reached Davis's house, which was surrounded with water, and through which the water was rushing. It was 11 o'clock at mgat before a boat came to our rescue (there were others in .the house)—then wo passed »yer a 7ft. fence without touching it. I was at Havelock until 1869, and was then moved to the North Island. A Tin of Sardines a Day. , " I went to Wanganui, and was employed LIS vT t ¥, lin^ to °P unake . Hawera, and New Plymouth. On one occasion, I wai asked to report on tho country between Inglewood and Ktimaria (now Normanby" by the late Dr. Lemon. It was through heavily bushed country, and all I had to e r-r*? as 08 Track (""»*» by General Chute's soldiers two years before, and &?**£* by " blazed tree here and ot?v Lnl orf y .^P* 58 -. The distance was ™? M €S ' , but !t took m 6 host part of three days to get through, during whoh time I lived on three tins of sardines and six biscuits. I wouldn't do it now for a pension. ■ a ■" Tapu " and the Telegraph. wl/Jr 30 Was c ? n I ? enled ' m stretching the lino to Taupo and Rotorua. Tho Maoris did not hke the idea of the telegraph "goK Mom TW had a ol *S wren mom. They were afraid to touch the posts and wires once thev wero „n_ti!! -ere "tap U "_b u t they raWK posts, and cut. them up before tfiey could U £?„£* P™*™- We had some helping us, and when they heard that To Sis °fh our Yfc : ™ M irigntoned. They reckoned that if he found we found that we couldl do ouTwork much better with- a. small shawl round the watt than with trousers on, and in that s+v 1 , worked for weeks together » Sty '° ™ JVIr Black who was tho first postmaster and telegraphist at Hawora, has ai«T been associated with ' cable-laying and reniirW %mg the three cables that connect Ote