N.Z. BANK IN LONDON

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 43, 19 August 1941, Page 8

N.Z. BANK IN LONDON

WISE PRECAUTIONS

FORMER MANAGER RETURNS

Wise precautions, put into effective operation by members of the staff, saved the Bank of New Zealand in London from flames which destroyed blitzed ' buildings around it, according to Mr. David F. Reid, who recently retired from the position- of manager of the bank and who has returned to New Zealand.

Mr. Reid told a "Post" reporter today that an auxiliary water tank on the roof, with a large capacity, provided the supply that made ■• up for the absence of normal water pressure through the destroying of mains in the vicinity. Buildings which did not have such auxiliary supplies were completely burned out. The foresight of the -bank authorities was well repaid.

"I had arranged a hose from this tank on every floor," said Mr. Reid, "and when I arrived on the scene I \ put a man in charge of each floor. His duty was to take down all the blackout material, which was dangerous from a fire point of view, arid strip everything inflammable from the region of the windows. He was to use the hose with discretion. I myself took the hose on the ground floor, and together we saved the building from the spreading flames. Afterwards,we found that the whole block, with the exception ■of three offices, had been destroyed. , The tank undoubtedly, saved the bank, because the water supplies had been broken by bomb explosions." A FLYING KIWI. The attack came at about 1 o'clock on a Sunday morning, said Mr. Reid, but some of the buildings which were destroyed were not touched by the spreading flames until 12 hours later. | Actually, the bank \was out of danger by about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The building had windows and partitions blown out by the blast of a bomb which.landed alongside it and scarred the, masonry. A small .bronze kiwi, a gift to.Mr. Reid-from a Wellington firm, which was on his desk, was blown across the pffiqev and, was later found sticking by its beak into a mahogany door. . . • I ' "On the whole, the structural damage was slight," he said, "although the ceilings had to be replaced; The bank shifted •to the premises of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for about 12-weeks before returning to its own office," The bank, continued Mr. Reid, had established premises in the country, but these were used only as a standby in case the bank had to get out of the city. "We think that is very unlikely," he said, "and it is our intention to stay in the city unless it is impossible for us to get alternative accommodation if this building is destroyed. We think the chances of its being destroyed are very remote indeed, because only a direct hit will do that." . ...'.-. BLITZ-DODGERS BOMBED. Some business firms which had shifted to the country on the outbreak yf the war had been thoroughly blitzed there while "heir city premises were still intact. There was no apprehension in England, he said, and, although rationing was severe, people gradually got used to it and did not complain. "I think it has done us a lot of good, really," he added. Mr. Reid was chairman of the executive committee of • the War Services Association in London, which ran the New Zealand Forces' Club in Charing Cross Road, and this club, he said, was doing excellent work. It was used not only by New Zealand forces, but by others as well, and when he left London only about 25 per cent, of the patrons were New Zealanders. However, they took the view that a little hospitality given to other fighting forces than their own was some small return for what other people.were doing for the. New Zealanders. Mr.-Reid, who is of Orkney Island stock, was born in Arrowtown in 1879, and commenced his banking career with the Colonial Bank at Queenstown in 1894. He jointed the Bank of New Zealand at Arrowtown a year later. It was in 1933, after continuous service with the Bank of New Zealand, that he was appointed manager in London, j