AFTER FORTY-EIGHT YEARS

Evening Star, Issue 16779, 6 July 1918, Page 3

AFTER FORTY-EIGHT YEARS

VETERAN PUBLIC SERVANT HETIKKS. REMINISCENCES OF A STRENUOUS CAREER, Mr W. T. Ward, who lias held tho position of chief postmaster in Ciiristchurch 'sinco July 1, 1915, and who retired on superannuation on .Time 30, entered the Tjoatal unci telegraph service on June 1, "370, at the Bluff. The department was then in its early youth, and the conditions in both branches were vastly different from what they are now. Reading by tape had ' not been abolished, and many officers still used that system. The required records of all received telegrams to b? kept on the tape. But telegraphists j had long ere thin discovered the simplicity > and convenience of reading by sound, and the old method soon gave place to the new ; and the tape-reading officers, as well aa the instruments, soon after disappeared as a. part of tho telegraph service. I PRESS RIVALRY. Tho Java cable and overhand Vine h'om Port "Darwin were not then in existence, and Pre." i>ewF, telegraph correspondence. and mails accumulated in Melbourne for despatch to New 'Zealand bv the earliest opportunity : and great batches of Press, private, and commercial telegrams, reached the first port of call (the Uaiff or a We t Coast port) for despatch to their destinations. There were then two Pioss agencies in Njw Zealand—Renter's and tho Press Association, or its equivalent; and as t.,e telegraph regulation was "first- come, first served." the whole of the first Press summary lodged was sent. I THE RACE FOR THE WIRE. 1 It can readilv bo imagined that the most strenuous efforts were made by the representatives nf these agencies to get in first. This resulted in the evolution of tho finest na.rsm-.-u and boat-racing to be found anywhere. In those days the Bluff was a famous whaling station, and (says the Ciiristchurch ' Star') possessed highly efficient crews and first-class boats. kicked crews and boats wore selected by the rivals who wine always on the qui vive for the steamer. As there was no means in those days of knowing when a vessel left Melbourne, it can be imagined what a. lookout meant. When tho steamer was signalled these boats raced oat to meet her, j had their respective budgets thrown to 1 them bv the parser, and th-n the race be-! gait. It was a time of great excitement, and it was a great sight to see the. .vhale- \ boats, fully maimed, sir-aking fcr the f ■wharf. leach side bad its partisans, and the occasii'i was one which in some way crmpcllt-d the whole population to gather to see the sport. When the wharf was readied, another phase of the struggle began, for the packets were thru throw;-, up to selected sprinters, who then dashed fur the otliee. Ri.-carton or Aldington wera not in it. On one of tires e occasions, the sprinters reached the telegraph office a few minutes before the door was opened, and both were pressing hard against U in order to squeeze m. At b sharp the door was opened by the present Post-mastcr-ttcnera], who was the- junior oi the staff of three. 'The pressure IV. fc th,. outside caused him to be badlv jamm d in the micklld of his waist bv the handle ; of the door, and n= a result he was id ' for some time afterwards. j ( "T THOUGHT " ' On another occasion the packets were pushed through the slide simultaneously by the sprinters, who arrived neck and neck. There wasjrouble over this, and a? there was friction on account of what was a monopoly of the wire? for tho time being, ; a Parliamentary Commission was set tip. I The postmaster was called on to give evlder.ee, and in the course of it, in answer

■to a question by one of the commission, ihe started to reply thus: ''l thought •" when he was interrupted by one of them, who said: " Thou'jht. sir, thought I What t right h.:d you to think?" Tho Idea that ; the Civil servant was merely a bit of machinery had not then ■entirely vanished. "During my term at the Bluff," said Mr Ward, "the Franco-Prussian War broke cut, and the Bluff was one of the first ports -rii call from .Melbourne, so that I tiansmifted a very large part of the Press news which narrated what was then probably at tlio head of the list of tho great wars. ! GROWTH OF DEPARTMENT. ,' "At that date the offices between Bluff and White's Bay, the then terminal station of this island, could he counted on the fingers of both hands, and the staff for the whole of New Zealand did not reach 203 when I joined, lhoii_'h the increase was rapid and continuous soon after. It is now over 7,000. It would bo difficult to conceive now the tumbles the eld time operator had to cope with—very long stretches of iron v.-iie. trom v. inch .n J j weather the current disappeared as through a sieve, few testing stations, and none of the scientific aids that are now availahle. iSiijuals arrived with fewer no dots, and it "was left to the skill or instinct of the operators to translate the-se into words, lint there were giants in those days, amongst them those who could overcome any obstacle, even that of deeipheriim the calligraphy of some of the Press notables of those times, for it must be remembered that typewriting machines had not then Ix-en invented." MR WARD'S ADVANCE IN SERVICE. ! Mr Ward was promoted to postmaster and telegraphist at Longbush (near Invercargill) in July, 1873. Thr.t nowadays peaceful and pastoral locality was then a hive of industry. The principal wo>'ks of tho New Zealand Meat Preserving Company were established there. The employees numbered many hundreds. All the

various industries in eoiineitioii with the work were done on tho premises, and tho company had imported inosi of its employees from Scotland. These included a very large body of tinsmiths. It is interesting to note that that institution was the pioneer of the great meat industry of to-day, and it is further interesting to noLo that the process then was by super-henting —tfijo exact reverse of pre-sent-day methods. Mr Ward was promoted to Clyde (better known then as the Dunstau) in December, 1875. The railway was then open only as far as Mataura from the Invenargill side. the journey from there was by coach to Tokornairiro (now known as Milton) two days, and two days' coach trip thence to Clyde—a rough journey. There were no bridges over tho Molyueux, which had to bo crossed twice between Lawrence and Clyde, and old-timers will remember the current-driven punts that used to transfer the whole coaching turnout across tho stream. At this time the golden glory of the Dunstan was fading rapidly, although there was plenty of evidence of the past importance of tiie town. There were still threo banks, and several Government institutions, all of which vanished very soon afterwards.

Mr AVard was promoted to the neighboring town of Cromwell within a year, and after eight years' sojourn there took ui) the. position of relieving officer in Otago and Southland. Subsequently he went over to the postal side of the service, taking up duty in the money order and savings bank branch at the C.P.0., Dunedin. After 17 years at that office, in which he passed through the grades of second 31.0. and S.B. clerk, and accountant to that of assistant postmaster, he was promoted to Palmerston North, where he spent two and a-half years. Thence, he was appointed to the position of chief postmaster at Nelson, from which he was promoted to that from which he has just retired. UNPLEASANT EXPERIENCES. Mr Ward states that in his long official career he has had many interesting experiences, including the unpleasant ones of the 10 per cent, reductions in salary of the bad old days. He also remembers the suspension of payment of salary away back in the s«verities, when the Estimates were hung up mo-re than once in some of the kaleidoscopic changes of Government in those days, when salaries were paid bj cheque issued in Wellington. OTAGO NOMENCLATURE. When he first went to Central Otago Mr Ward was struck by the peculiar nomenclature at present existing, and on inquiring from some of the old identitios as to the reason was informed that the original surveyor, who was a classical scholar.

named the places as he mapped them aftei famous classical localities—for instance, Pactolus. Styx, Eridam.l3, and bo on. On receipt of the report at the head office, Wellington, the names were ruled out, and the report returned, with the resquest to give the places sensible names and not suoh ridiculous ones. The disgusted godfather then substituted the existing names—Hogburn, Pigburn, Sowburn, Fillyhurn, Houndburn. and so on —and sent it back, expressing the hope that the names substituted would come within the comprehension of the authorities. They apparently did, as they still exist, Mount Ida, Gtyx, and a few others being the only remnants of tho original nomenclature. Of course, Mr Ward docs not vouch for the accuracy of the legend.—Christchurch 'Star.'