HIS 81st BIRTHDAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18547, 3 November 1923, Page 12

HIS 81st BIRTHDAY .

MR. . MENN.IE'B- BUSY LIFE. i SEVENTI WORKING YEARS. * 7 Seventy busy working years crowned ? by considerable ; achievement ;is the fine { record upon' which Mr. J. M. Mennie, of 8. Grafton Road, can look back in cele- | brating his eighty-first birthday on Mon- i day. .- As a boy of nine he commenced * cattle-herding in his native Aberdeenshire, j Scotland, and it is only two years since i he ■ finally retired from business activities. < The Boysi'; Week that is now - ending in Auckland kindled Mr. Mennie .to some reminiscences; of the . sterner life , which boys in th« "forties": had to meet. Born J in Methlie,' Mr. Menni© received most of his schooling in Turriff, also in Aberdeen- ; shire. There was no free education then, and boys had to work from an -, early age, •taking their classes at night. Mr. Mennie learned much at the mutual improvement . societies which then were flourishing. The ' bent of his later life was fixed when he was apprenticed to the bakery trade for five years, receiving no wages, but eating and lodging at the bakehouse. His father . aid for any schooling and clothes that e got, and also saw,that he, went to church on Sundays. The Sabbath, according to Mr. Mennie, was much as it is de- . picted in "Bunty Pulls the Strings." As a youth Mir. Mennie would go 20 miles to hear ''a great preacher up from : Edinburgh." -~ r,, As a fall-fledged journeyman, Mr. ' Mennie sought experience" in his trade at Deeside, Aberdeen. The first wave of labour unionism reached Aberdeen in the early "sixties," and ( Mr. Mennie became a* secretary in a union seeking shorter hours and' better pay. The day's work then often stretched to 12 and 14 hours, and wages were 7s to 9s a week, with food. As many a Scot has done ■' before and j since, Mr. Mennie finally descended on London, and. in hie first job ti in. % Regent Street had a Scottish foreman. He- sought experience earnestly, and, ) armed with a wide knowledge .of . his trade .■ and ■ his savings, set sail for Melbourne in 1868. As a youth 'he had been' kindled by what he had read of Captain Cook > | voyages, and he did not rest satisfied in f the biscuit factory which . gave ~ him employment in Melbourne. He took ship for Otago in 1869, and travelled up the East Coast ,by.. stages to Auckland, seeking a place to establish himself in business. Finally he set up his baker's oven in the yard of a publichouse at Thames, and lived beside it in a tent. ..■'- It was in the years following that Mr. Mennie built the foundations of a wide business. He worked with Mr. Robert Graham in working up a large-trade with the Maoris, who knew him as 'Bikkity." His trade extended down the Thames Valley to Rotorua, to Tauranga, and Auckland. ■' On one occasion Mr. Mennie entertained Te Kooti in his bakehouse, and ho always had friends aniofig", the chiefs. Growing business in Auckland | led to the' establishment of a branch on the present factory site in Albert Street, and a fire at Thames determined i&the -final transfer of the business to Auckland in 1885, ,_\ ::-r/_ 5 7--V'■•'■.-■■ ~'X'-~'-S\- l.'*? In more ..recent years Mr. Mennie has enjoyed the fruits of his "• industry by travelling • widely ;in Europe' and North and South America, including two visits to Scotland. He has always taken an interest in Scottish movements \ in ; t New Zealand, and to him; Auckland owes the erection of the statue to Robert Burns in the Domain. '!;■'■■ ■" ; ":■■■" ■■■ rV > > ; ; ' .'-/''.f'"'-: ,''\-