A VICTIM OF RETRENCHMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6861, 3 July 1909, Page 9

A VICTIM OF RETRENCHMENT

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S JOKE. THE TELEGRAPH OPERATOR. Some interesting reminiscences were heard at the gathering at Dunedin on Wednesday night in the railway station, when railway officers sought to do honour to their retiring traffic superintendent, Mr A. Grant. The latter gentleman himrelf told a "J. G. Ward" story that was apparently new and was hugely appreciated (says the "Otago Daily Times.") It would seem that in 1880 railway conditions in the Invercargill district made retrenchment necessary, and certain valued servants had to go. It was derided that a man had to be dismissed from tho Bluff staff, and Mr Grant had to choose between two men. One was a married man with seven children, tho other was single. In Mr Grant's estimation the single man was highest; but, despite the fact that he was a capable, promising young fellow, it was finally decided that he must be the official to receive notice. The seven children wen. uot to be gainsaid. Tho young man left. His name was Joseph Ward, now Sir Joseph Ward. Prime Minister. He promptly entered into another walk of life : was apparently not to be kept down. He succeeded, and chorfcly afterwards was Mayor of the Hluff and then a member of Parliament. Subsequently Mr Grant met him in Invercargill, and he got a most cordial handshake from the erstwhile railway clerk. He bore Mr Grant no resentment —said, in fact, that that dismissal wa6 the best thing that ever happened to him.

In due course Mr J. G. Ward became Minister of Railways, and one day he was travelling to Invercargill. He reached Waipahi, and there his train was held up by a washout on the line. There was only one man at the Waipahi station, and, what with the flood, the blocking of traffic, tho confusion, and the presence of the Minister of Railways, he was about the most worried railway servant in Christendom. The Minister saw the difficulty and stepped into the breach, offering to attend to the telegraphic instrument. The other man gladly accepted.

Mr Ward remained grimly at the instrument until communication was restored, and did the work- fairly well. Tiut he had apparently lost the knack of usin'f the key, for the receiver at Dunedin was inclined to he restless. Just before leaving the office, therefore, the Minister sent a wire on his own account, nnil this is what a horrified telegraph man deciphered: "Sorry you are not pleased with my work on the wire; did my host; long out of practice.—J. Gf. I\W." "That was the man," said Mr Grant, "who a few years later was knighted by hut yKing. He showed then that he was a real knight, a true gentleman, and one of Nature's noblemen."