TWO TRAMWAYMEN WITH LONG SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26783, 28 May 1948, Page 6

TWO TRAMWAYMEN WITH LONG SERVICE

Mr ■ McTigue to Retire To-morrow

Two tramwaymen whose years of service total 95, met in Dunedin yesterday. They were Inspector J. McTigue, of Dunedin, who will retire to-morrow after 45 years in the employ of the Dunedin City Corporation Transport Department, and Mr S. M. Farrelly, superintendent of stores for the Auckland Transport Board, who has been connected with tramway affairs in the northern city for 50 years. Mr Farrelly claimed that he is “still a youngster” and has no intention retiring.

The similarity between the two men ends with their long years of service, apart from the fact that botli are blessed with an (exceptionally keen sense of humour. The rotund, genial Mr Farrelly has been in almost every branch of the service in Auckland. Mr McTigue, who is lean and spare, has confined hi's activities solely to the traffic branch of the local organisation. Mr Farrelly is in Dunedin attending the annual conference of the Dominion Council of the Friendly Societies. He is well-known in tramway circles as secretary of the Auckland Transport Club. The retirement of Mr McTigue is regretted by all his colleagues. “He is the most popular inspector we have ever had-»-and we have the best crowd of inspectors in New Zealand,” said one of his associates yesterday. He added that Mt McTigue was also among the best presidents the Tramways Union had ever had.

tram. At the customary double ring the regulation-conscious horses immediately set off without any further encouragement. Twenty minutes was the normal time for a meal relief when Mr McTigue joined the Transport Department. 'When we were on the Normanby run we used to get a three-course meal for sixpence down near the Gardens. If that was too expensive we could get a huge pot of tea for a penny,” he said. Thirty-five shillings for a six-day week was the wage the veteran inspector received when he started, “but a conductor got two guineas after a time,” ne said. “I have seen hundreds of men enter and leave the service,” Mr McTigue said. He had served under six different managers, had seen the fares increase from 16 rides for a shilling in the old days, when tokens were used, to their present rate and, although he had not seen many extensions to the existing lines, Jie had seen many duplications.

"I have enjoyed every minute of it,” said Mr McTigue when interviewed by the Daily Times yesterday. During all his 45 years of service he did not think that he had had more than a total of a few days away from work because of ill-health.

Mr McTigue took an active part in the 'affairs of the Tramways Union before he became an inspector 13 years ago. He was for 10 years president of the local branch of the union and represented his fellow-employees at numerous tramway and labour conferences. He was responsible for organising the Sick Benefits Society in connection with the tramways—“ and I never took threepence out of it,” he said.

Mr McTigue started his career with the Transport Department as a conductor on the old horse-trams. One of his first experiences on the job was when the tram on which he was working drew up outside an hotel in Cargill road. With a curt order to “ hold the reins, sonny,” the driver disappeared inside, returning a few minutes later with a hammer. He started to fan away at the shoes of his horse—a job which was unnecessary—then handed the hammer to his wondering conductor saying, “Take the hammer back and have a quick beer while you are in there.”

Asked what he intended to do in retirement Mr McTigue said that he was uncertain. He intended to take a month’s holiday first and would then settle down. A companion suggested that Mr McTigue would probably be back at the tramsheds within a matter of two weeks. Mr McTigue himself seemed to think that a relation of his with a farm might be able to give him “a little light work like ploughing or something.” The Presentation Society of the Transport Department employees is arranging a farewell function early in June at which Mr McTigue will be the guest of honour.

The horses in those days were accustomed to start on the sound of the bell, Mr McTigue recalled. On one occasion the bell broke and every effort to start the horses failed. Finally, in desperation, it was necessary for the tram crew to enter a shop, buy a bell and bring it back to the stationary