RETIREMENT OF MR ARCHIBALD BARR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 14

RETIREMENT OF MR ARCHIBALD BARR.

The public, whom he has so long and so obligingly served, will learn with no ordinary regret of the retirement on June 30, of the chief postmaster for Otago, Mr Archibald Barr. Mr Barr entered the service as chief clerk to the Customs and Post Office on 27th June 1857, and was made chief postmaster for Otago in 1860. His position here during the early days was one of great difficulty and responsibility, as he was practically the only person in charge of the office, and had to undertake every duty in connection with it, from the highest and most responsible to the lowest and most laborious. Those who remember the scenes that took place at the arrival of the English mails before the days of steamers alone can appreciate the energy which Mr Barr displayed in meeting crises such as aro quite unknown to the modern post office official. During the goldfields days Mr Barr was left on his own responsibility to deal with much that is now provided for as a matter of every day routine. He had to open new offices, make all arrangements for their safety, and cope with a hundred new difficulties and unforseen troubles as they arose through the opening of Dew diggings, besides fighting the Colonial Government's battles with the Provincial Government, and taking upon himself the responsibility of acceding to local views which he had afterwards to make good to the Colonial Government whose officer he was. When the office rose to importance and the number of clerks increasedj the Otago office proved a nursery for the whole department. Many of its principal officials have received their early training at Mr Barr's hands, notably the Secretary to the Post Office (Mr Gray), the chief postmasters at Christchnrch, Auckland, and Napier, and the Controller at the General Post Office. Mr Barr acted during the provincial days as Paymaster for the Treasury, and carried out the arrangements for starting the Post Office Savings Bank and money order system, as well as the Government Insurance department. Throughout his long career the relations between the department and the public have been most amicable and agreeable, primarily through the excellence of the regulations which

he took a leading part in drawing up, and afterwards through the tact with which he administered them, and the sound principles and courtesy with which he- imbued the officials nnder him. The feeling has been universal that the Post Office in Oiago was always ready to grant every reasonable request and to afford every facility to the public. The press have special reason to be grateful to Mr Barr for the arrangements he instituted for their convenience as the servants of the public at large, and he has ever shown himself quick to institute improvements and remedy any defects that have been pointed out in the working of the department. Mr Barr is perhaps one of the best-known figures in this city, and everyone will join in hoping that he may live long in the enjoyment of the pension to which he is entitled under the term of his entrance into the service, and which he has so thoroughly earned. We have been permitted to quote the following extract from the letter from the secretary to the Porb Office to Mr Barr on his retirement :—

The Postmaster-general desires that I should convey to you his high appreciation of the manner In which you invariably discharged the many and respomible duties you have been called upon to undertake during your 31 years of official' life. I am to recall the exceptional and unexpected pressure put on your office during the early and stirring days of the goldflelds, and which was met with so much determination and success as to earn for yourself and your staff the thanks of the Government and public. And lam also to place on record that you rendered very acceptable service in the initiation of the Government Life Insurance scheme, as well as duving the period that the Gtago business was under your management. I regret that the exigencies of the service require your retrenchment ; but I hope that yon may be long spared to enjoy what you have so well earned.