VARIED EXPERIENCE

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1935, Page 8

VARIED EXPERIENCE

MANY ADVENTURES AT SEA. 70TH BIRTHDAY OF MESSENGER. A life of more varied experience than falls to the lot of the average man has been that of Mr. H. J. Harris, whose 70th birthday was celebrated at a social arranged by employees of the Union Bank, Hereford Street, Christchurch, where Mr. Harris has been a messenger for 17 years. Mr. Harris and a twin brother, Mr. T. J. Harris, were born 70 years ago at Woolwich, the sons of o captain of sail. The birthday of the twin brother was celebrated at Coventry, in the Midlands of England, of which town he is Mayor—the first Labour Mayor, in fact, in the history of the town. Mr. Harris’ first experiences were at sea. In seven years before the mast he made eight passages round the Horn. At this time of his life he had one narrow escape from death. He signed off the ship Waikato just before she sailed from Oamaru never to be sighted again. His first voyage was as ship’s boy in the Waikato, sailing from London in 1879,

and he made three voyages in her. Dunedin is the first New Zealand port which Mr. Harris remembers, but he has clear memories of Napier, where once the Waikato carried away the stock of her anchor and came near to fouling' another vessel. Later Mr. Harris joined the Government service, taking part in the rescue at Cape Collingwood of the shipwrecked crew of the Evan Bassett. The rescuing ship met a gale in Cook Strait, taking more than six hours to steam from Terawhiti to Wellington Heads. One unusual experience was when Mr. Harris spent six weeks in the Puysegur Point lighthouse, relieving the keeper, who had been injured. After he gave up the sea, Mr. Harris took several kinds of employment in Christchurch. He was treasurer of the first drivers’ union, cashier and barman to the two firms of Freeman’s Ltd. and Burke and Company, and later in Mace's cordial business. For a time be' was in business as a confectioner. Tiring of this, he started to work for Manning’s brewery as a carter and in the bottle store. Then he worked for a time as a bootmaker. In 1918 he attached himself to the Union Bank, and his faithful service is recognised by all the bank officials.