RETIRING POSTMASTER.

Wairarapa Age, 29 August 1933, Page 7

RETIRING POSTMASTER.

GATHERING AT FEATHERSTON. MR. & MBS. CATES FABEWELLED. On Saturday night a large number of residents of Featherston and district assembled to farewell Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Cates. Mr. Cates is retiring from the P. and T. Department after 40 years of service, the last 41 years having been spent in Featherston. Mr. D. H. S. Riddiford said he had known Mr. Cates for 40 years. He well remembered when Mr. Cates started as a messenger boy, delivering telegrams under more arduous conditions than those of to-day. Mr. Cates’s long and honourable service w’ith the Department was about to terminate, and he wished Mr. and Mrs. Cates all happiness in their years of retirement. On behalf of the citizens, Mr. Riddiford presented a travelling rug to Mrs. Cates and a silver-mounted walking stick and a solid leather bowling satchel to Mr. Cates. The Mayor (Mr. J. W. Card) also spoke, and said that during the last couple of years he had come in contact with Mr. Cates a good deal, particularly in connection with unemployment problems, and had always found Mr. Cates a highly efficient officer. He regretted that Featherston was losing Mr Cates, but he was now going to enjoy a well earned rest. On behalf of the Featherston Bowling Club, the .president (Mr. F. W. Smith) presented Mr. Cates with a case of pipes and a cigarette holder. Mr. Smith said that the club was losing one of its best members. The Rev. W. J. Durrad expressed regret that the Church was losing such staunch supporters as Mr. and Mrs. Cates had been. As a musician, Mrs. Cates had often come to the rescue at socials, dances, etc., -while Mr. Cates was a vestryman of the church. ‘'Don’t think, Mr. Cates, that we gave you a walking stick as a sggn of decrepitude; otherwise we would have given you two sticks.” (Laughter.) Mr. Durrad concluded by wishing Mr. and Mrs. Cates the best of good fortune in their retirement. Mr. Cates, in acknowledging the gifts, thanked everybody for their kindly words and presents, and gave a brief but interesting resume of his career with the Department. He hoped to settle in the Lower Hutt, but his daughter (Mrs. Willis) would be residmg in Featherston, and no doubt he '™' dd perioclican y be Paying them a ~T he „ e . venin g ended b y the singing of For They are Jolly Good Fellows.”