VALEDICTORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 18974, 27 March 1924, Page 9

VALEDICTORY

POUPLAR RAILWAY OFFICERS. RETIREMENTS AND PROMO- • TIONS. SEVERAL PRESENTATIONS. Three popular officers of the Railway Department —Mr. A. B. Feasey, locomotive foreman, who is retiring on superannuation; Mr. C. Harrington assistant locomotive foreman, promoted on transfer to Taihape; and Mr. J. A. Moffatt, assistant locomotive foreman, who is in future to occupy the position of locomotive foreman at Wanganui—were met on Saturday evening by a large -'and representative gathering of the members of the Wellington Railway Engineers, p-urdayt-isonl Aetrgres Firemen, and Cleahers’ Association, who tendered their departing comrades a fitting farewell. -Mr. M. Dennehey presided. In presenting Mr. Feasey, on behalf of the members of the association, with two handsomely-finished Morris iliqjrs, Mr. E. E. Gillon, the chief mechanical engineer, said Mr. Feasey was retiring after over forty years of meritorious service, and everyone was sorry to lose him. When Mr. Feasey joined the service, conditions were totally different to what they were now, and times were hard indeed. It was .nothing for a man to work from sixty to eighty hours per week—he was probably paid for about fifty. Perhaps some of the members did not appreciate the work that been done for them by their executive but the speaker felt sure the older men could enlighten these young doubters on a point or two. Mr. Gillon, amid applause, then made the presentation, wishing Mr. Feasey a long and happy life.

The president of the Railway Officers) Institute Mr. J. Robertson also spoke in glowing terms of Mr. Feasey’s service. In reply, Mr. Feasey said the younger members of the association would scarcely believe him if he told them that in his early days in the service it was not considered extraordinary for a hian to work up to twenty hours daily for a fortnight at a time, probably finishing up wren a thirty-six hour stretch. In conclusion,, Mr. Feasey thanked his friends for their handsome presentation to him, and their kind wishes for his future welfare. ■*

Referring to Mr. Harrington’s transfer on promotion to Taihape, Mr. Gillon expressed the hope that such a capable man would not retaain at this station. It was substantial promotion, however, and Mr. Harrington was being in this way given the chance to make his mark and rise to the top of the tree. Mr. and Mrs. Harrington were well worthy of the good wishes extended to them by the members of the association, together with the respective presentations of a travelling rug and a tea set. The chairman Mr. Dennehey added that during the five years he had known Mr. Harrington In Wellington, the latter had always acted fairly to the men, who in turn had acted fairly towards him. All the men asked was “a fair deal,” and they certainly would do the rest, giving a good return for the concessions granted them.

The departing officer suitably replied. Loud applause greeted Mr. Gillon when he presented Mr. Moffat with a rug and a dinner service. Mr. Gillon referred to the fact that recent retirements had caused about twenty transfers the Dominion, and among them was that of Mr. Moffatt, which fortunately, also ■carried with it a promotion from Grade 6 to Grade 3. certainly substantial advancement. There was no doubt but that Mr. Moffatt’s promotion was well deserved. (Applause.) Mr. W. Humphries endorsed the remarks by Mr. Gillon. Mr. Moffatt was cheered on rising to reply. His policy, he said, had always been to treat other men as he himself would have liked to have been treated, at the same time endeavouring to do his best for the department which employed him. He appreciated his fellow members’ remarks and tokens of esteem more than he could tell them.