I started to write a story for my grandchildren six years ago to give them some idea of what my early working life had been like. With the passing of time some of the jobs I worked at no longer exist and may eventually be entirely forgotten.
My father had been employed in the Post Office Engineering Department for most of his life and, as it often happened then, my parents decided I would follow in his footsteps. This was how that when I left school I started work at the Post Office as a messenger boy. Boys were employed as messengers for two years and then were trained for permanent employment as a Telegraph Operator and Sorting Clerk, an Engineer or as a Postman, depending on the mark they obtained when sitting the Civil Service examination at the age of sixteen. I started work as a Youth-in-Training in the Telegraph repair centre while the second world war was still being fought and many of the telegrams were sent by the armed forces. It was essential to keep the telegraph system working efficiently, but as replacement parts were in short supply this was not easy. The dismantling of very old and useless teleprinters to remove pieces of them to be repaired was one of my tasks. Another was unpacking and packing teleprinters that were sent to us by rail, lubricating and adjusting Post Office clocks and stamp dispensing machines, and dozens of other odd jobs. Eventually my training period ended and I became classed as a skilled workman while another young fellow took my place on the bottom rung of the ladder. Soon after the war ended I was called up for military service in the Air Force, but as they had no equivalent trade to that of my civilian occupation I trained to be an Instrument Repairer and worked to help service Lancaster aircraft. After demobilisation I resumed work in the Post Office, but conditions in England were in some ways as austere as they had been in war time. There was still a shortage of goods and many forms of rationing remained in force. After making inquiries in London and Wellington I was able to arrange employment with the N.Z Post and Telegraph Department and in March 1950 migrated to New Zealand in the "Atlantis" from Southampton. Like most of my companions on board this was the first time I had left England. We were well cared for throughout the voyage, with an immigration official and his wife accompanying us. Periodically we were gathered together to be given information by way of discussion and film to accustom us to the conditions we could expect to find in New Zealand. We reached Wellington in May of that year and I began work at the Chief Post Office in Featherston Street in Wellington within a few days. Our workshop was on the first floor of the building with windows looking out onto Panama Street and across to Queens wharf that was full of activity with the constant arrival and departure of shipping.
I had been pleasantly surprised that the rate of pay for my job was almost twice what I had been led to expect, and most things that I needed to buy cost far less than they did in England. I soon formed personal friendships with the men at work and enjoyed my job. Unlike England, here we were in touch with the staff using the teleprinters, those who worked in Featherston Street, in the Hutt Valley Post Offices, the operators training school at Wingate and some State and private business concerns. One piece of equipment I was introduced to was the facsimile machine. The fax machines, as most of us called them, were at that time used solely in the Post Office Savings Banks. The Post Office in Wellington was connected to one in Petone and Lower Hutt, it was only possible to work over a short distance. With the use of these machines it was possible for a bank customer living in Petone or Lower Hutt to withdraw cash in Wellington as an exact copy of their signature could be transmitted to the office where there account was held. The machine itself appeared crude, resembling an Edison cylindrical gramophone machine. To produce a message words were burnt into a metallic backed paper causing trails of smoke to rise into the air as the message very slowly became visible. It appeared to me at the time the fax machine was altogether too crude and inflexible in operation to be of much use. Most of us were at that time unable to foresee future development in communications.
I can't help but wonder what changes will take place during the life time of my grandchildren.