Postal service pioneer

Mr W. T. Ward, who has held the position of chief postmaster in Christchurch since July 1, 1915, and who retired on superannuation on June 30, entered the postal and telegraph service on June 1, 1870, at Bluff.

The department was then in its early youth, and the conditions in both branches were vastly different from what they are now. The Java cable and

overland line from Port Darwin were not then in existence, and press news, telegraph correspondence, and mails accumulated in Melbourne for dispatch to New Zealand by the earliest opportunity, and great batches reached the first port of call (Bluff or a West Coast port) for dispatch to their destinations.

There were then two press agencies in New Zealand — Reuter’s and the Press Association, or its equivalent — and as the telegraphy regulation was ‘‘first come first served’’, the whole of the first press summary lodged was sent. It can readily be imagined that the most strenuous efforts were made by the representatives of these agencies to get in first. This resulted in the evolution of the finest oarsmen and boat racing to be found anywhere. In those days Bluff was a famous whaling station, and possessed highly efficient crews and firstclass boats. Picked crews and boats were selected by the rivals, who were always on the qui vive for the steamer. — ODT, 5.7.1918.