Willing to serve others
As the region prepares to welcome in a new year, former Timaru mayor and identity Ray Bennett looks back on his life serving the community, as Esther Ashby-Coventry reports.
Ray Bennett has lived in the same Timaru house his entire life and has no regrets. The 88-year-old said the reason he had remained in the town, in the same house, was because he had wanted to be a councillor which tied him down to the district.
As a teenager, a teacher at Timaru College asked the young student if he really wanted to pursue his first career choice of becoming a lawyer ‘‘and get murderers off charges’’ – that put him off that path, and he eventually became an accountant instead.
Born in 1932, Bennett remembers World War II through the eyes of a seven to 13 year old.
Fears Timaru’s port could potentially be an invasion destination by the Japanese meant the community put various safety barriers in place.
The green areas of Timaru South were air raid shelters. Children ran for cover during regular drills.
‘‘An air raid shelter was cut into the clay cliff behind the railway station by high school students,’’ Bennett said.
‘‘There were two six-inch naval guns at Smithfield and a military camp there.’’
Children had to wear round hardboard discs with their name and date of birth on them for easy identification in case they were injured, or killed, during the anticipated invasion.
‘‘Every road from the port had large cement cylinder 20 tonne tank traps ready to be rolled together to block any thoroughfare.
‘‘Under the Virtue Rd viaduct the tank traps were already in place and barbed wire entanglements sat on the foreshore of Caroline Bay,’’ he said.
Bennett remembers processions of soldiers through Stafford St collecting gold coins and medallions for the war effort.
‘‘They’d hold a flag and it spread out [by the corners] and people would throw money onto it.’’
Blackouts were in place at night to prevent residential areas being easily spotted from the air and becoming a target for bombers.
Bicycle lights were covered with brown paper and if blinds were not down a warden would come to the house and tell the residents off.
‘‘We used to listen to the news from London at 8.45am every morning. There was no TV.’’
There would be the list read of the missing, those taken as prisoners of war, and those killed in action.
‘‘We were not frightened, we were determined not to lose.’’
They also listened to a popular Australian series, Dad and Dave.
Due to the shortage of imported goods, cars were confiscated by the military for use and returned to the owner after the war.
Bennett’s father, who worked on the railways, required a permit to replace the tube on his bicycle as everything was in such short supply.
Food rationing meant swapping butter coupons for tea. There was no tinned fruit or bird seed unless people had acquired it before the war.
Bennett’s birthday parties included all the neighbourhood children and between them someone would come up with a rare tin of pineapple or sultana pasties to share.
What really brought the war home to the 10-year-old Timaru boy in 1942 was when the family hosted officers from the Empire Hope cargo ship, and then a few months later it was torpedoed and sunk in the Malta convoy, killing most of the crew.
‘‘That was an example to me of war.’’
When Germany surrendered on May 7, 1945 (New Zealand time), ending the war in Europe, there were a lot of celebrations with a fire on Caroline Bay spelling out VE (Victory England).
There were more festivities to come when victory over Japan was announced in August, Bennett said. ‘‘Everyone was happy.’’
New Zealand had lost 12,000 in the war out of a population of 2 million. About 50 million died in total.
The country gradually got back to some different sense of normality.
Bennett received his first camera in 1946, taking four months to arrive from Europe. However, some restrictions were still in place with only four films allowed a year per person and each film had eight photos on it.
New cars could only be purchased on a trade-in to start with.
Bennett finally got his first car, a Morris six-cylinder in 1957 – the same year he started at The Timaru Herald as an assistant accountant – his second job after leaving school and working his way up from cadet to first assistant accounts clerk at Public Trust.
Bennett’s grandfather Joseph Bennett was a councillor from 1885 to 1889, and wanting to emulate him, he became the youngest Timaru councillor at the age of 25.
‘‘I’m a political animal, though I deny it. I love it.’’
He went on to be elected mayor in 1971, and again in 1980, and resigned two years later when he became general manager of The Timaru Herald to avoid any conflicts of interest.
Coming up with innovative ideas at the paper, Bennett ensured it was firmly entrenched in the community.
Using microlights to collect and deliver advertising and news items from Fairlie and Geraldine in 1985 was one such innovation.
He also led a German translation of stories in the paper, with copies delivered by helicopter to the German passengers of a cruise ship berthed at Timaru’s port in the 1970s.
But Bennett is not one to take credit for good ideas or achievements. Looking back he said he did not achieve anything on his own at the Herald or the council, as it was always a combined effort.
‘‘It’s not what I achieved, council is teamwork.’’
He was on the council during the furore in 1989 over whether Timaru was a city or not – an issue that has recently come up for discussion again.
‘‘It’s a town,’’ he said.
The council of the day also pushed for it to be called Timaru, not South Canterbury, and wanted to include Otago but that did not happen.
He was on the council when there were protests and petitions against the proposed Piazza which eventually went ahead.
‘‘Some people don’t like change. It’s slow monotonous work to get things done. But if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t have done it.’’
Other highlights include looking at an empty field and planning a new reservoir there, the building of the Timaru library, and the restoration of the Theatre Royal – set to be upgraded again.
Often compromises were made to get the jobs completed, he said.
At one council meeting someone told a joke which caused laughter all round resulting in someone, he would not name, to lose their false teeth.
‘‘They clattered on the table.’’ Once, as mayor, Bennett said he made a faux pas which he managed to save.
He was speaking with the commander of an American destroyer and mentioned to him that Pearl Harbour was the best thing that happened in war.
‘‘Cutlery was dropped and all eyes were on me – the commander said: ‘Your worship I wonder if you could explain that’.’’
Bennett explained that he thought the 4000 who died during the battle was fewer than there would have been if the United States had gone to war then. That explanation appeared to be acceptable and the conversation resumed.
One constant throughout his life, apart from local politics, has been stamp collecting and collecting historic items. One letter he has dates back to 1418.
As a child he swapped stamps with classmates, a common hobby then. He is the patron of the Timaru Philatelic Society and has a sizeable collection.
Old objects have always held an attraction for him, such as a piece of string from the 15th century.
When he has travelled overseas, he has spent many a happy time going to auction houses and bidding for rare stamps or historical items.
Speaking of his 50-year career on the council, one of the longest in New Zealand local body history, he said it was stressful and hard work but fun.
‘‘I now work as hard as I ever have but it’s voluntary.’’
Not one to sit around since retiring from council in 2010, Bennett is a Justice of the Peace, on a plethora of committees – chairman of a few, is patron of the Caroline Bay Association, is a lay minister for St Mary’s Church, and is a member of Lodges.
‘‘I’m involved in a lot of organisations. ‘‘My basic philosophy is helping people. I love being involved.’’
After a stroke a few months ago he has slowed a little but would still like to travel back to Europe one day, and browse an auction house or two, though he concedes he now has to be conscious of his health.