Thank you for correcting the text in this article. Your corrections improve Papers Past searches for everyone. See the latest corrections.

This article contains searchable text which was automatically generated and may contain errors. Join the community and correct any errors you spot to help us improve Papers Past.

Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

Wages £2/5/- For A Man, A Horse And A Dray In “Good Old Days”

But Money Had Plenty Of Purchasing' Power

Back in 1915, “the boys” were overseas making- a world lit for heroes to live in. They did it again recently, and we all know wliat things were like here while they did it, but an old copy of the “Whakatane County -Press”, ancestor of the “Bea*con”, recently found by workmen shifting an old building, can refresh some memories on those earlier days.

Some ways it would seem that the world didn’t need to be made fit for heroes. to live in. It was like that, anyway. In April, 1915, the R.M. Coaching Company advertised a mail and passenger service that left Whakat.ane at 9.45 a.m. and got to Rotorua at 7 p.m. It took just on five hours to get to Opotiki. In the same issue of the paper the N.Z. Loan and Mercantile Agency Company Ltd. reported having received the following prices at the Westfield market: Prime oxen 435; others 38s to 40s; cows & heifers 30s to 37s 6d; best wethers 24s 6d to 29s 3d; others 19s 9d- to 23s 9d; lambs 15s to 24s 6d; ewes 20s 3d to 26s 6d.

A nice slice off the ox wouldn’t have cut such a swathe through a sheet of coupons those days—if they had any coupons. And weren’t the employers independent! A roadman wrote to the Town Board asking if they would give him constant employment. Instead of welcoming him with open arms, they thought it over a bit. The clerk said if the roadman had a horse and dray they could take him on full time. So the Board decided to offer him £2/5/- a week for himself, his horse and his dray, the job to include lamp lighting and all work required of him. Enough to give a modern union secretary apoplexy, isn’t it? Still, those days had their compensations. The roadman’s £2/5/was a “fair dinkum coupla quid an’ a dollar”. He could buy something with it. A furnishing house of that day offered three piece Chesterfield suites (top grade tapestry or moquette) at £l7/19/6 —less 5 per cent for cash! One could buy a fourteenday striking clock, in an oak case for 30/-, and a luxury job for 37/6. A first-class piano cost £47/10/-, a tailored suit £4. The roadman got £2/5/- a week. His suit of clothes (tailored) cost him less than a fortnight’s pay. No wonder they called them the “good old days.” Incidentally, in view of the recent local body elections, it might be of interest to mention that that Town Board meeting was attended by Messrs D. C. Martin (chairman), G. Brabant, T. W. James, M. J. Flood, T. Kirk, E. F. Levy and T. Francis.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/BPB19471125.2.25

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 1, 25 November 1947, Page 5

Word count
Tapeke kupu
466

Wages £2/5/- For A Man, A Horse And A Dray In “Good Old Days” Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 1, 25 November 1947, Page 5

Wages £2/5/- For A Man, A Horse And A Dray In “Good Old Days” Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 1, 25 November 1947, Page 5

Help

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert