SERVICE COMPLETED MR. R. I. SCOTT RETIRES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20083, 1 November 1939, Page 8

SERVICE COMPLETED

MR. R. I. SCOTT RETIRES

TELEGRAPH OFFICIAL

STAFF PRESENTATION

Yesterday marked the coiripletion of 40 years’ service with the Post and Telegraph Department on the part of Mr. R. I. Scott, assistant telegraph supervisof'at the Gisborne Post Office, and occasion was taken by his colleagues to signalise his retirement by an expression of their keen regard for his personality anti for his proficiency in departmental work. There was a gathering of post and telegraph staff members in the staff room of the exchange, the attendance being the largest recorded for a. farewell function, all sections of the staff being strongly represented. Owing to pressure of work in the department, the proceedings were brief and speeches were reduced to a minimum, the only speakers being the chief postmaster, the senior supervisor of telegraphs, and the guest of the day. Presiding over the gathering, Mr. A. M. Robertson, chief postmaster, referred to his long acquaintance with Mr. Scott in the service of the department, their first meeting having taken place 35 years ago in Invercargill, | when they were both members of a staff which also included officers who ; had since gone to the head of the Post j and Telegraph Department. Popular Officer

Mr. Robertson said that in those days Mr. Scott had been as popular in Invercargill as he had proved later in Gisborne and elsewhere in the service, his happy disposition making him friends quickly and his proficiency as an operator being a byword among his fellow-workers. The qualities which had marked him as a youth in the service had blossomed further as. he attained to mature years, continued Mr. Robertson, and now, while still comparatively young, Mr. Scott had attained to 40 years’ service and the opportunity of retirement with the goodwill of all who had known him personally or in business connections.

The chief postmaster expressed his confidence that Mr. Scott would make the most of the opportunity, and that he would continue to keep up his personal contacts with the staff. Mr. P. Hickey, senior telegraph supervisor at Gisborne, remarked that his acquaintance with Mr. Scott was comparatively brief, but that he would not forget the advantage he had received, in coming to Gisborne, from the fact that he had men like Mr. Scott to co-operate with. It was a matter for much regret to him, personally, that their association in departmental work was to cease, for Mr. Scott’s talents were of a type on which the best traditions of the service were built up. It was obvious that if their guest had cared to break his connection with Gisborne he would have qualified for one of the major posts; but it was nevertheless a pleasant consideration that he had cultivated interests outside the department which would fill the years of his retirement satisfactorily.

Regretted Leaving the Service

Mr. Scott was then presented by the chief postmaster, on behalf of the combined departmental staffs, with a handsome and powerful pair of racing binoculars. In his acknowledgement, he referred to several incidents of his service, including his postmastership at Tolaga Bay, and stated that he had many regrets at leaving a service in which he had spent 40 years, but not a single regret for anything that had occurred during his association with the department. He had enjoyed his service, and had been fortunate in his association with a number of outstanding chief postmasters and other senior officers.

Mr. Scott concluded with an assurance that he always would regard his colleagues in the department as among his closest friends, and always would value the co-operation they had extended to him.

After the gathering had partaken of afternoon tea, furnished by the ladies of the telephone exchange, it dispersed with cheers for the retiring officer, and a general acceptance of in invitation to attend a social function at his home during the evening.