A Good Mixer Is Cecil Mathieson

NZ Truth, Issue 1185, 16 August 1928, Page 6

A Good Mixer Is Cecil Mathieson

V ?iny shack m the backblocks displaying the enamel plate, "Post Office,., FS * Thf PoS O^s^he'rSS of our thrift; it carries the glad! tidings of b™ arrival into the world and flashes -the mournful news of our exit tfrom tH ' S Whatever' a" postmaster may glean 'of our innermost seorets, his Sphinxlike expression is a dark curtain to an inquisitive .world. Not that -post--^r^^^Twe^t^mf int Post Office breathing fire about a missing letter or something^ of the kind, .t .s very likely that you Would be mollified m one minute. And/the softeYung agent would be the chief postmaster, a youthful-looking official named Cecil Math.e|on, Cecil ! ?rSo?"ealy youthful, for he. has been, a postal officer for more. *v a n thirty vears^ but he has a young heart, and a glad, friendly bearing J ha Perhaps because he is a product of the Sunny S SSwSS^e chief 6yhe West Coast-and even the traditional clim ; ate of the , Coast, could never damp his spirits. , A fiercely enthusiastic Rugby supporter, he was at one t. me a member of the Wellmgton -ißUgby Onion. Arid if. he would p.robabb' be, diffident, aboUt Pitting his' Rugb/ sense Jagainst^hat of Norm; McKenz>e> another postal officer, he is not ayerse> showing, as, a referee, that he knows the:, POi rC S ecH f d^p^his postal job.for a while during the war period. Anchored; by a young family from participation m the Great Adventure, he heldya responsibl? position m the department of Base Records. .Which -meant, of. coCr^' that he handled the files, of all soldiers and^kept trace, of^them.: A dull iob, maybe, for- a narrow, crusted, official. '* L. 'i •? ! But Mathieson infused- into it a warm: human sympathy, and a sort of, spiritual comradeship with the fellows whose identities. Vere^sub merged, for the time being, .'in mere numbers of military units.' No tremblir^other * or anxious relative eyer left Base Records w.thout catching somethm^of 1 the cheer and optimism of the man m charge of those oorf r iiles. Long hours dftedidus.vwork. for Mathieson V those a labor of love. ' A follower of" bowls m the. days when he is gravitating /-towards the middle-age "spread," he is yet active enough .to contest a swimming race, m Naoier. Brusque and businesslike, heis a stickler for efficiency and discipline, but he -;has that rare understanding, which draws the esteem of his v the time comes for Cecil to continue his onward march, Napier will heave a. sigh or two for a good fellow.- .and an excellent sport.