VICTIM OF RETRENCHMENT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 135, 6 July 1909, Page 4

VICTIM OF RETRENCHMENT

SIR JOSEPH WARD'S JOKE. THE TELEGRAPH OPERATOR. Some interesting reminiscences were heard at the gathering at Dunedin on Wednesday night in the railway station, when railway officers sought to do honor to their retiring traffic superintendent, Mr. A. Grant. The latter gentleman himself told a "J. G. Ward" story that was apparently new and was' hugely appreciated (says tho Otago Daily Times). It would seem that in 1880 railway conditions in the luvercargill district made retrenchment necessary, and certain valued servants had to go. Itivas decided that, a man had to be dismissed from the Bluff staff, and Mr. Grant had to choose between two men. One was a married man with seven children, the other was single. In Mr. Grant's estimation the single man was highest; but, despite the fact that he was a capable, promising young fellow, it was finally decided that he must be the official to receive notice. The seven children were not to he gainsaid. The young man loft. His name was Joseph Ward, now Sir Joseph Ward. Prime Minister. He promptly entered into another walk of life; was apparently not to be kept down. He succeeded, and shortly afterwards was Mayor r.f the Bluff and then a member of Parliament. Subsequently Mr. Grant met him in luvercargill, and he got a most cordial handshake from the erstwhile railway clerk. He bore Mr. Grant no resentment—said, in fact, that that dismissal was tho best thing that ever happened to him. In due course Mr. J. G. Ward became Minister of Railfways, and one day he was travelling to luvercargill. He reached Waipahi, and there his train was held up by a washout on the line. There was only one .man at the Waipahi station, and, what with the flood, the blocking of trallic, the confusion, and the presence of the {Minister of Railways, he was About the most worried lailway servant in Christendom. The Minister saw the difficulty and stepped into the breach, offering to attend to the telegraphic instrument. The other man gladly accepted. ■Mr. Ward remained grimly at the instrument until communication was icstorcd, and did the work fairly well. But he had apparently lost the knack of using the key, for the receiver at Dunedin was inclined to he restless. Just before leaving the office, therefore, the -Minister gent a wire on his own account, and this is what a horrified telegraph lmur deciphered: "Sorry you aro not pleased with my work on the wire; did mv liest; long out of practice.—J. G. Ward."

( "That was the man," said Mr. Grant, "who a few years later was knighted by Jus King. He showed then that he was a real ,knight, u true gentleman, and one of Nature's noblemen."