To ENGLAND By FREIGHTER

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 76, 6 December 1940, Page 11

To ENGLAND By FREIGHTER

Experiences Of Two ZB Announcers WO years ago two of station 4ZB’s announcers decided to see some more of the world. They resigned from their jobs, worked their way to England by freighter, and since then have found more excitement and hard work than they ever bargained for. One of them, J. Y. Dixon, an original announcer when station 4ZB opened, was in Wellington last week on a short visit to his family; the other, Stuart Johnson, who was well known in Auckland for his work with the Friendly Road, is working at a farm camp near Oxford. Soon after their arrival in England, the New Zealanders found work with the Ministry of Labour Juvenile Transference Scheme, which was an endeavour to build up new careers for children from the distressed areas. Unfortunately the scheme was curtailed as an economy measure when war broke out. The work was a revelation, said Mr. Dixon. New Zealanders simply had no conception of the problems arising in depressed areas. He was looking after parties of children at health camps at Skegness and later in Derbyshire, and then he was offered a trip to Australia helping supervise a party of 500 refugee children. He is returning to England to whatever war work may await him. Mr. Dixon met many New Zealanders who are pulling their weight in the emergency. The work is hard, whatever form it takes, and extra hours are

worked at night on Home Guard duties. One of the toughest jobs Mr. Johnson has had was driving a mobile canteen round the London dock area during the black-out. He had to memorise five different routes, and be able to locate any given point swiftly and accurately. In Derbyshire where Mr. Dixon was stationed, the townsfolk were enthusiastic " parashots," and at the time of the scare about parachute troops the sound of an aeroplane engine would bring them out at the double armed with anything from repeating rifles to rook guns.