Ryan, Frederick George, 1905-1996

Date: 16 Nov 1984

From: New Zealand Post Office Oral History Project

By: Ryan, Frederick George, 1905-1996

Reference: OHInt-0070/14

Description: Paddy Ryan recalls his family background, childhood, including clothing worn, delivering telegrams during World War I, death of his father during influenza epidemic of 1918, use of inhaling stations, early work at Hawera Post Office, sitting proficiency exam, recollections of Hawera, staff at post office, uniform, wages, Maori employees, tuberculosis and Post Office Welfare Funds in 1920s and 1930s, the hierarchy within Post Office, the postmasters A W P Hewitt and Sylvanius Gabriel Daniel, the New Zealand Post and Telegraph Association and the formation of the Post and Telegraph Officers' Guild, transport for the message boys, team spirit, discipline, social life, status of Post Office workers, punishments, daily routine 1918-1924, effect of 1922 salary cut, work as an exchange clerk at Hawera Post Office. Describes arriving in Wellington to work at Head Office in accounts, layout of building, boarding houses, costs, transport costs, names of some of the personnel, marriage to Edna Murray, difficulties with mortgage payments during Depression, filing for bankruptcy and losing house, secondment to Treasury in 1932 and to Unemployment Board in 1934, return to Hawera, compares the Hawera Post Office in 1930s with 1920s and today, the other responsibilities of the Post Office, election roll procedures in 1935, service during World War II, becoming a postmaster in 1946, life as postmaster at Te Araroa, East Cape in 1948, local Maori, transactions, going to Greytown, Wairarapa as postmaster in 1952, the changes in etiquette in the Post Office by the 1950s. Talks about work as Postmaster, Manners Street Post Office, Wellington, 1954, housing problems for postmasters, refers to Charles McFarlane, move to Henderson, Auckland in 1956 and 1957 and the wineries of Corbans and Babich. Describes Kaitaia Post Office in 1957, working at Rotorua in 1958, retirement, being elected to the Rotorua Borough Council. Accompanying material - copy of photograph of Te Araroa Post Office and the two 'Alfs', 1930; copy of an electioneering poster - 'Vote Ryan for Mayor', unsourced; copy of newspaper article 'The Spanish 'flu pandemic' from Auckland star, 24 September 1984, B5. Venue - Rotorua Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe Venue - Paddy Ryan's home at Barron Crescent in Rotorua Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-000733 - OHC-000735 Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 3 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 125. Search dates: 1905 - 1984