I commenced a Bennett College correspondence course in accountancy. I was feeling the need to be independent and work for my own living so I got employment as a book keeper for the Jerusalem Ford car agency. That was my first job and business experience. I was able to bring out a balance sheet under the guidance of an accountant and attended to banking. Years before, during the First World War, the famous Col. T, E. Lawrence of Arabia paid the Sheikhs with gold sovereigns. Each man was allowed to take a handful of sovereigns from time to time as a reward for helping to defeat the Turks. Now, long after the war, a Sheikh tendered gold sovereigns in payment for repairs to his car. I rang Barclays bank, found out its value and worked out how many sovereigns to request.

As soon as I had saved up enough money I bought myself a brand new 250 cc. Royal Enfield motor cycle. Later 1 traded it in for a 500 cc, A-J-S, English machine with twin up-swept exhausts. I eventually brought this machine back to New Zealand .

The motor cycle gave me tremendous mobility and independence. 1 often went to Haifa to visit some German friends who had lived in Palestine for many years before the First World War. I took to traveling on weekends all over the country. The valleys of wild spring flowers north of Galilee thrilled me. One would come around a corner and there would be a carpet of blue, yellow or red. I also enjoyed the ancient monuments and history of the land. But 1 did not emotionally or mentally break with my religious past, I was just enjoying a little freedom.

We were asked to look after a friend's fox terrier for some months. Toby would rest on a mat in the printery until he heard the sound of my motorcycle a kilometre or more away. I would first see him belting down the road, hind legs through his front, toward me. I'd stop, he would jump onto the lank and sit up as if he owned the world. I felt quite sad when he no longer came to meet me.

I formed a friendship with Ron Knowles, the son of another missionary. He often rode with me on his B.S.A. One day we visited the area which was said to be the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed before his crucifixion. A priest came out and talked to us for a white and gave us some olive leaves. These, he told us, would allow us two days indulgence as a reward for visiting me holy place. Indulgence is a Catholic belief of remission of time spent in Purgatory for one's sins-Well' Well! An opportunity to get away with a little sin perhaps, but why should I believe him?

I must have been about 18 years old by this time. All of my life had been immersed in a total religious atmosphere, a diet which had neither variety nor moderation. I knew very little about other points of view or the ethical standards or behaviour of non-Christian people. Ron and I were invited to the home of an English man who was the head of a government department in Jerusalem . Ron had met and fancied his daughter. This man made no claim to being a Christian. He offered us a beer or tea, we chose tea. Astounding as it may seem, I had never before been into the home of someone who was not 'saved', I had been sheltered so closely from non-Christians, It amazed me to find a happy family where love, honesty and trust were just as strong as in any Christian home I had known. Where was the evidence that they were sinners, or children of the devil and in need of salvation? I had often argued with my mother that moral issues were something apart from Christian belief. She would say that good morals were part of Christianity, 1 would say they were part of good social behaviour. Here was evidence to confirm my logic. That visit made a strong impression on me and encouraged me to question my theology.

Jerusalem seemed to be the gathering place of dozens of Christian sects. I started to collect leaflets which claimed to foretell the second coming of Jesus. I had quite a number of leaflets saved up. One by one, they failed to deliver. As I write, there is a leaflet on my desk showing that the Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted in their literature the return of Jesus on eight occasions commencing 1875 and finally 1975. Is it any wonder I lost faith in prophesy?

We used to take our visitors to a shop known as The American Colony to buy their mementoes. The origin of that shop is interesting. The founders had worked out the date of the second coming of Jesus with meticulous care. So sure were they of being correct that they sold up their interests in America and came to Jerusalem- They dressed in white and early on the day of the expected return of Jesus, stood on the Mount of Olives to welcome their Lord, The whole day passed in prayer and expectation but nothing happened. Finally they came down from the Mount into the city. Had they made a mistake and what were they to do now? What they did was start a business selling local curios to the constant stream of tourists visiting the Holy Land . They succeeded very well and stayed permanently in Jerusalem ,

I began to disagree with some of the doctrines which had always surrounded me. Reason said that they did not fit together so well. There were too many contradictions which could not be answered to my satisfaction. When I asked what would happen to the "un-saved' millions of people who had never heard the name of Jesus, would they go to heaven or hell, my mother replied "shall not the judge of all the earth do right''. That answer did not satisfy me. I was really looking for a rational platform on which to rest my faith. I needed to look at both sides of the subject. So I started to make friends outside the religious group, I went to my first party where there was liquor, had my first drink and discovered that I did not get drunk or become debauched. I went to other parties and took up smoking as well as regular beer drinking and I went to see moving films. Each of those things was severely frowned on by my parents.

Later I joined the newly established Government Printing Works where I became familiar with, what was then, the latest printing machinery. That too was an enlightening experience. The Muslims observed their holy day on Friday, the Jews on Saturday and the Christians on Sunday. Deep down we were all the same kind of human beings with the same desires for happiness and security. What was different was the religious doctrine. Each believed in the same Jewish God but with a different concept of how to comply with his laws. Those differences caused misunderstanding, division and conflict as it always has and will.

The machinery would be running seven days a week. Any machine breakage would be saved up for the weekend. When the regular operator returned, he would blame the fill-in man for the problem. The Arabs have dark hair and usually have a 'five o'clock shadow'. I was fair with light coloured hair which did not show a shadow after shaving. One day I overheard someone say "He can't even grow a beard." So I established my masculinity by growing a fair moustache. That stopped complaints about a young man telling older people what to do.

I will never forget the Government Printer, Mr. Sindall. He would take me onto the platform of a machine and show me how he determined what was the cause of the problem. He would say that no one could do anything without leaving a mark. If an adjustment had been moved he could tell by the paper dust which would be less heavy between the old and new position. He would trace the sequence of jobs and changes of paper sizes. It was surprising how accurate he became in finding the cause.

It was interesting watching racial groups. They would squabble among themselves but they would quickly join together against a person or group of another race. Apart from Mr, Sindall, the Government Printer, I was the only British person working there and would hear both sides of the story.

About this time 1 had my first sexual experience. I had taken Sarah into the country-side on my motorbike and found a quiet place where the grapes hung close to the ground. We started petting. It was not long before Sarah took my hand and was gently rubbing it on her soft and moist genitals. All of a sudden she started to groan and wriggle. I was worried and thought she was having a fit. Withdrawing my hand I insisted we go home immediately. At nineteen I was so ignorant about women, I had no idea that they had periods or orgasms and I knew nothing about contraceptives. I never did make love to Sarah although I am sure she would have welcomed it,

My twenty first birthday fell on an ordinary working day. There was no party or celebration with friends. 1 was feeling rather lonely. I did receive hugs from my good and loving parents and the usual and often repeated advice from my father, though not always in the same words, "Steve you must always do what you sincerely believe to be right''. He could never have imagined that by following that advice with all my heart, I would finally reject Christianity as repressive and harmful superstition.

Palestine was an interesting place to be at that lime in history. It was predominantly an Arab country when we arrived in 1931. We watched the rapid influx of Jewish people who entered the country under the terms of the Balfour Declaration. We noted the increasing resistance of Arab people who had occupied the land for two thousand years and perhaps much longer. They rightly claimed it to be their country. They felt they had been promised self rule for helping to defeat the Turks. In the end this was denied them.

There was a great deal of anger and resistance to sales of land to Jewish organisations. Arabs felt that they had been treated very unfairly by the Allies who had won the First World War. I understood and agreed with them. No one had asked them if they wanted all these new people in their country. Politicians who did not even live in Palestine were giving their land away. The Jews said that God had given them the land three or four thousand years ago, yet strangely 1 met a very high proportion of atheistic Jews who did not believe in religion at all but still used the Biblical promise of land.

Quite rapidly the Jewish community was gaining power. We began to see groups of young Jewish people singing Hebrew songs in the street. They were gaining confidence and wanted to be heard. The increasing tension in the country often resulted in murders by both Arabs and Jews of the other.

Riding home from a village with a young American man, we discovered a dead Arab on the side of the road. He had been shot in the back and was still warm. We reported our discovery to the Jerusalem police. The officer said that they would send a van out to pick him up and they would bury him. He said it was very unlikely that they would do anything further or make enquires about the incident,

As tension grew, it became increasingly dangerous to wander the streets at night. Curfew was imposed for weeks on end. The Arabs had a six months protest strike when all their shops were shut. Of course the strike only helped the Jewish traders and hurt the Arabs. The British Government was in an impossible position trying to keep peace between Arabs and Jews, at the same time giving effect to what the Arabs felt to be a very unjust Balfour Declaration.