My brother Edwin was still working at the printing works which our father had established during the First World War. The manager was still Mr. A. G. Compton, They employed a part time office woman whose name was Cecily and an apprentice, Les Marsh. They were publishing 50,000 copies of the 'Good News' and two Christian magazines each month on the same old hand operated machinery. No additional plant or equipment had been added since our father had passed it to the Stewards Trust about eight years previously. Financial support had seriously declined. Edwin was taking home about half the amount of union wages and sometimes not even that. He was 25 years old and wanting to get married to Joyce Wisdom. He needed better security.

1 don't remember who first made the suggestion that 1 join the establishment and start a commercial branch to supplement income. I did agree to join the firm provided we all received a minimum of union wages, I had studied accountancy by correspondence from Bennett College of England. I had not completed the course because of delays getting answers from England by surface mail- But I did understand book keeping and could read a balance sheet. This proved a great help toward business success. One of the first things to do was to introduce a proper book keeping system and shortly afterwards, time sheets. The commercial section grew quickly.

Edwin was able to get married. Joyce told me about a good looking young lady called Ruth Pulling who worked in a Bible Bookshop. So I went to meet her at H,L. Thatcher & Son and invited her out. We soon became engaged to be married. Ruth had an Open Brethren background similar to my own. Her parents had been missionaries in South America and were retired. She had one sister, Connie, I took on a new commitment and purpose and threw myself unreservedly back into Christian thought and activity.

Edwin had a Baby Austin 7 Tourer which we used for deliveries. When I first met Ruth, 1 borrowed the 1929 Austin to take her up Mount Eden. Coming down I discovered that the brakes were not powerful enough to stop the car. We were gaining speed and I could do nothing about it, I could only negotiate the comer at the bottom of the hill by mounting the curb and footpath. It was just as well that no traffic was about. I got quite a fright and did not trust that old car on steep hills again.

When things started to improve financially at the printery, the staff decided to go to Mt. Ruapehu for a long weekend. Those going were Compton, Edwin and I, the apprentice Les, Cecily, the office girl, and wives and boy friends. The women occupied one hut and the men the one next door. Cecily was a bad asthmatic. I had often seen her suffering at work. Now I could hear her wheezing away in the next door hut. In the morning we tried to persuade her to stay behind while we climbed the mountain. Cecily would not hear of it, she had come all this way and was not going to be put off.

We bought lunch, hired a guide and boots and set off for the top of Ruapehu. It promised to be a beautiful day. Les, the apprentice, had loved playing tricks on Cecily during normal working hours. Time and again he had put the two pound weight from the old scales into her handbag, Cecily would rush to catch the tram to be in time for her ferry to cross the harbour to go home to the North Shore. Then she would discover the two pound weight in her handbag. There was no alternative, she would have to bring it back the next day. We were almost at the top of Ruapehu when we stopped for lunch. Les discovered the same two pound weight with his lunch. He had carried it all the way up the mountain and would have to carry it all the way down again. So there was a good deal of laughter and chatter and Cecily was feeling very pleased with herself for getting even with Les. She was also standing up to the climb very well.

Suddenly the guide pointed behind us and told us that a dense mist was appearing over the mountain top, we must descend immediately. He put on his skis and we all, in our hired boots, followed in a long trail behind. As long as he could see one or two of us, he seemed to be happy to continue down the mountain but without making sure the others were following. Cecily started to wheeze and lag badly behind. Edwin and I went to her assistance each taking an arm to help her keep within sight of the others. We did not know the way down and needed to keep in touch. Here we were at the end of a long line of people and the thick mist descending upon us. The guide was nowhere in sight, we never saw him again. Danger accelerated our efforts to hurry Cecily down. At times we almost dragged or carried her over steep inclines. Finally we reached an area we recognised- We now knew our way back to our hut and could move easily.

Cecily left the firm soon afterwards to become a missionary in India. The next time I saw her was years later at my brother Edwin's funeral. "Remember our experience up Mt. Ruapehu?" she asked. Indeed I did, "Well, I never ever have had another attack of asthma since that day." What cured Cecily's asthma, was it the fresh cold air inhaled deeply into her lungs as never before? Was it the fear of becoming lost to die a horrible death on the freezing mountain which triggered an emotional or mental adjustment? Perhaps it was the hot climate of India which cured her. I have no idea, of course, but something changed her breathing habits.

Years later we met a young lady. Marguerite, who also suffered from asthma. She lived with our family for some time. I noticed that she never used her diaphragm while breathing. During an attack, her breathing became more and more shallow until she was using only a fraction other lung capacity. She did not seem to know how to breathe deeply. I put one hand on her back and the other on her stomach and pressed in harmony with each outgoing breath until she got the idea of using her diaphragm. She came in a few days later and told us "I was going up a hill and felt an attack of asthma coming on so I stopped and practised deep breathing and you know what, the attack went away." I wonder if these two asthmatics had something in common.

The reality of the Second World War was now pressing in upon us. I was called up in the first ballot for single men and graded C3 because of my flat feet. At that time the Fire Service was advertising for men to Join the Emergency Fire Service. We would be trained and in the event of enemy bombing would immediately be called on duty. Unless there was an emergency we could continue our normal daytime occupations. I immediately volunteered for service and thus became an essential worker.

Edwin and the apprentice were called up by the armed services shortly afterwards. Edwin served in the Pacific as an army nurse. I was now in sole charge of the printing establishment. Compton retained the editorship of the 'Good News' and the two monthly Christian magazines. He did very occasionally come in and help with practical work- Compton would often pass a bundle of articles to me and leave it to me to arrange the format of the magazines and get them out. Gradually he withdrew altogether. He just seemed to transfer his interests and fade away. 1 have no idea how he avoided Army service.

Ruth and I were married on the 13th June 1940 in the Brethren Mt. Albert Gospel Hall. I hired a car for a week's honeymoon at Rotorua. Ruth gave up work which was the usual practice at that time. We rented rooms in Epsom for a while, then moved to another place on Mt. Albert Road near where her parents lived. Just before our first son Victor was bom, we were allocated a State house at Three Kings. We had no choice of locality or street. Three Kings got its name from the three extinct volcanoes which adorned the landscape until they were almost completely carted away as scoria for buildings and roads. The land at the back of the house was level for about four metres before rising steeply up a hill. I terraced part of the hill for a vegetable garden. Our old Model A Ford car was parked on the road outside. Three of our four children were born while we lived in that little house.

I enjoyed being a father. Each time a new child arrived it would bring additional joy to the family, I remember the oldest getting himself so entangled in the rocking horse that I had to unscrew it to release him. Vic was an adventurous and active child. Our daughter was the happiest smiling little girl one could wish for. As with all our children, the next two boys had individual attractive qualities which quickly made a place in our hearts contributing to family enjoyment.

While we were still living in the State house, the Labour Government introduced the Child Benefit of $1 a week per child. Union wages at that time were about $12 to $16 per week. We noticed an immediate improvement in the dress of the children of a poor family living nearby. Within a short time the children had shoes on their feet and were looking much happier.

members. There were a few exceptions when non-members would attend. I was also one of the church

elders.

Wartime meant petrol rationing. By mixing petrol and white spirits (which was not rationed) up to 50/50%, I was able to extend car use. Even so I could only take my old Ford car to work to do deliveries twice a week. Fortunately electric trams were handy to home and work.

Added to the demands of printing, I had volunteered for the Emergency Fire Service. It often involved night duty when we would sleep at one of the Fire Stations and be ready to turn out at any time. We slept on canvas stretchers at various Fire Stations throughout the city. Our boots were placed beside our beds with a leg of our trousers folded down over each boot. When the bells sounded, we could swing out of bed, put our feet directly into our boots and pull our trousers up as we were moving toward the descent pole and grab our jackets and helmets off pegs on the way to the fire engine. The whole operation took less than a minute from being asleep to being on the fire engine and feeling the cool night air or rain waking us up. In those days the firemen stood on a platform located outside the vehicle. There was a lot of training demanded of us, running up and down streets with fire hoses- We had to be ready for very dangerous duty should Auckland be bombed. All that happened was a couple of false alarms that the Japs were about to land or bomb Auckland. We did attend a few scrub fires. Altogether I completed over 3,000 hours of fire duty. Apart from weekend training and night duty I was able to work normal business hours but always subject to immediate call.

The war was not yet over and I desperately needed staff. I advertised for some days without a single reply and was about to give up when a young man walked in. He had started a printing apprenticeship which had been interrupted when he joined the forces at the outbreak of war. He was partly drunk when he applied at my office for the job but I liked him and engaged him immediately. After the interVicw, the office girl said "you haven't employed that man have you?"

Joe had been seriously wounded in Italy and sent home on a hospital ship. He was the only survivor of a gun crew of six soldiers that received a direct hit at Casino. He was still nervous and jumpy. If someone dropped something or made a sudden noise, Joe just seemed to momentarily rise off the floor. For the first year he never worked more than four days a week. The Government subsidised his wages for two years to enable him to finish his apprenticeship. Joe Coldicutt became a very valued employee. He was utterly honest and reliable and continued with me for about fifteen years. He had a key of the factory and opened up for me each morning. When Joe had been working for me for ten years, I told him that, in recognition of his service, he could have an extra week off each year on full pay. He was always very proud of his extra holiday and would make sure that everyone knew about it before going fishing at Taupo. Joe went with the business when it was sold years later to Percy Salmon Wills and Granger Ltd.