The morning after our arrival I went by train into the city determined to accept the first offer of a job no matter what it was.       This would provide enough to feed us and give me time to explore the job market.       I went by train into the city.   Eileen had explained where the Business District was and I had only gone a few yards down the main street when I saw a notice in the window of an office block “Clerk wanted”.        Fifteen minutes later after an interview with the Managing Director I was to start work the following morning.      A Company selling stationery they employed an Office Manager two typist and I would be one of six male clerks.      My job was to simply keep ledgers with a record of stocks and sales.      I soon found out the Australian casual attitude to work at the time.      The Managing Director had a separate entrance to his office so we never saw him.       A half hour lunch stretched into a couple of hours.     This suited me fine as I was able to arrange interviews during this time with other Companies.      I finally accepted an offer as Assistant Sales Manager at a salary of £1,250 p.a. which was an improvement on the £16 per week I was getting.    I handed in my resignation and was then offered a job as a Salesman by the Managing Director who, although he rarely entered the main office, had noticed I had been industrious compared to the rest of the staff.   I refused on the grounds that I considered product knowledge was important and I knew nothing about paper.   He then offered me the job of Office Manager saying the present one would be fired.   I again refused his offer.     On the Saturday before I was due to start I saw another position advertised at £1500 p.a.       It was an American company introducing a fund raising system to Australia.      After a two week training course I would be sent to various towns throughout Australia and, if I proved satisfactory, salary would be increased to £1,800 p.a.        An allowance of £3 per day was paid when away from home.          My first job was in Perth.      Just before it finished in mid October I was rushed to hospital and had my appendix removed.      The Company sent the wife over to accompany me back to Melbourne.      There were no holiday resorts as today and holiday accommodation was hard to find but I managed to rent a so called cottage near the beach on the Mornington Peninsular over Xmas.    .

We found a decent flat in South Yarra and had already saved enough to get some furniture.    The company closed down early December until late January when we had a week’s refresher course.     Over the next few months I did jobs lasting from 3 to 6 weeks in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria during which time my salary was increased to £2,000.       I gained a good knowledge of the geography of the country but it was not pleasant living out of a suitcase.     However the salary meant I should be in a position to buy a house in a few years time.

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      A separate Company had been established in New Zealand and I was offered a Management position at a starting salary of $2,500 p.a.       I accepted and moved to N.Z. in June.      The family followed a couple of months later with all expenses paid.          The job still meant some time away from home but a lot less than it had been in Australia.    A car was also supplied.        A couple of months later my salary was increased to £3,000 p.a. Australian which was worth even more due to the rate of exchange being favourable.     

Based in Wellington I would fly to most of the major towns giving lectures and consulting with those responsible for carrying on with the fund rasing programme they had done in their community.      I was away for only a few days at a time so had more time for the family.      As part of the job I wrote a booklet on planning.    I should have kept a copy as it would have been useful during future job interviews.       Life was pleasant enough but another change was to take place.           Unhappy with the education Peter was getting I decided it would be best if he attended a school in Australia and made arrangements for him to start at a boarding school in Mentone, a suburb of Melbourne.      I had to attend a conference in Melbourne so I took Peter with me.          

On return to New Zealand the owner of the Company advised that he would be arriving early in the New Year with a new plan that he wanted me to carry out.         I was given details of the new programme which was a Community Chest fund raising project for the city of Auckland as was run in America.     He worked with me on it for a couple of weeks and then returned to America.     I spent Mondays to Fridays in Auckland flew to Wellington and spent the week end running my normal job and flying back to Auckland on Sunday evening.   A hectic two months after which the owner flew back from America with the news that he was turning the Company over to a Charity trusteeship but would like myself and another Manager to remain as joint Managing Directors.      A considerable increase in salary together with Directors fees made it difficult to refuse the offer.    However it didn’t work out as I hoped.

My wife had stated she wished to return to Australia where her sister and husband had settled and I could not get her to change her mind.     She and Helga left but I had to stay for another 3 months for a number of reasons including the fact that the New Zealand tax system had changed and would cost me a considerable sum of money if I left before June.