Hitler's plans for the Channel Islands
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| Jersey Island (photo Internet) |
Hugh Oliver was born in Jersey in the Channel Islands in 1933, so was aged
7 in June 1940 when the arrival of Hitler’s troops was imminent. Britain didn’t take defence of the Channel Islands seriously, and
thought they would be considered neutral by both sides in the conflict. But Hitler
had other ideas, as getting his toe on these scraps of English territory, and
having his troops photographed with English ‘Bobbies’, was seen as prime propaganda to
hide their evil intent.
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| Wernher von Braun (photo Internet) |
Hugh remembers that the Germans had dug a number of tunnels in his
parish, using slave labour, similar to those dug elsewhere in Europe to house
their developing intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Hitler was rushing this research ahead with the genius of Dr
von Braun (who the Americans grabbed after the war). Hugh says that during that period of the war, Hitler was
convinced that Britain would surrender and assist him to conquer America. The missile tunnels were all pointing
west!
Hugh’s grandfather had been a medical doctor in Jersey, and retired to
Guernsey from where he took a couple of voyages to New Zealand (his birthplace)
as a ship’s doctor. During WWII he
was appointed Minister of Health for the states of Guernsey.
Leaving in 15 minutes
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| deHavilland biplane (photo Internet) |
Hugh’s father was the local doctor in Jersey airport, and he was
working in this capacity when he saw a deHavilland biplane land to refuel on
its way from France to England.
As there was only one pilot and radio operator on board, Hugh’s father asked if they could take his family of six (his mother, two brothers, his sister and their nurse) and a woman who had just had a baby. The pilot agreed, provided they could get on board in 15 minutes, as very soon after that there was a high risk of meeting the Luftwaffe.
As there was only one pilot and radio operator on board, Hugh’s father asked if they could take his family of six (his mother, two brothers, his sister and their nurse) and a woman who had just had a baby. The pilot agreed, provided they could get on board in 15 minutes, as very soon after that there was a high risk of meeting the Luftwaffe.
They achieved this rapid departure, heading for Exeter airport, and Hugh remembers looking down on the Queen Mary while crossing the Channel, and being told she’d been converted to a troopship.
Hugh and the family lived in different parts of Devon, initially with
relatives and it was spending time in the country that fired his love of
Nature, especially insects, trees, wood and woodwork, starting whittling from
an early age with his ever-present pocket knife.
The Royal Agricultural College
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| Royal Agricultural College (photo Internet) |
After leaving school, Hugh went to the Royal Agricultural College at
Cirencester from 1953-57 to complete a Diploma in Estate Management. Several students at Cirencester had
spent time in New Zealand and sang its praises.
Also, Hugh’s grandfather had been born in New Zealand where his father (Hugh’s
maternal great grandfather) owned the Anchor Shipping and Foundry Company Ltd
in Nelson.
His steam ships had brought the West Coast gold to Nelson, so that when
he died the city of Nelson erected a monument in the town to honour
him. So there was another
incentive for Hugh to come for a few years to see the country where his
ancestors had worked.
Herd testers wanted in NZ
While back to Jersey after college while working on local farms with herds of 12 cows, he saw
an advert in the local papers for herd testers in New Zealand – ‘Degree or
Diploma essential’ it said. So after
applying, Hugh was interviewed in Jersey by an official called Leggett from the
NZ High Commission in London. After
completing all the paper work and health checks, Hugh was accepted and on his
way to New Zealand, 55 years after his family members.
The 'Captain Cook' via Panama
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| The Captain Cook (photo Internet) |
Hugh had to travel to Glasgow to board the ‘Captain Cook’, which after
five weeks at sea sailing through the Panama Canal, arrived in Wellington on 25
July 1958. There he was met by his fiancé Molly, who had gone to New Zealand a
couple of weeks earlier on the Southern Cross.
AHIA London Street Hamilton
He and Molly then boarded the ‘overnight limited express’ train from
Wellington to Frankton Junction, arriving at 6am, and then were driven with at
least 10 other budding herd testers to the offices of the Auckland Herd
Improvement Association (AHIA) in London Street, Hamilton. Here, they where
they were lectured for two hours by Mr Ken Stone, (assistant to the manager Mr
Selwyn Sheaf) in great detail, on such things as how not to get cow dung on the
record sheets.
Hugh described this as being boring and patronising for most of the
audience, who after the long journey were keen to get to work. He said nobody
actually fell asleep after the long journey – but it was a close thing.
Scotsman Bill Calder instructed them for three days, where they tested
herds on three farms, and then they were out on their own. Bill was noted for
developing new gear and equipment for the milk testing operation.
No car - collect horse and cart
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| Lady herd tester on the move - names unknown |
The ‘car’ to be provided in the British advert Hugh said, morphed into
a horse called Patch, who had to pull a rubber-tyred cart carrying all the
testing gear. Patch was 23 years
old with a maximum speed of a fast walk. Hugh had to collect him from a farm at
Elstow, where he’d been ‘feeding out’ during winter, and had to rider him
bareback the 10km back to Waitoa.
The areas Hugh tested were between Springdale and Motumaoho, which made
quite long trips for Patch, particularly as he also had to drop milk samples
off at Morrinsville railway station each day, to go to the Waiato dairy factory
lab for testing. Hugh didn’t do
any butterfat testing on the farms as herd testers did in other areas, because
of the proximity to Waitoa.
Hugh kept a diary for 1958 and still has it; recording which farms he
worked on, times of starting work and long working days. It took a long time to get from one
farm to another with horse transport.
The herd testing job was 7 days a week with 5 days off at the end of
the month, with a month off in mid winter when the cows were dry, so he had
little time for himself and Molly, which he wanted. Hugh said he was fascinated by the bush on Mr Te Aroha, but never had time to explore it.
Letter of resignation
Hugh didn’t find the herd testing routine of going to 25 different farms
over a month a very stimulating challenge, and before the end of the first
month, he had written a letter of resignation to Selwyn Sheath, who objected to
Hugh’s ‘Dear Sir’, and ‘Yours
faithfully’ as he told Hugh this was not how letters were penned in New
Zealand.
Sheath told Hugh in no uncertain terms that he had set a very bad
example for the other English immigrants, and added that he had spoken to the
Labour Department and reported that ‘you may find they don’t have much for
you’. Selwyn clearly had Hugh in his sights, and there was the other business
of Hugh having to refund his £119 fare, as he hadn’t stayed in farming for the required two-year bonded
period.
Hugh was offered a job on a pig farm in Taumarunui when Molly already
had a good job in Hamilton, so he decided to try his luck looking for
employment touting his technical experience around various businesses in
Hamilton. He had an interview with
the farm manager at the Ruakura Research Station collecting dung sample at
Number 5 dairy, but declined the offer, as he preferred not to work with
animals – at least not their rear ends.
Railway platelayer
Hugh eventually found employment as a temporary surfaceman on the NZ
Railway, repairing and repacking the lines at Frankton Junction.
This was hard and dirty work but a useful education for a very new and green ‘Pom’. Hugh said the best part about this job was that it allowed him to get a 3% home loan as a ‘public servant’.
This was hard and dirty work but a useful education for a very new and green ‘Pom’. Hugh said the best part about this job was that it allowed him to get a 3% home loan as a ‘public servant’.
Photo shows the tracks at Frankton Junction where Hugh applied his skills.
Rukuhia Soil Research Station
One of the girls (Glee) who was boarding with Molly moved on to board
with Jo Karlovsky who was a seniour scientist at the Rukuhia Soil Research
Station, and who was complaining that he was about to lose two of his
technicians. Glee told Joe that she knew someone who had a qualification in
agriculture, and who was working on the railways. Jo was interested, so an interview was arranged for Hugh with
George Hopewell who was Joe’s section leader. All went well, and after three months on
the railways in 1958, Hugh was delighted to be out in the fresh air again
mowing grass.
Hugh’s job at Rukuhia consisted of mowing and weighing grass from
different experimental plots, measuring growth responses of different pasture
species on different soil types, after varying rates of different fertilisers. This was pioneering work at that time
in the drive to increase agricultural production, especially from the peat
soils in the Waikato which were being rapidly developed for dairying.
After four years of flies, Hugh moved into the Microbiology Section at Rukuhia working on a fly,
which was causing problems in the fledgling NZ mushroom growing industry. In cooperation with Professor Roy Harrison
at Lincoln College, Hugh spent August 1965 in residence there, assisting with
research on the fly, which was not present in the South Island.
Ruakura
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| Dr L.R. Wallace |
In 1966 the Rukuhia Microbiology Unit was moved to the Ruakura campus
as the Director of Agricultural Research, Dr Lyn Wallace, decided that all
entomology work should be done at Ruakura. Prior to this, the Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries, had passed on any insect problems to the Department
of Scientific and Industrial Research (D.S.I.R) in Nelson.
So Hugh was able to join the rapidly expanding entomology staff at
Ruakura who had to deal with pests like solider fly, porina, black beetle and
many more in those days of DDT and Dieldrin. From 1975 until Hugh retired in 1993, he worked on insect
pathology and general entomology, with a special interest in pests of stored
products in the dairy industry.
Hugh (pictured right) has continued his work on pests in stores for more than 20 years after his retirement
because of his recognised expertise.
