Banking in Fiji in the 1970's

Bill Denize reports going back to Fiji in 2010.

My first visit back to Fiji since leaving in December 1972 (nearly 38 years). We spent our time at the Shangri-La (formerly The Fijian) on the Coral Coast. Last Wednesday we hired a rental car and took a trip up to Lautoka. Whilst there has been significant growth in the shopping centre and surrounds the place, sadly, is very run down. The roads around Lautoka are poor and a number of the shops are vacant with a number of buildings pulled down leaving just vacant ground. We visited the Northern Club and had a drink and also had a look at the house we lived in (the Mess) together with the Pollock’s (Bruce and Liz Pollock) old residence next door. I have taken some photos which when downloaded I will send across to you to look at. Both houses are quite run down and the garage under our former Mess has been closed in. There was a temporary shelter at the bottom of the drive where a couple of local lads were spray painting a car!! The BNZ is now the ANZ bank and the ANZ Mess is no longer i.e. there is a supermarket type complex in place of some of the houses where the ANZ Mess was.

Nadi township appeared far more prosperous than that of Lautoka but again the roading was very poor. The roading did improve as we drove towards the Shangri-La. Lots of wrecked vehicles around the place and still plenty of old cars “crabbing” along the road. Heavy vehicles have a maximum speed limit of just 60 kph with all other vehicles allowed to do 80 kph. To be honest 80 kph was fast enough given the state of the roads.

This is an interesting article written by John Cooper. It relates to the period late 50's and 60's but  fits so well with our days of the 1970's. Well worth the read. John Cooper can be contacted on  johnc6824@gmail.com

Banking days at the "BNZ’ in Suva in the late 1950's.

A notice had circularised from Head Office Staff department of the Bank of New Zealand seeking interest from any employees for a position in their Suva Fiji office, at that time one of the larger branches with 48 European only staff members.

I was positioned at that time in Petone office, across the corner from rugby great Bob Scott’s menswear store later taken over by another rugby great Andy Leslie. These two great New Zealand rugby gentlemen became good friends of we bank clerks.

In much later years I arranged with my friend John Wisdom at Air New Zealand to invite Bob Scott as a celebrity guest to play in the Fiji Open. At that time Bob had retired to Tairua on the Coromandel, he was a very keen and competent amateur golfer.

I had joined the BNZ in 1955 at the Lower Hutt office and had already experienced agency work at Wainuiomata as well as a stint at the main branch on Lambton Quay Wellington.

I had been at school in Suva so thought why not go back and pick up on the enjoyable times I remembered.

Dad as a Squadron Leader had been posted to Laucala Bay at the end of the war. We lived at Suva Point before moving on to the station, nowdays the University of the South Pacific.

On arrival to Suva branch accountant Sam Hinton and Asst accountant Harry Carey met me at the wharf.

These gentlemen escorted me to the office on Victoria Parade and upstairs to the batchelors quarters.

I was to share a room overlooking the city shopping triangle, Bank of New South Wales and the harbour, quite pleasant.

My roommate for the next few years was a Scottish fellow Bill Horsburgh, a very enjoyable companion and popular member of the staff, we got on very well.

There were nine of us in the mess; it was quite spacious, all rooms opened on to the lounge and dining area and across to the kitchen.

We had a Fijian house girl Adi, and a mess cook, an Indian fellow we called Ranjit.

Each of us would take turns for a month to be mess president with the responsibility to advise Ranjit what meals we would prefer, order wines, fruit and other requirements such as soap, toilet paper and such.

We had a dhobie Walla who would collect our laundry at least once a week. It would come back nicely starched and ironed.

Our staff uniform at all times was white knee length shorts, long white socks and white shirt. In summer time we often changed when we came up for lunch.

The branch manager had an air conditioning unit in his office, no on else did !

Evening wear dress was long white trousers unless it was lodge night or some formal occasion when we dressed in a Tuxedo.

Banking hours for customers were 10.a.m. Until 12 noon, and 2.p.m. until 3.p.m. The bank would completely close from twelve until two during which time a siesta was enjoyed.

The staff were expected around 0830.a.m. and usually left the office around 4.p.m. Saturday morning the bank opened from 10 until 12 noon. There were five tellers including an overseas teller, a bill department (five staff) Drafts (three) Ledgers (ten including four lady machinists) Savings (two) Security (four) checking officer (one) Mail clerk and typist (two) teller clearing (four) security and loans (six) Asst Acct, Accountant and Branch Manager. All European staff at that time.

There was one Indian, Louie, who drove the Managers car, looked after our staff member’s cars servicing them with anti rust as well as cleaning them. Three Fijian men including smiling Mosese, who had been with the office as long as anyone, were employed to run messages and do odd jobs around the office.

During my five years in the office I moved around from the Bills Department to the overseas teller, then as manager of the Marks Street agency office. There were five of us in the bills department. My first job was to collate the actual bills as they were received from overseas, mostly from Europe and the UK and NZ. I took this job over from Herbie Marlow, Jim Thompson was head bills at that time.

I would venture out on the ‘bill run’ presenting the documents for acceptance by the various importers around Suva.

The importers would inspect and sign acceptance of the shipment and the bills would be returned to the office awaiting arrival of the goods. Once the shipments had arrived I would return to the importers to receive payment, at which time I would give them the bills of lading and other documentation enabling them to uplift the goods from the wharf and through customs. Quite often bills were paid on a sixty and ninety day basis and so attracted stamp duty. For example the local tobacco agents would have a bill for a very major amount of dollars attracting stamp duty of many hundreds of dollars.

I would purchase a bunch of one pound stamps from the post office and ask the clerk to frank them very lightly, the stamps had to be attached to the actual bill. These stamps became very collectable in due course.

Not strictly legal but these stamps found there way back to the importers in due course under an arrangement with the bank.

This job took me out of the office and around the streets of Suva and was most interesting, I met all of the major importers who were customers of the bank and enjoyed the company of many of them, mostly Indian and Chinese traders.

One of my interesting customers had the Sunshine Softy Drink business, he was an elderly Chinese gentleman and he used an Abacus for all his accounting. He taught me how to use the Abacus, what an amazing and simple operation it is.

I would leave the office around 9.a.m. and journey around Suva, Victoria Parade, Cumming Street, Marks Street, Waimanu Road returning to the office at lunch time.

Rice was a major import item as was canned fish, a lot of the fish coming from Walvis Bay in South Africa. I quickly learnt the value difference in rice between broken and unbroken product. Watches were a huge import especially from Seiko. Radios and televison, saris from India, gold jewellery from India, toys from Japan. Breckwoldts were a German company bringing in Grundig radios and record players.

I graduated to a more responsible bill department position where I stayed in the office calculating with a vintage machine the amounts payable based on daily exchange rates. This machine was operated by hand turning back and forwards clicking over the numbers, an Abacus would have been simpler.

From time to time the bills department would be approached by mail to assist mainly European manufacturers who were seeking agents in Fiji for their products. We, the bills department, took on some agencies themselves. It was not difficult for us to establish a letter of credit with overseas companies.

A sewing machine manufacturer in Europe, a well known brand now, was happy to have us as their agent. We issued a letter of credit for the import of seventeen sewing machines and presold these machines to wives of bank officers in Suva from the Wales, ANZ and Commercial bank as well as to BNZ wives.

Our best agency we secured was for Swan Lager from Perth Western Australia. We would order many pallets of this popular lager and sell it to bank staff in Suva.

The Borgward Motor Company were keen to sell their cars in Fiji. As a trial we bought one car in that one of our own staff members John Ainscough purchased.

We did toy with a Mercedes request however Burns Philp, a major South Sea trading company took up that agency. It was quite some time however before any Mercedes arrived in Fiji.

Overseas teller was quite interesting as I was called on to board and service overseas ships. These were mostly cruise ships from New Zealand and Australia with occasional visits from Naval and American and Canadian ships, once a submarine called Telemachus. From time to time Indian customers would bring half sovereigns and full sovereigns to me as the overseas teller. The bank official exchange rate was ten shillings and six pence and one pound one shilling for these gold coins. Where these coins finished up at that time is anyone’s guess.

Probably my most interesting position was as Manager of the Marks Street agency of the BNZ. I would take the blue Austin bank van to Marks Street about 0930 each morning, open until 12 noon, come back to the mess for lunch and return to open from two until three in the afternoon. My only company was a Fijian boy from the office who kept the agency tidy, sweeping out etc and other odd jobs during the day. I would take my cash box each day to Marks Street, not the most desirable street in Suva.

All tellers were ensconced at the main Suva branch in private cage like boxes with a teller’s window to the public and the entrance door securely locked. Each day you would go to the strongroom, wheel out your own cash trolley and set up for the day. After three o’clock all tellers were required to balance their cash for the day, this could be interesting at times.

Bank policy was always preferable, so they told you, that if you did not balance that you were short of cash rather than over, meaning the customer was ahead rather than the bank.

All tellers had revolvers with six rounds of bullets. These revolvers were Wild West Doc Holliday looking firearms. Periodically tellers went to the Navy rifle range at Lami where we would shoot away ensuring that our revolver was in working order. I took aim at the target, pulled the trigger, felt a sudden jerk and a frond fell from a coconut tree about four metres above the target.

On one occasion at Marks Street there were some undesirable boys lurking around outside the entrance. I have a reasonable grasp of the Fijian language so was able to gather that they were discussing how they would rob me. I took the revolver out and wandered out to the front door where I asked them in Fijian what they were doing loitering around, they departed post haste.

The Marks Street manager prior to my appointment was an interesting fellow who also spoke Fijian and Hindustani very well and was to spend his later days in Fiji as a very successful businessman on the outer islands. I had only been at Marks Street a few days when an elderly Fijian chap came in and put a wind up Westclock alarm clock on the counter asking for one pound. It seems that the previous agency manager was operating a pawnshop upstairs a few doors along. Another day soon after a younger Fijian chap came in and was looking for payment for fish he had caught for the market.

I did not venture in to these moonlight agency activities although I did get in to the jandal business. A shoemaker from Wellington was introduced to me via a friend. He was after coconut thongs to feed in to jandals. I found him a Tongan family who we contracted to make thongs for something like four pence a thong. I opened an account with the Wales for this business. I would ship them to Wellington five hundred at a time, they would end up at Farmers Trading Store in Auckland selling for nine shillings and eleven pence a pair.

So far banking in Fiji was proving most interesting.

Fiji had coins up to two shillings and then a five-shilling note, which was the most exchanged currency amongst shopkeepers and other commercial operations.

Tellers were forever separating what we called unissuable notes, those that became dirty, torn and not suitable for further circulation, this applied to all denominations but mostly the five shilling note. Once the bank had accumulated a serious amount maybe five thousand pounds in value we would take them down to treasury and exchange them for new notes.

Mr C. O. Jim Taylor, my school friend Jimmy’s father and a keen golfer, was the treasury official we dealt with. The old notes were punched through a hole machine and then burnt in his, and our, presence. Every few month’s the district and outer island branches, Labasa, Ba, Lautoka, Nadi and Sigatoka, would mail their unissuable notes to us in Suva. There might be say six to eight bundles of old notes registered mail through the Suva Post Office. The bank mail clerk would sign for them and bring them to the office.

I recall an occasion where a bundle of notes went missing between the post office and our office just across the road. Try as they might both the post office clerk and our mail person could not ascertain where this valuable bundle of notes had disappeared.

Another interesting situation occurred during a period when the financial stability of Fiji was being questioned. Staff were called back late one evening to update all the decimal interest books. Management had been informed that all banks in Fiji were to forgive customers overdraft payments and interest for a period of time..

There is a word for this rather drastic situation that I will try to recall or find out prior to this story conclusion. In any event the rumour proved foundless and life continued on.

One bank officer assisted by a lady machinist managed the Savings Bank. The bank held savings amounts, some quite considerable, lodged by plantation owners and often never operated for years at a time, just accumulating interest. One elderly plantation owner widow had $58,500.00. in her account, a huge amount of money at that time just sitting there. The savings bank got themselves into difficulties with one of these plantation owners accounts. Fortunately there were limited gambling opportunities in Fiji although Pearce and Co would take a bet on Australian racing.

The Melbourne Cup was always a premier occasion given that a large number of Australians worked in Fiji. My greatest success was investing one pound on Even Stevens to win both the Caufield and Melbourne Cup at 100/1 odds.

Forgery between ledgers and the tellers was a worry at all banks in Suva. A person might issue a cheque for six pounds, The person who had been given the cheque would add a ty to the six ( sixty ) and put an 0 on the 6 quite a common fraud at the time. This would work for 4 6 8 and 9 pound amounts which were quite common cheque amounts.

Most days after work the bank chaps would head for the Defence Club, a popular private club just a few minutes walk up the hill from the office. Heath Hemphill was Manager of the “DC” as it was known by. Heath sailed the best yacht on the harbour the ‘Tamatea’

The club was open 24 hours of the day, gentlemen only. There was a lounge at the side entrance to the club where ladies could be taken for a drink or to wait for their menfolk. Most wives needed a lot of patience. The club had a card room, two good billiard tables, dart board and a very long bar that filled most evenings with white shorted gentlemen from the banks along with other colonial service personnel and Suva businessmen.

The club had blank cheque books for each local bank behind the bar. Deciphering who had signed these cheques became quite a challenge to ledgers when they were banked. Ladies nights, Melbourne Cup night with a huge Calcutta, the annual ball, snack catering, sports events of all kinds, the Defence Club was a very popular amenity for bank staff.

The Fiji Club was close by the Defence Club and a bit more stuffy. Their dining room was quite popular as were their billiard tables. There was a ‘shove halfpenny’ board on the main bar that we enjoyed playing. Poke boards were another popular gaming activity. The Poke Board had five hundred ‘pokes’ mostly bottles of Whisky, Gin and other spirits. The ‘pokes’ were a dollar. Once the board got down to the last fifty or so it was often worth while to ‘poke out the board’ taking everything that was left in the cupboard.

Sir Ronald Garvey was Governor General whom I met socially through Harry Ritchie the financial secretary and a golfing friend. I was invited to a formal dinner at GH on a Saturday, the Governor had two daughters about my age the invitation read ‘decorations to be worn’ !! Fortunately, or not so, as the case was at that time, I had a seventy seven gross at the Fiji Golf Club that particular Saturday, the first time I had broken 80. By the time I reached GH from the bank mess in my tuxedo I was not in the best shape for the occasion. It was not my best social experience !

The four banks competed against each other in a variety of sports: cricket, golf, tennis, bowls, rugby and table tennis were the main ones. The Wales was the largest bank as far as staff numbers, then BNZ, ANZ and the Commercial. The Bank of Baroda opened during my time but their staff did not join our activities.

During my time in Suva Frank Murray was branch manager for a while, he was a keen low handicap golfer. After work we would quite often head out to Vatuwaqa for nine holes.

When I first went to Suva Ces Barford was manager and had been for quite some time, unfortunately he passed away soon after I arrived. Jack Earnshaw followed Mr Barford, he eventually became General Manager of the BNZ when he returned to Wellington, then Frank Murray.

My regular competition partner at the Fiji Golf Club was Peter Darling Manager for the Shell Company in the South Pacific.

I also enjoyed playing with John Wisdom the TEAL Pacific Island manager and a friend of our family.

John eventually retired to Napier after enjoying a spell as Chief executive of Air New Zealand following Morrie Davis resigning following the Erebus crash.

Peter Darling and his lovely wife Peg lived opposite the entrance to Government house in a very nice colonial home with a tennis court.

Peter, myself and our good friend accountant Adam Dickson would regularly attend the Masonic Lodge together. Peter played on a nine handicap, I got down to a six handicap during my bank time in Fiji. We won the major foursome event the “Navy Cup” and dined out on that ever since.

Peter was Shell manager when the 1959 riots broke out in Suva. James Anthony promoted the disturbance, along with Apisai Mohammed Tora, Pritttam Singh and Ratu Meli Gonowai, over pay and other labour related disputes.

The riots spread around Suva and became quite dangerous. Cars were having stones thrown at them, shop windows were being smashed, and gangs were roaming the streets. A curfew was announced and the Bank staff were called on to assist.

The men staff members were issued with 303 rifles and ten rounds of ammunition. All staff cars were requisitioned and used to patrol Suva during curfew hours six p.m. until 6.a.m. I had recently bought Amalgamated bus company owner Abdul Raufs two tone green Holden and very proud of it. I was not so happy about the rifle scratches I gathered as a commandeered vehicle.

This went on for ten days during which time my Holden with four bank fellows with our guns patrolled the Domain, which was our assigned area. The domain is where the colonial service families lived, quite large homes with extensive gardens and trees.

We were told we could ‘shoot on sight’ - fun and games for young New Zealand bank officers. Our reporting Headquarters was the Defence Club where we stopped by at least five or six times during the night for liquid refreshments. Virtually no sleep and then back to work under riot trying conditions each day.

Fellow bank colleagues during those riotous time were :

Bruce Williamson, our accountant, Alan Turtle who I discovered many years later managing a fruit stall and teashop in Rarotonga on the beach, Joe Kendall I heard of him having fun and games at Auckland branch, John Burr don’t know where he is, Susan Lazarus married Alistair an Air Force officer and lives at Sanctuary Cove as did Barbara Crowe who married Phil Best. Earl Wilkinson had his 90th birthday recently ( Feb 2010 ) and lives happily at Waikanae, John Slaven and Shirley live in Takapuna, Harold Clotworthy I believe is at the Mount, John Ainscough married Les Martins daughter and will be in Australia, Dave Oram I don’t know, Sandy Johnson I don’t know where he is, Denis Barber had a big bank job, Trevor Blanchard has a corporate cab, Sonia Evetts married Ross McDonald, Alan Gee don’t know, believe he stayed on in Fiji and married a local girl, Peter Appelby went back to Sydney, Herbie Marlow married Fiji’s first Miss Hibiscus Leibling Hoeflich, Robin birdman Mercer married the Rev Tippets daughter Lynette, John Harden went into the insurance business I believe, Judy Elphick married David Major, Henry Major I don’t know where he is, Jeff Broad I hear is a priest, John Mcfarlane married fellow banker Irene Anderson, Peter Pye married Judy Edmunds, Maurie Traves lives in Napier, Garth Gilbert married Saisy Waddingham they live in Napier, Keith Usher married Saisy’s sister Evelyn, Curly Usher is in Australia, Dave Edmonds Married Audrey Martin, Dick Woods lives on the Kapiti coast, Denis Douglas I believe is in Tauranga, Stu and his son Harvey Emerson live in Remuera, Kevin Budd don’t know where he is, Laurie Berridge I’m not sure on nor Michael Cullen, Maureen Marshall married Jim Taylor now living in Orewa, Bill Horsburgh I last heard of in Perth, Noel O’Rielly I heard of through his son recently, Dave and Merle Glennie are in Mount Maunganui, Joan Pratt is in Auckland,Dave Shakes lives in Takapuna, Roslyn Jerram (Sell ) lives in Opotiki and publishes the Kai Viti Kiwi.