Family History 1.126

Gaze History: NSG Memoir

War continued

By 1943, with the war situation at its worst ebb from the British point of view, the call-up came closer to Noel’s age group.  He was summoned for a medical.  Although the medical officers were polite, the NCO shepherding the recruits was not so careful, and incredibly poked a pencil down Noel’s ear and damaged his eardrum.  When he reached home he was suffering some pain.  He was never able to hear as well after that incident. His deafness, and his cleft palate, effectively ruled him out of military service. 

Meantime wartime regulations, in particular the Land Sales Act, made the work of lawyers particularly difficult, especially ones as honest as Noel.  The Land Sales regime required prices to be pegged to almost pre-war levels.  Lawyers and their clients spent time and energy finding ways to avoid this restriction.  By the end of the war and the months beyond it, “under-the-table” payments were common in property deals. Real prices were therefore considerably higher than the law required.  Noel found himself torn between his duty to the law and his obligation to pursue the best interests of his clients. Like many others he heaved a sigh of relief when the regulations were repealed, and the market was able to operate again. 

Mary and Noel and the children, accompanied for a few days by Doris, had a holiday in Rotorua at this stage.  They travelled by train.  The express left Auckland, like the other provincial expresses to Opua, Taneatua and New Plymouth, in the morning and reached Rotorua around 4 in the afternoon.  The family stayed in a private hotel in the centre of the town and spent the week visiting the tourist attractions of the thermal areas and the trout streams. 

Noel and Mary had always had the chance of sending their children for breaks with the grandparents.  As we have seen one of William’s great interests was politics.  When the 1943 election was held, Franklin was bundled off to Banks Street where William lived to spend the evening listening to the election results on Grandpa’s radio and writing the scores into the page of the newspaper specially printed for people to follow the results.  This happened at each election following 1943 until William’s death.

March 1943 saw the death of one of Noel’s two aunts who lived at Franklin Road. Neither had had any serious illness and were both in their eighties.  But Millie died and left Lizzie on her own. From this time on, Noel would call in even more regularly to see that she was OK. 

Noel’s work on the Administration Committee of the Baptist Theological College was beginning to bear fruit, and seven donors had been found who funded the purchase of a house and land on the slopes of Mt Hobson on the corner of Remuera Road and Market Road for the Baptist College. Leading minister, Rev J J North, was appointed Principal. 

The most evident effect of the war on the family at this stage was the establishment of an American Army camp at Papatoetoe.  Many of the soldiers in transit to war zones in the Pacific, or on their way home to the States, or on Rest and Recreation Leave, would attend the Baptist Church in Papatoetoe as the nearest to their camp, and every Sunday saw a group at the Gaze household for dinner. Almost every home in Papatoetoe had a similar entertainment programme. 

Summer holidays in January 1944 were spent camping at Mullet Point, east of Warkworth and within view of Kawau Island.  One of Noel’s clients, the Scandrett family, farmed there and had offered beachside campsites for a week or two in January. So Noel hired a tent from Leroys, and acquired cooking facilities and the family swam and played on the beach and explored the area from Mullet Point to Snells Beach – all farmland.  Also holidaying was a naval officer on leave, a brother of Mrs Scandrett.  He had a sailing dinghy and took various members of the family out for trips in his boat.  And then there was fishing.  Noel helped Franklin catch his first fish, which provided an unforgettable meal of gurnard, and a photo for the record. 

Later in January, on the 29^th, Fred and Julia celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary, with large numbers of friends calling to wish them well at Bellevue Road.