Turnbull and Jones at Five Shillings a Week

The following year I went to work at five shillings a week at Turnbull and Jones, a firm of electrical engineers and by 1916 was earning seven and sixpence a week. In 1917 I transferred to T.H.Green and Co., a firm of wholesale grocers. My brother, Arthur, who was fifteen months younger than I, had worked there till his death at the end of 1916 and it was on account of the excellence of his work that I was offered this position. In the meantime I was attending evening classes at the Technical College in preparation for the Matriculation examination which I successfully passed in 1920. That year I was appointed probationer at the Christchurch East School. The following year I entered the Christchurch Teachers College and commenced my University studies, a major subject being Education. I graduated from Training College at the end of 1922 and completed my BA the following year, during which I taught part time at the Technical College. Under Professor James Shelley(pictured), who was an inspiring teacher, I won the distinction of being the first student in New Zealand to gain a Masters Degree with First Class Honours in Education. That year I took the middle term off in order to write my thesis on "The Effect on Children of the Transition from Primary to Secondary School".