112 It Happened in Iona

One of the boarders at 229 Sydney was Charlie Walker of Caledonia who was working with the Land Valuation Board, an arm of the provincial Department of Education. In late fall he told me of a vacancy there and suggested it would be wise to apply. I was accepted without delay and in November of 1951 began a work which was to be part of me for many years to come. Three of us, Bill MacCallum of Cross Roads, Walker and myself covered the Island like the dew as property assessors for school taxes in the more than 400 school districts across the province. The Board had been set up in 1949 and was more or loss still in its infancy at that point.

Field work consisted in going to a school district upon invitation from the trustees, measuring all buildings and get— ting a breakdown of their age, type, condition and an inventory of all lands. A hand manual guided us in dealing with building evaluation but common sense was needed as well, especially in regard to land, roads, location and the like. Office work involved making up the field sheets on the back of which we drew the layout of all buildings. We also took a census of every family and many school secretaries even asked us to tick off the number of dogs in the district for the collection of dog tax. When the field sheets were completed a list of the new valuations was compiled and sent to the secretary of the respective school district. Office secretaries Jean Ford and Thelma Bernard were kept busy in typing duplicate sheets and many related chores. In the office as well sat the chairman of the Board, Walter Currie during the first several years and then John F. Connolly for a number of years. MacCallum drove us in his Studebaker for the first year or so, after which I became chief chauffeur as we travelled literally from Sea Cow Pond to East Point and most regions in between, with all school districts on the Island except Charlotte- town and Summerside being within our jurisdiction. Owners were paid ten cents a mile for their car in on-duty travel. The three of us were paid a salary of seven dollars a day for a 5 1/2 day week, working until 1 pm. on Saturdays. For a period in winter we would be laid off, at least for a couple of months. Then in early 1955 we were put under the civil or public service which assured us of year-round employment and the security of per- manent government service. At the beginning of this new deal my salary was set at $2400 annually, with Walker’s at $2500 and MacCallum’s at $2600. At last I appeared to have found my place in the sun.

During my years with the Land Valuation Board our office