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flats (East Sydney) temporarily rented by Madge and her mother. We christened him Alan Gibson; the first name being historically associated with the surname Stewart, and the other name in deference to his mother's family.
A few weeks before Madge had sailed from Wellington, the owner of our residence sold it to a married couple, who wished to occupy it as soon as was convenient to us. So before my visit to Sydney I had had to pack up and store our furniture, and then vacate the house. In the meantime I lived in a hotel for about three months.
On my return to Wellington at the end of my leave of absence I was lucky enough to find, almost at once, a nice new modern ground-floor flat in an inner suburb (Hawkstone St) for a rental of £2-10-0d a week. I took sufficient furniture out of storage to make it quite comfortable as against the day of my family's arrival. But Madge declared that she did not like residing in Wellington, and that if I wished to remain there I should do so alone. She was of the opinion that I should resign my Shell job and return to Sydney and get another position concerned with civil engineering.
This was a very disturbing development for me, just when I was progressing so rapidly in the Shell Company, with further bright prospects. To obtain equally good employment in Australia, whiich had barely recovered from the big depression, would be problematical. I chose a propitious time to discuss my problem with the General Manager. I think he had already sensed my quandary, and was very sympathetic. He said that if I so desired he would write to the General Manager for Australia to inquire if I could be placed suitably with Shell there. He added that he would be sorry to lose me, and that I had made a good name for myself in London. Also, he hinted at a further salary increase at the end of the year (in a month's time).
I thought things over for a week, and then asked the Chief to write to Melbourne on my behalf as he had suggested. I never