Earning his Pay

The Staff Captain had twenty-one years of service in the Army and after many years as a Warrant Officer became Lieutenant Quartermaster. Edgar's new Major had seventeen years service in the Territorials as an Infantry Officer. Both resented a new boss who was not a career officer and had less than two and a half years of service.

The Major told Edgar frankly he considered it most unfair and proposed to protest to the Brigadier. Edgar told him he quite understood his feelings and had no objection.

The Major made his complaint.

The Brigadier listened and said, "I will tell you the first three jobs I intend to give to Colonel Whitehead. If you are confident you can do them better I will ask the General to reconsider the appointment.

"The three jobs are as follows: first our contract with the oil companies expires next month. It is urgent that we draft another. We believe we were seriously overcharged last year. We should be able to negotiate substantial reductions in price.

"Second, my predecessor made an unfortunate contract with the local tile manufacturer undertaking to purchase their entire output for the duration of the war at a fixed price. We do not require any more tiles. I want the contract cancelled without the Army paying an compensation.

"Thirdly, we have just heard from the Lagos Civil Secretariat that there is a shortage of rice in Nigeria and they cannot supply the two thousand tons the R.A.S.C. currently require to implement the African ration scale. I want their refusal overruled.

"Now, can you get these three jobs done in the next week?"

The Major replied, "Sir, I'm an infantry soldier."

The first job was the petrol, oil and lubricants contract. Edgar went to see the Civil Price Controller. He had just completed a long investigation into the oil companies distribution costs. This was familiar ground. It took Rhodesia's commission five months to gather the facts. Edgar compared all the data with prices charged to the Army over the last year. He found the Army had been charged effectively the ordinary wholesale price less import duty, from which it was exempt. In practice the Army took delivery from the oil companies depots at the ports in military transport while the wholesale price contained items such as cartage from ports to wholesalers depots, marketing costs and advertising which simply did not arise in the army's case. Edgar finally got the whole case prepared down to three decimals places of a penny for each product and prepared a full memorandum.

Edgar told the Brigadier, "We're ready to negotiate."

The Brigadier took the chair at the meeting with the oil companies representatives.

"We suggest a renewal of the old contract for a further twelve months," an oil rep. said.

Edgar responded, "I'm afraid the Army is not prepared to do this." He handed several copies of his memorandum around.

They asked, "Where did you get these figures?"

Edgar said, "From the Civil Price Controllers who have been kind enough to check my figures."

They asked to be left alone for a little while to study the figures.

After the adjournment, their spokesman rather shamefacedly said, "I very much regret there was an unfortunate miscalculation in drafting the original contract and hope the Army feels there was no deliberate intention to overcharge in time of war. We accept Colonel Whitehead's figures and will not only reduce the price in the new contract by £100,000 but will refund £40,000 inadvertently overcharged last year when the gallonage was smaller."

The contract was signed. When the representative left, the Brigadier turned to Edgar and said, "Well, you have earned your pay for the rest of your time in the Army!"

Getting out of the tile contract proved much easier. Heavy military spending had sparked off something of a boom in Accra. Costs had risen. Civilian purchasers were offering much higher prices than the Army paid and the firm was already breaking the contract by supplying part of their output to civilians, according to Edgar's information. The interview was short and sweet.

The final problem of rice was solved by Edgar writing a semi-official letter to his friend the Director of Agriculture in Nigeria, thereby short circuiting the Secretariat. He wrote back to Edgar telling him there was a shortage of rice in Lagos but plenty in the North-West of Nigeria. He could easily obtain two thousand tons provided they sent military transport.

After this rather strained start Edgar established excellent relations with both of his aides.

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The historical novel Whitewashed Jacarandas and its sequel Full of Possibilities are both available on Amazon as paperbacks and eBooks.

Attention all Zimbabwe Readers! Hannah Rothwell of Pungwe Projects, 10 Stuart Avenue, Pomona, Harare can take book orders for Whitewashed Jacarandas and Full of Possibilities. Once Hannah places an order it is usually received from the UK within two weeks.  Act today to receive your books before Christmas! Contact her at PUNGWEPROJECTS@GMAIL.COM or phone 0785 685 568. Find her on Facebook as Pungwe Projects or on Instagram as pungwe_projects.

These books are inspired by Diana's family's experiences in small town Southern Rhodesia after WWII.

Dr. Sunny Rubenstein and his Gentile wife, Mavourneen, along with various town characters lay bare the racial arrogance of the times, paternalistic idealism, Zionist fervor and anti-Semitism, the proper place of a wife, modernization versus hard-won ways of doing things, and treatment of endemic disease versus investment in public health. It's a roller coaster read.

References:

• Sir Edgar Whitehead's Unpublished Memoirs, Rhodes House, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, by permission.
• Photo credit: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/nigeria-and-world-war-ii/home-front/A240A7394006D0B2F46EB0B8EBAC2054 The Home Front (Chapter 3) Nigeria and WWII. Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press.