The Dunedin Telegraph Office , which stands at the junction of High and Rattray Streets, opposite Cargill's Monument, was erected in 1876, and is a two-storey brick building entirely devoted to the work of that department, including the Telephone Exchange. The public office is situated on the ground floor, the Telephone Exchange and other offices on the first floor.

Mr. J. Orchiston , Inspector of Telegraphs for Otago District, who is the only surviving son of the late Mr. J. Orchiston, grain merchant of Aberdeen, was born in 1857, and arrived in Dunedin with his parents in January, 1862. In January, 1874, he joined the Telegraph Department as a cadet, and was promoted in the same year to the charge of the Hawera station. In 1877 he was transferred to the construction branch at Wellington. Eighteen months later, Mr. Orchiston page 137 was appointed acting sub-Inspector of telegraphs for the Wellington district; was transferred subsequently to Auckland as sub-inspector in charge of that district in 1890; and in 1894 was promoted to his present post in Dunedin. Mr. Orchiston was married in 1883 to the eldest daughter of Judge Von Sturmer, and has three sons and one daughter.

Mr. J. Orchiston.

Mr. James Gardiner Ballard , Officer-in-Charge of the Dunedin Telegraph Office, was born in Canterbury in 1851 and was educated at the Christchurch Boys' High School. He entered the telegraph service in Christchurch as a cadet in 1866, and two years later became postmaster and telegraphist at Waipukurau, North Island. He was transferred to Cromwell, Otago, in 1870, and four years later joined the telegraph staff in Dunedin. He was appointed assistant officer-in-charge at Wellington in 1878, and was transferred to Blenheim in 1880, where he was also made chief postmaster in 1889. Mr. Ballard was transferred to his present post in December, 1895.

Mr. Charles Hill . Assistant Officer-in-Charge of the Dunedin Telegraph Station. was born in Wellington in 1854. He joined the Telegraph Department in 1867, and was transferred to Wanganui in 1869. He was afterwards, during the time of the Maori disturbances, in charge at Opunake, where he acted as postmaster and telegraphist; after eighteen months' service he was transferred to Napier, and remained there for five years. Mr. Hill was then transferred to Christchurch, Whence he was appointed to his present post in 1895. He was married in Napier in 1874, and has one son and one daughter.

Mr. Charles Edward May , formerly Mechanical Electrician (Siemens Bros) of the Otago and Southland district of the Telegraph Department, was born in Greenwich, Kent, England, in 1858. He was educated at Cohen's Glebe House school, Woolwich, and was apprenticed to Messrs. Siemens Bros., electrical engineers at Woolwich, where he remained for eight years. During part of this time, Mr. May was at the Royal Albert docks as assistant electrician to Mr. Shurtz, who was in charge of the first Installation of the docks for electric lighting. Mr. May next accepted a twelve months' engagement with Mr. Raukin Kennedy's Electric Light Company and the National Telephone Company of Glasgow, after completing which he returned to his former employment. Six months later, he was offered and accepted an appointment from the New Zealand Government, and soon afterwards embarked for Port Chalmers by the ship “Westmeath,” arriving in 1883. After the destruction of the Wellington Telegraph office and Telephone exchange by fire in 1887, he assisted in the re-installation. As a volunteer Mr. May was for six years connected with the Royal Arsenal Artillery at Woolwich, and was for ten years lieutenant-in-charge of the electrical department of the Dunedin Engineers. He retired in 1896 with an honorary lieutenancy for life. Mr. May's father was marine engineer to the River Thames board. Port of London, for thirty-five years, and his grandfather was surveyor to the same body for forty years. Mr. May was married in 1881 to a daughter of Inspector Campbell, of the Royal Dockyard, Woolwich, and has one son and one daughter.

Mr. C. E. May.

Mr. Anthony Watson Oxley , formerly Telegraphist at the Dunedin Telegraph Office, was born in Dunedin in 1860, and was educated at the public school, Waikouaiti. Mr. Oxley joined the Waikouaiti telegraph office as a junior in 1874, and after two years, was successively at Wellington, Wanganui, and Invercargill; he was transferred to Dunedin in 1882. As a Freemason he was attached to Lodge Dunedin No. 931, E.C., and was also a member of Leith Lodge No. 4, of the American Order of Oddfellows, in which he passed through all the chairs. Mr. Oxley is a widower, with one son and one daughter, and has for some time been stationed at the Christchurch telegraph office.

Mr. A. W. Oxley.