Item AAAB1862 - William Watson Anderson interview

CALL NUMBER: T1691:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): William Watson Anderson : Department of Finance, 1913-1952 (part 1) PERIOD COVERED: 1891-1952 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Born in Scotland in 1891. Family background. Father in the newspaper business in Scotland. Stories of Anderson's boyhood in Scotland. Schooling. Immigration to Canada in 1908. Stories of the trip. First impressions of Canada. Family purchased property in Victoria shortly after arrival. Anderson's first jobs as a clerk. Anecdote about prisoners from the provincial jail. Comments on Victoria and Sidney Railway. TRACK 2: Worked for B. Wilson and Co., ice dealers. Selling ice in the Rockland area. Worked for Victoria Truck and Dray. Becomes an accountant, c. 1910. Joined the Department of Finance, 1913. Comments on the patronage hirings in the civil service. Patronage worse under Liberals than Conservatives. Anderson as secretary to the Deputy Minister of Finance, W.J. Goeppel. Comments about J.V. Fisher, later Deputy Minister. CALL NUMBER: T1691:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): William Watson Anderson : Department of Finance, 1913-1952 (part 2) PERIOD COVERED: 1913-1956 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1978 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Continuation of the story about J.V. Fisher. Working conditions within the public service. Tentative steps towards a public service union. Anderson in the Canadian Armed Forces during World War I. Anderson's war work as an air mechanic and bookkeeper. Bookkeeping innovations introduced by Anderson. Anderson went to work in the Sales Tax section, 1949. Brief comments on the Bennett government. TRACK 2: Anderson a member of the Canadian Legion and Masonic Order. Anderson peripherally involved in the "Police Scandal", 1942, which involved Premier John Hart. Anderson testified before an investigating committee. Anderson's family. (End of interview)