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“$1500 Million-Worth Of Trust In Computers”

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Description: These images were taken for the June 4th 1978, edition of the Tribune weekly newspaper the first of which was published with the caption “Margaret Sharrock pauses from her computer programming while Mr Martin checks one of the old ledgers.”

An excerpt from the article read: “The Post Office is playing around with about $1500 million of New Zealander's money. And it's been happening in Palmerston North. There's nothing sinister in this it's just that the Post Office Savings Bank is getting up to date. And Palmerston North subscribers will notice the new system on Tuesday. The Post Office's manual system of ledger cards and all the time consuming work that went with them, (which have existed since banking first began) are all being scrapped. In their place is that 20th century miracle, the computer.

The huge job of changing over every ledger in the country started as long ago as 1975, with each office of the bank largely responsible for its own ledger conversions. However, the process was found to be taking too long, and a special programming staff was formed to travel the country, programming huge chunks of ledgers at a time. The team arrived in Palmerston North on May 8, and started work immediately.”

These images form part of the Manawatū Evening Standard Negative Collection. Unfortunately, only negatives between April and December 1978 are held.