Page 44 - Be Reasonable – Do It My Way , Peter E. Daly AM, My Story

CHAPTER 3 - JOHANNESBURG TO DURBAN TO CAPE TOWN TO PORT ELIZABETH AND BACK TO JOHANNESBURG
was never without a cigarette. On this occasion he was smoking while he was talking with the cigarette between his lips and there was a dark fellow standing next to him collecting the ash.
Every year, the Chairman would speak about cost savings and what he had done to ensure the shareholders enjoyed the lowest costs of any building society in South Africa. This I could understand because when you went into the general office they were still sitting at high desks with high chairs. The meetings lasted only a few minutes until the Chairman concluded proceedings and drinks were on the house.
Cape Town
So ended a fabulous time in the family’s life in P.E. and we moved onto Cape Town in 1971, when I was appointed Branch Manager following the death of the previous manager. I had spent most of my youth in Cape Town and the majority of my schooling there, so the city was well known to me. There were a lot of other benefits: I had two brothers, Don and Michael, who were Brokers as well as my sister Pat and my brother-in-law Stan, who was an Insurance Assessor, all living there at the same time..
I got heavily involved in sport again and played cricket for Maristonians and ended up as Captain of the team. I also became Chairman of the club by ousting the Chairman who had been there a long time. However I came to regret the move as I found being the Chairman of a multi-faceted club which had tennis, bowls, soccer, rugby etc. was not an easy task. You almost had to be totally dedicated to the club and to forsake everything else. I also sadly missed the night excursions to write new business but as a counter to this, I got heavily involved in the broker market. Once again in my first year in Cape Town we doubled the premium income and did it twice over.
Business wise, I was extremely lucky having my brothers Don and Michael operating a Brokerage in Cape Town. Don and Michael
44