Cofty -
You are so right. When I was a kid pioneers had to get 100 hours, Specials were 150 (but I think they got to count meetings when they gave talks, led the WT and book studies, etc.) I think vacation pioneers were either 50 or 70 hours at the time, but my brain has dried up since the 1960s, so I don't remember for sure.
As a teenage regular publisher, though, I would go out 2 hours each Saturday and Sunday every weekend and sometimes for an hour before the book study on Tuesday night. That would give me about 20 hours per month. I was considered a superpub by everyone in the congregation, so I was giving public talks, was a frequent Watchtower Study reader, and was a Book Study servant by the time I was 20 years old.
What the others in the congregation did not know was much of that was under duress. My parents forced us to go out every Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday night. I had no choice. Even though I had an early morning paper route, I was expected to be home, showered and dressed for service by 9 AM. My father gave me a break once in a while if the newspapers were late or the weather was particularly nasty, but even so, I rarely got under 12-14 hours a month.
I was clearly one of the rising young stars in the Riverside, California congregation. Like I said, much of the time it was under duress. So when my parents left the area to go "serve where the need was greater," I stayed behind, got married and began to slow down and fade completely. My hours dropped from 16-20 per month at age 19 to zero by the time I was 22.
I look at the hours required to be an elder or MS now and think they wouldn't even be considered "average" publishers back in the day. In fact most would be facing regular counseling. I personally know of one COBOE that turns in well under 10 hours a month, and most of those hours are suspect.
If I had to do over again, knowing what I know, I'd go along with Trevor, and just use a sharp pencil and give them whatever hours they wanted to keep them off my back.
JV