REUTER’S AGENCY

Hokitika Guardian, 29 June 1932, Page 3

REUTER’S AGENCY

A GREAT ORGANISATION. WORLD-WIDE RAMIFICATIONS LONDON, June 25. Interesting details of . the r history and organisation of Reuters News Agency and if its world-wide ramifications were given in an address delivered before the Cardiff Business Club by Sir Roderick Jones, chairman of Reuters. Reuters is one of the biggest of all the organisations collecting Imperial and foreign news for the consumption of the British Empire and ot the world -and as Sir Roderick‘stated, there is not a single part of the civilised world to which Reuter does not go, either under that name or under the name of the agencies allied to Reuters. Sir Roderick Jones opened his address by referring to the misunderstanding about the nationality Reuters. “I find very few people know anything about the organisation, about the genesis, and about the inner working of Reuters,’.’ be said. “While it Vi not so common ,now, there was a time when people used to remark to iue: ‘You are really German, aren’t you?’ Well, I spent a certain periot of my life, especially during the war, trying to dispose of that myth. It is certain’y true that old Julius Reuter, who founded the Agency the best part of a century ago was a German, but he came over to this country and betaine a naturalised British subject during the early years of Queen Y ictoria’s reign when it was fashionable for Germans to do that sort of thing, and when the contact between this country and Germany was very clcse and very happy. FOUNDING THE AGENCY. “Julius Reuter was a young ban! clerk in Cassel,” the speaker stated. “While driving his pen over figures he a]._o thought a great deal. He noticed that tiie bankers and merchants were very largely dependent upon the prices whic h come from Brussels every day. It occurred to him that he and those associated with him might reap certain material benefits if they possessed those prices before they arrived by the ordinary slow mail coach.. So he started a pigeon post service between Aix-la-Chapelle, the starting of the German telegraph system, and Brussels, the termial of the Paris lines. I will not go into details. The upshot was that ho managed to get the Bourse prices into all the big German towns regularly several hours before anybody else. The bankers and merchants and brokers of this ditv will know what a real advent: ge that

. “Reuter- developed this service, purelv a business service of commeicifi.l and financial prices, it was not a news service. I lay stress on th’t because Reuters, whilst they are still growing , and.-expanding in the domain of news, are developing once again this commercial side of' their activities. Transfer to London,. “Havng run this .service for a little time, Julius Reuter decided to connto London. A very ambitious youii, man, lie perceived that the greatest scope for hie ambition was to bo fount not in his native land, hut in England, where so many of his countrymen established themselves. He too. a small office in Royal Exchange Buildings in the City. He (outvote himself at first with obtaining am, distributing market prices. But a da. came when he decided to go further, and deal in news; news for tile news papers political happenings, and other kinds of news, and it was chief!; by his news services that Reuter became famous. He had difficulty ai first in persuading the newspaper that it was a. good thing to rely upm him rather than to depend srl.ly upon individual correspondents. In tin end lie persuaded the newspapers thait was to their advantage to depone; upon him also. From that begin in<. grew the Reuter international organisation as we know it to-day. Conducted for some time as a family con cern, very lucratively, and with nine distinction, in 1855 it was turner into a limited liability company with Julius Reuter as the governing director. The years went by and the organisation grew. Baron Julius de Reuter as the founder had now become, passed the control over in the fulness of time to his son, Herbert do Reuter. After about 35 tears, in 1915 Baron Herbert de Reuter died and I, of the third generation. in Reu ters, was called upon to take his place.” ‘

Tlio speaker then described tin steps taken to (shift the control of Reuters from private hands, in order to assure the unassailable continuity of the service, without the danger of tin* organisation falling into undesirabla.dia.ndg.. -The' -AltebHntirii boeaiityfjiitho trustees of Reuters lor the Press,of the United Kingdom. POSITION DURING WAR. “The British Government, at the beginning of the Great War, commit-' ted to Reuters’ hands the dissemination of authentic inlermatioii in regard to the war for the cnliglitmeiit of both allied and neutral nations,” continued Sir Roderick Jones, I here aas a moment when it was suggested that Reuter, like the munition factories, might he brought un.'.er fit Defence of the Realm Act.... Alv advice was that Reuters should be 1 1 rusted and left to act as a national

.nstitution to do the right thing by I the nation without official control or official coercion. At finst sight that I was not a very acceptable proposition, [ but in the end it was adopted, and i as tbc person responsible, and held officially responsible, for Renter activities from that time to the end of the war, I can gay—and T feel it is duo particularly to the Foreign Of- | lice to .say—that from the first to last we were never suhjectid to any dictation. There were times when possibly some authorities at WTiiteha.il did not apporve of what Reuters were .eying and doing when the tide of battle was going against u.-, but that lack of approval was never translated into anything which could constitute a hindrance of our operations or an interference - with our freedom of judgment. it enters believed it to be in the national interest to give out news and not propaganda. We maintained, and 1 think rightly maintained, tnat the best propaganda was the truth, even when it might be to us unpalatable truth. It was no pleasure to have to announce reverses, defeats, disaster on land and sea, re was .sometimes the case, but it was far better to do so itpd, to maintain the Renter reputation for truth than to stoop to tergiversation of propaganda known and practised elsewhere. (Hear, bear.) Put it at its lowest, it paid to be truthful, because when the timecame for our publicity to bo effective, it. was completely effective, whereas the publicity of the foe jn the long run failed. (Applause.) In the enemy countries Reuters organisation was both feared and respected. The then famous German weekly. “Kladderdatsch,’ devoted one entire issue, not an article or a few pages, but an entire issue, to a description of Reuters and their methods and to a vitrolic denunciation of both. '1 be paper declared in extravagant language that Reuters \vs more dangcro'V- to the Central Kmpires than any other single force pitted against them. (Applause). I think that was an exaggeration, but We were, not, displeased at- the compliment. On another occasion a German U-Boat cut the All-Red, cable between Canada and Australia' at Fanning Island. and one of tin 1 ends was found later -with i\ hot tie fastened to it and in the bottle the message‘This Cable*' I "was tut bv U-boat number so-'ind-v-0.. Thank God we have pul an Hid to Reuter’* damned work.' Tliev had done nothin”: of the. kind, but still ’ (Applause).