Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume 3, Issue 71, 21 January 1882, Page 296

Pen and Ink Portraits.

No. 33. — Mb Henby Bbett

It is high, time that good men understood that the printing-press is the mightiest engine of all the centuries. The high-water mark of the printer's type-case shows the ebb or flow of the great oceanic tides of civilisation or Christianity. — Talmage. Mb Henby Bbett, the subject of this pen and ink portrait, is, in the truest sense of the term, a self-made man. Owing nothing to such fortuitous aids as inherited wealth, noble birth, or liberal education, it would be difficult to find throughout the Australasian Colonies a more striking example of successful energy, enterprise, and skill in business. The commercial and social position which he has won for himself by the exhibition of these qualities in a remarkable degree are a striking and hopeful example of the prizes w r hich these colonies offer in reward of self-denial, thrift, and " go." Here — where the social disabilities, the exclusive caste, the overstrained competition, and the stereotyped conventionalism of the Old World have not yet taken root — there is a clear field for men of talent, skill, and energy to climb the social ladder, and to attain* to a degree of wealth and social elevation that is possible only to the favoured few in older countries. Sallust says, " Fabrum esse sua quemque forttince" — everyone is the artificer of his own fortune — or, in the words of a popular maxim, " Every man is the architect of his own fortune." In the colonies, however, the architect finds an abundance of material ready to his hand. Twelve years ago Mr Brett was, comparatively Bpeaking, a poor man. Now, while yet in the prime of life, he is the sole proprietor of one of the largest and most profitable newspapers in the colony, and is interested in many investments designed to develop the resources of the provinrial district. The later years of Mr Brett's career are so intimately interwoven with the history of the Auckland Evening Star, of which he has been the guiding spirit, that any biographical sketch of the one necessarily involves a review of the other. Having watched his career during a period of sixteen years, and been intimately associated with him in journalistic pursuits, I consider myself fairly qualified for the present task ; and the fact that I owe him nothing, and neither need nor expect anything of his hands, ought to place me above the imputation of partiality or flattery. I find, from a printed sketch of his career, published in an English newspaper, that he was born in the year 1843, in the town of Hastings, Sussex, seven miles from the battle-field the result of which transferred the Crown of England from Saxon to Norman kings. Hastings was a mere Saxon fortress in 1066 ; the population of the Parliamentary Borough is now equal , to that of Auckland and suburbs. But Hastings taken 800 years to reach that stage, while Auckland has sprung up to its present popxilousness in less than 40 years — a striking example of colonial progress. Mr Brett's early education and training was undertaken by his uncle, who carried on a drapery business of some magnitude in that town. Like his nephew, and indeed all successful commercial men, he was a firm believer in the utility of extensive advertising. Finding it inconvenient to send to a distance for his printing, he purchased a small plant, engaged a printer, and established a printing business of his own, which, soon developed into the Hastings and St. Leonard's Gazette, a journal which has now attained a very considerable circulation and influence. It was here that young Henry Brett was first initiated into the mysteries of the typographic art. His uncle, who conducted the editorial work of the paper, was gifted with a taste for literary pursuits, combined with business prudence and enterprise, and divided his attentions between the new journal and his drapery business. Young "Harry" shewed such aptitude at the "case," that in a short time he had qualified himself for the position of overseer in a large job-printing office, where he remained 18 months. About this time his attention was attracted by the encouraging reports received from New Zealand, and, being imbued with that spirit of adventure and ambition to push his fortunes in a new land which has animated so • many of our most successful colonists, he cast in his lot with the Albertland special settlers, and in 1862 bade adieu to his native land from the deck of the good ship Hanover, bound for Auckland. Probably he had some vague ideas about this time of becoming a " cockatoo " farmer, and resting under his own vine and fig tree, but fate fortunately ruled otherwise. The tame, monotonous life of a country settler would have illsuited his restless energy and enterprise. If Albertland lost an indifferent farmer, Auckland d gained a clever and successful journalist, and faithful advocate of her best interests. Mr Brett was not long in securing an appointment on the literary staff of the Daily Southern Cross, under Messrs Creighton and Scales, one of whom is now a prominent journalist in San Francisco, while the latter has made up his last forme, and gone to meet the Great Master Printer. The Southern Cross was then the leading journal in the North Island, if not in New Zealand, and Mr Brett was its shipping reporter. If he has been eminently successful as a newspaper proprietor, it was as a shipping reporter that he found full scope for his untiring industry, shrewdness, and tact. He was what Cook was to the Sydney Morning Herald, its eyes, and the hands that catered for it. He remained on the Cross till 1866, when he transferred his services to the opposition morning paper, the New Zealand Herald. Those who remember what the duties of a shipping reporter were in those days must consider it a very tame and simple affair now. The telegraph and the cable have knocked all the fierce competition, the danger, and the excitement out of it. It was a competition, or rather a contest, that called for unceasing vigilance, unwearied energy, nice calculation and forethought, readiness of mind activity of body, and extraordinary powers of endurance. The crack shipping reporter in those days had to combine some of the qualities of a Saxby, a Captain Cook, a Dr Tanner, a Pichegru, (who, during a whole year's campaign, never slept more, than one hour out of the twenty -tour) and a trained athlete. There was no direct

telegraphic communication between Auckland and the South. News came by way of Nelson or Napier. There was no cable to Australia or London. Steamers and sailing vessels from America, England, Australia, and the South came in unexpectedly at irregular intervals. There was no subsidised mail service. There was no means of apprising the newspapers of the departure of vessels. England might have declared war against Russia, the whole of Europe might have been in a blaze, the markets of the world might have been disorganised, the Bank of England might have stopped payment, and stocks gone down to zero, Australia might have been invaded by a foreign enemy, and a fleet have sailed to seize Auckland, Wellington might have been swallowed up in a great earthquake, a change of Government might have taken place, and the very first intimation that would have reached Anckland might have been brought by some vessel dropping in unexpectedly in the darkness of night. Once a collier from Newcastle came over with a fair wind and brought the monthly budget of Suez telegrams. The arrival of the Hero or the barque Novelty was looked for with more anxiety and eagerness than a San Francisco mail steamer is now. The most vigilant, smart, ready-witted, and calculating shipping reporter stood the best chance of anticipating his rivals by getting first on board, " skinning the ship" of newspapers and reports, and exhausting the memories of the officers, crew, and passengers. The reporter who was second was only laughed at. The first man scored a win for his paper, and made its columns bristle with fresh and startling news, to the utter barrenness and discomfiture of its contemporaries. The fierce rivalry between the opposition reporters was shewn in manoeuvres, ruses, "blinds," and little dodges only known to the initiated. Occasionally they came to blows. Some of the scenes of those days would form the materials for an exciting and amusing book. Mr Brett found himself in his element. He was a perfect enthusiast in his profession. Whenever he slept, which was by snatches, like a man who walks a thousand miles hi a thousand hours, he dreamt of boarding phantom ships, and pulling away for dear life with every newspaper and scrap of news on board. He spent whole nights round the North Head, in Rangitoto Channel, or at Tiritiri, tossing on the waves in a waterman's boat, and peering through rain and darkness for some expected vessel. He was many times capsized and cheated the sharks of a meal by that good luck which seems to have always attended him through life. Once he got alongside the Pi pete from Tahiti, and clutched the slippery chains to clamber up to her deck, when his boat was taken from under him with a wave, leaving him in that precarious predicament until the vessel had tacked half-way across the harbour. The writer has an unpleasant recollection of a cold, miserable night in a drizzling rain spent in an open boat round the North Head, in expectation of the arrival of a steamer from Sydney with the Suez mail news ; of the anticipations of triumph that filled his breast Avhen in the grey dawn he caught a glimpse of the shadowy outlines of the steamer in Eangitoto Channel with no signs of the rival boat anywhere on the water, and of the feeling of intense disgust that succeeded when, By the aid of a binocular, he descried a boat at the steamer's side with the well-known figure of Mr Brett in the stern. We used to watch each other like detectives in those days. Once we had been up three nights in succession. On the fourth it was given out by the waterman (the sly old dog) that Brett was completely fagged out and had gone home to the bosom of his family. The writer was haunted by vague doubts and apprehensions. You never knew where to have Brett. He might be at Tiritiri or on board the steamer in Eangitoto Channel at that very moment. I went into the waterman's house to smoke a pipe, remain perdu, and ruminate on the position, got drowsy over the stove fire, and was about to go home and turn in, when I heard a yawn from one of the bunks. It was that horrible Brett. He had been recruiting, laying in a reserve of sleep, while a wretch of a boatman kept a look out on the North Head for the steamer's lights. Like the two philosophers meeting in the street, we put our fingers to our respective noses and laughed. I was sub -editor of the Cross at that time, and was relieving our shipping reporter, in order that he might be fresh for the fray next morning. Perhaps I may admit now that it always took about three of us to watch Brett. He was as slippery as an eel. When he left the Cross there was a rapid succession of shipping reporters who aspired to fill his place, but were beaten in detail, and retired from the contest in disgust. Mr Berry, the present editor of the Herald, tried it, but was taken off to fill the sub-editorial chair. That w r as before my time. Ultimately Wilkinson, now proprietor of the Thames Advertiser, settled down into the billet, and in him Brett found a foeman worthy of his steel, or rather zeal. When Wilky went to the Thames there was another succession of " duffers," until Ellis took it, and, despite his lame leg, performed the duties with satisfaction. Brett had succeeded Harry Lewis on the Herald — a smart, promising young journalist, who went to Australia to recruit a broken constitution, and found a grave there. Mr Brett was fortunate in being in the employ of such a man as the late W. C. Wilson, the founder of the New Zealand Herald — a man of extraordinary -thrift, foresight, clear judgment, and untiring energy. Perhaps Mr Brett owes no small share of his success in life to the traininghe received in Mr Wilson's service. If Wilsonwas a hard man in business, he was scrupulously just. He knew how to judge merit and to reward it. He was far above all false pride. He worked in his shirt sleeves behind his own counter up to the day when that fatal illness seized him. When ne could find nothing else to do he used to cut up copy-slips for the staff. He was true to Auckland's best interests, and his instincts aways led him right. He was withal a largehearted man. He often did good by stealth. I was once in his service, and my memory of him is grateful. I had been a war correspondent and an irregular scribbler for the Press — one of the light-armed ink-slingers who hang about the flanks of the regular army — when Wilson took me by the hand and gave me my first lessons in professional journalism. I recall one circumstance •which gives a key to the character of the

man. When he locked the door of his room for the night, gave his final instructions, and was about to pass out through the glass doors, he would pause, take a pinch of snuff, and then, after fumbling in his pocket, unobtrusively put his hand behind his back, place a florin or a half-crown on the table, and leave. This occurred every night, with very few exceptions. The coin was for refreshment. You couldn't help liking a man like that, with all his faults 5 and who is without faults ? I never did a more ill-considered thing in my life than when I left the Herald to join the staff of the Cross. Mr Brett was one of Wilson's favourite and most trusted employes. Sooth to say he deserved it by his devotion to Wilson's interests. He worked late and early, and did not spare himself. He was ready to do anything to advance the Herald. He stuck to it and fought for it as a soldier does for his flag. This is the true spirit that ought to animate every editor and reporter, and it is the spirit that renders a newspaper successful. By this time Mr Brett had. begun to make his way in society. Inheriting from his father a ctiltivated musical taste, a correct ear, and a fine bass voice, his services were always in request at the Choral Society concerts, and performances for charitable purposes. He was also a zealous member of the Masonic craft. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. That tide in Mr Brett's affairs was the establishment of the Auckland Evening Star. Mr Allen, a clever and experienced journalist (formerly subeditor of the Cross), had started the Evening News ; and when he met with an untimely end whilst bathing at the North Shore, his father came over from Hobart Town to carry on the Neivs. Partly through inexperience of local affairs, and partly from causes which need not be enumerated here, the Neios became unpopular, and the door was opened for an opposition paper. Two men — two distinguished members of the unemployed, waiting, Micawber-like, for something to turn vp — met one day in the Thames Hotel, and discussed" the affairs of the world over a glass of beer. They were drawn towards each other by that mysterious sympathy which always exists between men out of luck and out at elbows. One was an erstwhile Presbyterian parson, who had come over from Queensland in search of a cooler atmosphere ; and the other was a clerk, accountant, canvasser, or something else of a nondescript character. In a few minutes they had resolved to found the Auckland 'Evening Star. The first was Mr <x. M. Reed, and the other Mr Farrar. One undertook the editorial duties, and the other the business management. Yogel made the thing stand on its feet and march by undertaking the printing at something like £20 a-week. I stood godfather, and supplied a good deal of the literary pabulum for the infant. It thrived. At the end of a month it began to get teeth, and to 1 show them too. One Saturday morning Yogel wanted a settlement, and, failing that, to seize the copyright, goodwill, and takings. Reed, who is a man fertile of resources, was mysteriously silent and gloomy. Farrar came to my room, which he had been permitted to use on sufferance (Eeed wrote at home), snatched up an old paste-pot, a rusty pah* of scissors, a quantity of miscellaneous clippings, accidentally emptied the contents of a big ink - bottle into his pocket, and in deep, guttural tones, emphasised by some blasphemy, took an affecting farewell, conveying the whole of his property away in his coat pockets. On the Monday evening the Star appeared us usual, from the Herald office, and Yogel was for once in his life " euchred." I believe they paid him," either in whole, or in part. The partnership between Reed and Farrar came to an abrupt termination. Mr Brett bought out the interest of the latter for, I think, about £120, left the staff of the Herald with Mr Wilson's good wishes and a substantial testimonial, and threw himself heart and soul into the Star. It was a lucky Star for him. His Star lias been in the ascendant ever since. Besides his energies, he put in something that was quite as badly wanted — his savings, his all in fact. This was the turning point in the Star's career. It has passed through the fire since, • but then it was in the crucible. Mr Brett's energy, industry, experience, and excellent business connection soon made itself apparent in the increased advertisements and circulation of the paper. He had' acquired valuable knowledge of the machinery and details of press telegraphy, and he made this a prominent feature. The Thames Gtoldfield was in its palmy days, -and the mining news of the Star was at once the latest and most reliable, while its brilliant and fearless leaders and general news gave it a tone that assured its hold on public favour. Later still, carrier pigeons were pressed into the service, and these faithful little messengers beat all competitors. Allen started a morning paper, which discounted the news in his evening edition, got too many irons in the fire at once, fell behind in the race, and both his papers languished away and died. Reed and Brett bought the plant cheap, took over the lease of the premises, and got out of the Herald's leading strings. The circulation continued to expand ; and the permanency of the Star was assured. In 1872 they published their first number of " Brett's Auckland Almanac and Handbook," which, like Aaron's rod, speedily swallowed up Chapman's Almanac, and all the smaller tribe. Like the Star itself, " Brett's Almanac " has continued to grow and improve in bulk and circulation, until it has become the best publication of its kind in the colonies. In February, 1876, Mr Reed sold his interest in the Star to Mr Brett for £4000, went to Dunedin, and purchased the Otago Guardian for £3000, afterwards incorporating it with the Otago Daily Times in a joint stock company. Mr Brett became the sole proprietor of the Star, and Mr Reed was succeeded in the editorial chair by Mr T. W. Leys, who had succeeded myself as sub-editor of the Cross, in 1870, and subsequently joined Mr Reed as subeditor of the Star, largely influencing its policy and organising and directing its news department from his first connection with it. Mr Leys has guided the literary destinies of the paper ever since, and it is doing him scant justice to say that to his literary ability, well-balanced judgment, clear-sightedness, untiring energy, and intimate knowledge of local and colonial affairs, Mr Brett is in no small degree indebted for his success, and for the high position

which the Star has obtained among colonial journals, as -well as for the popularity of his Almanac and Handbook, -which has also been edited from its first issue by Mr Leys. When Mr Reed left the Star its circulation -was 4000 daily ; it rose to 5000 -within a few months, and has now attained a daily circulation of 7000 ; while the annual issue of the Almanac has increased from 1500 to 6000. The Star was begun in double crown size ; afterwards enlarged to double news, and about two years ago it was further extended to a special size. It was the first penny paper of thot size in the colonies. The step was taken in disregai t of the ornnious warnings of many croakers au I prophets of ill-omen, but it has been more than justified by the results. The Melbourne Age, Dunedin Herald, Otago Daily Times, and other papers have followed suit ; but the Star is still the largest evening paper South, of the Line. .It contains 36 colilmns, against 28 in the next largest evening paper, while its columns are 6 inches longer. One special feature of the Star has been its telegraphic news. No expense has been spared in obtaining the latest and most reliable intelligence from all parts of the world within reach of wire. During the Russo-Turkish War enormous sums were paid for special and direct cable messages from London, which often anticipated the news sent by Eeuter's Company. And whilst looking after the interests of his own paper, Mr Brett has given to the whole Press of the Colony the benefit of his experience in journalistic telegraphy as a director of the Press Association. One principle cause of the Star's extraordinary success has been the fact that every penny of profit derived from the business has been re-invested in either additions to the plant, improved machinery, or extension and improvement ill its services of news. Prom small beginnings, Mr Brett has raised it to one of the best appointed general steam-printing offices in the Colony, and this mainly by his own energy, enterprise, and judicious judgment. The four-feeder " Wharf dale " employed in machining the Star is the finest printing machine in New Zealand j and by duplicating the printing machine and supplementing the steam-engine with an eighthorse power gas-engine, a reserve has been formed in the office against accident to any part of the machinery. I need say little as to Mr Brett's character as an employer. Practical experience enables him to form a correct estimate of the value of literary and typographical work, and the requirements of his business makes him appreciate it. Though close and hard at a bargain, I have never known him to be otherwise than just, conscientious, discriminative, and considerate, and to old employes and friends generous and forbearing. Had he been blessed with, a liberal education in his youth, he might fairly have aspired to the highest positions in the colony ; and, as it is, he has filled several important and honourable public offices with credit to himself and advantage to his constituents. . His first introduction to public life was as Chairman of the Parnell Highway Board, in July, 1874, by virtue of wliich office lie held a seat in the Auckland Harbour Board. He wa3 elected to the City Council of Auckland on the 10th September, 1874, at the head of the poll ; and at the expiration of his term, in 1876, was one of the eight candidates who again contested the election, being again at the head of the poll, and topping the next highest candidate by 283 votes. He was elected Mayor of Auckland in November, 1878, without a contest, and discharged the duties of fclaafc lionourable and onerous office "with, discretion, punctuality, urbanity, and generel satisfaction to the burgesses. Had he chosen, he might have been elected for a second term without opposition, but he declined on the score of business engagements. As Mayor he was distinguished for his liberality. He sat for several years as one of the City Improvement Commissioners, is one of the Committee of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society, President of the Aniateur Athletic Club, and a director of several Coromandel mines and other local industries. He is also a Justice of the Peace of the Colony. AUTOMATHES.