WITH THE 'BIG NEWS'

Auckland Star, Volume LVXIII, Issue 53, 4 March 1937, Page 17

WITH THE 'BIG NEWS'

FAMOUS JOURNALIST.

SIR PERCIVAL PHILLIPS' SOME REMIirieCEXGE?. (By XELLE M. SCANLAN.) LONDON", February 4. One of the greatest journalists of our time. Sir Percival Phillips, died in London last week. No writer had such a wide experience in peace and war. For 25 years no war was fought, no King was crowned, no crisis occurred, no event of national or international importance came and went, writing its line in history, but Sir Percival Phillips was there to record it. Born in America 59 years ago, he came to Kngland when young, and became a British citizen. About a dozen years ago he visited New Zealand with the Empire Press Conference, and some of you may remember him. He was one of the four British war correspondents to be knighted after the Great War (Sir Philip Gibhs was another). If there was trouble in the Balkans, Phillips was there. A crisis in Chinese affairs, and soon he was on the spot. He had travelled -ill over the world, this courteous, efficient, much-h.Movcd man, with his quiet manner and his modesty, which was in such striking rintrnat with some of the lesser fry, who were so .ccen to brag and boast of their a-.l'ieveinente. Flair and Knowledge. Sir Percival was never sensational, but when you saw a news story under his name you could be sure that it was accurate and as near the truth as waa possible under the circumstances. He had a way of attracting news; events seemed to time themselves for hia

arrival, or so it seemed. Hut M was liis flair, his uncanny knowledge of insid<happenings, his judgment of iiion, hiwl nis methods of approach that made others think he was lucky. What lit , knew of the secret and unpubiishabl • history of men and things, those exciting dark chapters behind the scenes that come the way of journalists, will never be revealed. There will be no reminiscences written in bis old age, an.-l the pity of it ie that so much of his work was ephemeral. I think bis account of a marathon race between Eton and London a number of years aj;.j is the finest piece of descriptive writing I know. He never •'wrote things 'up',' never gave them undue- importance, tried to wring ;i toar, or make a cheap j-st, lnr there was * turn of phrase ;bat gavj bis writing individuality.

Sir Percival was through the ItalaAbyssinian war last year, and waa responsible for the biggest newspaper scoop of recent times. It was the revelation at the beginning of that cnntlfot, the Emperor had granted vast concessions to Mr. Rickette, a British subject, in return for money with which to carry on hie defence of the country. It startled London, indeed it caused repercussions throughout Europe, and over the Atlantic as weH, for it was American interests that Mr. Riokstt? represented, though be is English himself. It is an old uf>ry now, but you may remember how it burst like a bombshell at the time. During the winter Sir Pereivnl had been following the *ortun.-s of t!.a Spaniards, and recording Various phases of the Civil War. He was taken ill in Morocco, and brought back to England, a dying man. * The Singapore Base. During the dozen years I knew him, our paths have crossed from time to time. When I was in Singapore, Sir Percival came down from China, where he had been for nearly a year, and we renewed acquaintance at the Europe Hotel, where we were both staying. Perhaps I may be forgiven for mentioning with a little pride that I once beat Sir Percivel to a story. I obtained permission to make a thorough inspection of the Singapore Naval Base, a work that is thie week having its first trial run, and big manoeuvres are being carried out, with mock battles and aerial attacks. I was the first journalist, man or woman, who was ever allowed over thie baae, for luck had worked my way. The naval commander in charge, who had repeated hie castiron "No" to all requeete from writers to inspect the work, had been recalled and a new commander, a very courteous, rather shy man had just arrived. My request was the first he had received; eo far he bad established no precedents, and he eeemed impressed with my introductions. He, too, was stay- | ing at the Europe Hotel.

"I haven't seen it myeelf." the commander told me. "I have just arrived. But I tell you what I will do, I'll take you with me on my whole 'tour of inspection, and you can see and hear all that I do. Mind," he added, emiling, "I'm a married man wfth a wife and children in England, and i f you are indiscreet HI lose my job."

I aesured him that I did not indulge in sensational journalism, and that all I wanted to get wee some idea of the scope of the work and the progress made.

You don't speak of temperatures in 'the shade out there; I couldn't find any shade. For two days in a sweltering heat, which I hope never to encounter again the commander and I went over the ground. We motored where possible, but had to do some of the rough <rround on foot. They were draining the swampw to get rid of malaria innsouitoes. and an engineer showed us his de«k where they had found a eobra that morning. We saw the Chines", who rreferrrd to work on contract and make ■» profit. i»nd the Tamil Indinns. who were less shrewd, and worked for waies ( —a meagre wajse it eeemed to me. but that was the u»ua! rat*. We went up

the Straits of Jahore in a boat and) watched them clawing the mangoes from the swampy edge, to make a eeapkirie base. The new wireless station, the underground petrol tanks, and all the other points, some juet begun, some well on the way to completion. It was hard to think in euch heat, but I memorised everything—areae, quantitiee, costs, etc.; there is nothing eo disaetrou* in such company as to make a note. The commander did not realise how much I could keep in ray head. Then the Rain Came. To celebrate the conclusion of our inspection, the Commander had a little party that night, a banker of Shanghai made a third, and Sir Percival, who has just arrived, the fourth. When Phillips discovered that I had been over the Base, he was amazed. He knew that permission had been refused over and over again. "Now you'\e taken Mise Scanlan round, I think you'd better let me have a look, too." he said. "I don't suppose I can refuse," the Commander said, laughing, and it wae arranged that they should start next morning. "We can't waste timej as the rains are due to begin." Next morning the rains had begun. It was coming down in ramrode, a perfect deluge. Sir Percival came over to me after breakfast and commented on hie bad luck, and we swapped stories. I gave him the Base, and be gave me one about thinge in China. He eat back while I told him -about the. Base, expecting a few superficial as no one knew better than he \vh\t an oy?ter the Xavy can be. "Here, hold on. hold on," he said, "I'll have to write this down. How on earth did you get all that out of them?" I sailed for Knglmid that afternoon, and I knew the mail Imat did not sail for three days. Tin , London "Daily Telegraph ,, published my articles on the Friday and Saturday after I arrived, starring them on the hoarding*, and Sir Pereival Phillips' story appeared hi the "Daily Mail" on the following Tuesday. Amanullah at Hendon. I next met him at Hendon some months later at a special air display arranged for the Amanullah of Afghanistan. Sir Percival had gone straight from Singapore to join Amanullah and accompanied him on that spectacular tour of Europe, when he was buying heavily of armaments and Western equipment, aeroplanes and European clothes. Every country wae spreading the red carpet for his feet, and hoping to have a share in the lavi*h expenditure that marked his tour, which led to his downfall.

I was talking to Sir Percival when one of the stunting aeroplanes suddenly swooped down straight at Amanullah, and so startled him that he shook his list at it as it zoomed awav into the skv.

Another encounter waR at filasgow for the launching of that loveliest of ocean liner*, the Empress of Britain. We were standing just behind the Prince of Wales as he touched the button releasing her. and as she slid down, to the water, the white hull in a cloud of gold dust rising from the rusty chains, Sir Percival said: "I have seen many launcbings. but never anything as magnificent as that."

Sir Percival had left the "Daily Mail," and for the past f»w years had been special correspondent for the "Telegraph," but tributes have been pouring into the Press, from many different sources, and foreign countries have been as deeply affected by his death as his countrymen.