ADVENTURES BEHIND THE NEWS HAT TRICK

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 99, 29 April 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

ADVENTURES BEHIND THE NEWS HAT TRICK

TIOW I hate bowler hats! Yet 4 * I of all men should be the foremost champion of the maligned "hard felt.'' Many ex-soldiers preserve battcrrd cigarette cases and tattered Riblrs or prayer books that stopprd hits of shrapnel or diverted bullets and enabled them lo live to tell the tale. I I'licrixh nnly ( lip tiMMiinry of a I'T Inil In re in iml imp of r grim r V jiPriPllcp. It «■»< j iii*I wftrr (11)27. I ln» Old Whr whs bidding us a wild I h ri»w fl!. I hrrp wore jjrPßt, »nfiv.'«!ormn in runny purls of the country, and

By--E. G. Malindine

there hud been a spate of picture* of England under a white mantle. And «n Christina* card scenes were not likely to sell. Then, on the lust, day of the year, came news that trains had been "Jost" and railway lines blocked. The agency which employed me learnt privately that a snow plough was to be u«ed to clear a line near Salisbury. And ao off I went on an exclusive story, and for three hours or so I visualised the Hwie* setting of this, my first scoop—for I was a very junior Press photographer. The nearer I got the better tha story seemed. At Rulford a railway official told me all the details. Near Ailington, not far distant, the track ran through a cutting, and in place* there were drifts ir> feet deep. The tops of nignals stuck through ft carpet of snow in grotesque fashion, and to me it seemed a miracle that railway worker* had kept the lines clear. Down at Salisbury I heard that four railway engines were being oo.ipled together to drive a plough along the snow-bound line. There were lot* of official* and workers to watch, but still I was the only cameraman. Soon we were disciisoing what might happen. "Was there any chance," I iMked, "of the plough becoming stuck in the unow !" "What, with four engines I" laughed nn official. How should T. a novloe, know differfiitly. And so I strolled away to And my position.

"Xot there," warned an official, as I slop|p('d at what seemed the best spot. I lie snow and ice will be thrown that way and you miiht get hurt." I picked another spot. He approved and left me. The waiting seemed endless. I paced up and down, stamped mj feet, fiddled with the camera, and changed inv mind about how near I should lot the plough get before I shot. -At last it approached. The official was right about those four engines.

The plough seemed invincible, and snow nnd ice shot up from the track with a mighty roar. Fifty yards, forty, thirty, twenty . .* . I took my picture and turned away. Perhaps it was instinct, for as I turned I got a terrible thump in the hack. I fell forward and I felt blows raining on me. Suddenly it became dark — and strangely quiet. I tried to move, but couldn't. And that crushing weight. Thoughts went racing through m v mind. Was this the end —all for a picture ? They told nie afterwards that they found m y bowler hat and knew I must be somewhere beneatii it.

With a bowler hat to guide them they soon dug me out, and while ] dried my clothes by the fire of the last loco they started to dig for the plough and the first two engines. I think the snow won that battle, for by then both lines were blocked. After a nightmare journey back, which included a three-mile trek, sometimes knee-deep in snow, and a lift in a car which three times nearly skidded into a river, I reached London—and the evening papers. They were full of snow pictures taken on that sam« railway line, near Salisbury, by a rival agency the day before. True, they were not of the snow plough, but at any rate the office had lost interest in my job, and in me for that matter. That is, all except the chief. He had left an important assignment for me. He wanted pictures taken of campers in Regent's Park at midnight— in the snow! ♦ * * * CROWN OF THORNS. THE True Crown of Thorns," 1 one of the three great relics in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, will be taken from Paris for the first time in 700 years in July in connection with ceremonies commemorating its arrival in France from the Holy Land. The relic was the gift of Jean de Brienne, King of Jerusalem, to Louis JX., who received it in 12:5!) at Yilleneuve. The ceremonies will be heid there this summer under the direction of the Archbishop of Sens and Cardinal A erdier, Archbishop of Paris.