Obituary MR C. R. STRAUBEL

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28825, 20 February 1959, Page 3

Obituary MR C. R. STRAUBEL

The death occurred in Wellington on Wednesday of Mr Carl Rudolf Straubel, editor of publications of Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd.; Christchurch. He was in Wellington on a business trip. Mr Straubel, who was 52, had been with Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd., since 1948. He was a member of the literary staff of “The Press” from 1930 to 1943, when he was appointed public relations officer of the Economic Stabilisetion Commission. A year later be became controller of the economic information service and editor of “Consumer News,” positions he held until 1948.

He was one of the joint editors of the official centennial history of Canterbury, and a member of the Canterbury regional committee of the National Historic Places’ Trust. The following appreciation has been written by Professor N. C. Phillips:— “The sudden death of Mr Straubel, at the age of 52, will sadden his many friends and is a severe and all-too-early loss to the cultural life of Canterbury and New Zealand. Though he made his mark in other cities, Mr Straubel was especially well known in Christchurch, formerly as a member of the literary staff of ‘The Press’ and since 1948 as editor for Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd. “Mr Straubel’s interest in literature is the connecting theme that runs through the greater part of a varied career. It began to appear during his school days in Christchurch, where he was born and where he attended the Boys’ High School; and it was developed during his student days at Auckland University College. There in 1927 he was awarded a university senior scholarship in French, and by the time he graduated M.A. in 1929 he had not only edited the periodical ‘Kiwi’ but had written some of the poems that he later collected in a small volume entitled ‘Undersong’. “After a short period 1 as a teacher at the Palmerston North Boys’ High School, he returned to literary work in 1930, when he joined ‘The Press’. He served his

paper well as a reporter and subeditor and he contributed many special articles and features beyond the normal course of duty. In 1943 he; was appointed public relations officer to the Economic Stabilisation Commission in Wellington and in the next year Controller of the Economic Information Service and editor of ‘Consumer News’. In both capacities' he had close connexions with the newspaper press and broadcasting. He returned to Christchurch in 1948 to become editor for Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., and remained with the firm until his death. .

“As editor for a large publishing house, Mr Straubel occupied a strategic position from which to promote a cause dear to his heart—the alliance of good letters and fine printing. He was not the least of several editors responsible for the generally high standards of book production attained in New Zealand in recent years. In particular he did a noteworthy service to New Zealand letters and work of national importance by causing a number of almost unprocurable classics of New Zealand historical writing to be reprinted in volumes pleasant to handle and to read. He was a wise editor—a discriminating critic of manuscripts, who could recognise talent when he saw it and who had sympathy and encouragement for young writers and artists. Early Canterbury History "Though he was not trained as an historian in the university, Mr Straubel taught himself the craft by dint of his own scholarly habits of mind and his evef - - deepening interest ■ in the New Zealand past. He came to. establish himself' as an authority on early Canterbury history, and it was natutal that he should have been invited to assist in the official centennial history of the province. With Sir James Hight he shared the exacting task of editing a co-operative project, and his long section on preAssociation Canterbury in the first volume of the history is his best memorial as an historian. It is a distillation of years of research and study and reveals his characteristic virtues of scrupulous care, narrative power and ability to enter into detail without loss of perspective. Mr Straubel’s love of history found other outlets in his membership of the Canterbury Regional Committee of the National Historic Places Trust and of the Historical Association (Canterbury); and he was always ready to draw on his considerable reservoir of knowledge for the benefit of inquirers. He delighted in old maps and old books and nothing pleased him more than to remove one more obscurity from the records of his province. “Mr Straubel never lost the good journalist’s versatility and quickness with the pen Or typewriter, or his breadth of interests. His zest for life took in {arming, fishing, mountaineering, music and the arts; and whatever he did he was an enlivening presence. Because of his gusto, his conversational vivacity, his cheerfulness in bad times and an inborn kindliness that was never merely effusive, he made friends easily and kept all those he made. There will be widespread sympathy for his widow, who was formerly Miss Rewa Campbell, and for his son and daughter.**