BURNHAM RETIRES

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 7

BURNHAM RETIRES

PILLAR OF THE PRESS JOURNALISTS' LUNCHEON NOTABLE TRIBUTES (From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 27th April. Lord Burnham, who recently relinquished the proprietorship of the "Daily Telegraph," was entertained at a luncheon at which the Prime Minister was the chief .'speaker. The organisers of the luncheon were the- Institute of Journalists, but practically every side of/Fleet Street life was represented. 'As the chairman (Mr. E. D. Blumenf eld) observed, the tickets had . boon more sought after than the places in tho Eoya'l Enclosure at Ascot. The chairman remarked that every one!of tiio 500 pres'ont was a journalist, or connected with journalism, with one exception, and he was the Prime Minister~(laughter)—but they still had hopes of him. He called on. Mr. Baldwin to "orate on journalism, Lord Burnham, and on journalists in particular." (Cheers.) Reviewing some incidents of Lord Burnham's career, the Prime Minister said: "I remember his name, long before he-knew me, as that of the young-, est member of the House of Commons. That in itself I regard as a great distinction.. And I remember, among the ■various'seats which he honoured by holding, that he sat for Mile End three times, and accumulated in the course of throe elections a majority inside 200. (Laughter.) In these days of the vast modern electorate it fills one with a certain longing not. only for the figures of the'elections of the old days, but for many good old customs and practices that have now. passed into oblivion. (Laughter.) THE ; "FLAPPERS; VOTE. 1' "Fortified by that experience, ho was a member ,of the L.C.C., a body on which he rendered distinguished service, for many years. The Royal Commissions and other Commissions of which he has been chairman are innumerable, -but I do not think that at a gathering -of this kind we ought to fail to -remind-him of -the fact that he was a member of the Speaker's Conference which initiated'the 'Flappers' Vote'—(laughter)—the whole blame for which, at this moment, rests on my shoulders.' Lord Burnham, with that generosity and candour which we should expect from him, advises me that he moved the resolution which included ■women for the first time in that Bill. 3le was "also a member of the Bryce Committee on the Reformation of the House of Lords. His work there has not yet been.consummated. (Laughter.) "Then look at the teachers. Every budding teacher in his cradle learns to h'sp the name of Burnham, a difficult word to lisp; quite as difficult as many of those words are to hiss which populat novelists-describe to us. Empire settlement," top,-has received his attention; and where the Press is concerned he lias been president of the Newspaper Press Fund, of the Institute of Journalists, and of the Nowsvcndors' Bene-volent-Association, and chairman of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association since.its inception until the other day. "I think we must all feel great pleasure, in having watched ■ his career, to see how he has-followed in'- the steps of his father'and^has been a.'shining example of tho hereditary principle in the newspaper world. It has always been a great regret of mine that the hereditary principle in business in our coffiitry has so often been confined to banks in the old days, and to some of the great ■■ SERVICE TO, THE PUBLIC. "It is very seldbnrthat/you find a succession., of able '■ men, generationafter ; generation/ who are capable of conducting big industrial concerns. .Tiio same must be true of newspapers, and I am quite sure that when Lord Burnham, for reasons of his own, felt that the time had come when he must sever-'his connection with the 'Daily TolgeraphV 'ho must have felt a great pang of' -regret ,at bringing to an end what was a genuine, capable, and effective hereditary management of a great organ of public opinion. "Then we turn aside for a moment, and we find that a few years ago ho was elected unanimously president of the First International Labour Confer-ence-held at Geneva, a very great tribute to an Englishman paid to him by the representatives of ' many foreign countries. As though these things which I have'narrated were not sufficient to employ the time of any man,'he has given time through the years to work in. connection . with the Territorial Force.' He has served for many years, arid done very good .work. He has acted as colonel of his,local Yeomanry for a term of years, and did great work in training during the war. "I think there are few men in this country who can look back on a greater variety of active and beneficent services for the benefit of so many different kind£ of his fellow countrymen and women than Lord Burnham. (Cheers.) And,' incidentally, I may remark that many rowards have come to him and many are his decorations, both from Home and abroad. It is always a great pleasure fo one occupying *my position when one sees a man wearing decorations which have been'so well earned on their merits as every one worn-by Lord Burnham. (Cheers.) "HE SERVED WITH GLORY." • Lord Riddell supported - the toast astho .president of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association, a body, lie said; which regarded Lord Burnham's -retirement with unmitigated sorrow and regret. For 22 years Lord Burnham was the chairman of the association, which was born in his room", and the fact that it had been so successful was due almost entirely to its chairman's urbanity, tact, and sense of fair p] ay (Cheers.) He was. going to present a clock to Lord Burnham as a slight token of the esteem in which he was held by bis colleagues, and the reason for their selection of a clock was because they wanted to give him a living thingsomething that.would remind him each Moment, each mniute, each hour of tlieir love and affection. ,Tlie clock was made in 1760, and the ease by Chippendale. Curiously enough, the clock was made .by a very- celebrated clock-maker who carried on business opposite the office of the "Daily Telegraph." Turning to Lord Burnham, Lord Rid-, doll said: "I. can assure you this clock carries with it many happy memories and many kind thoughts. I cannot but think of the many days I have spent seated at your side, dealing, during war and peace times, often with most troublesome and, difficult matters. I cannot forget tho tolerance you have always displayed. I cannot forget the benign fashion in which you have prevented" disputes in the association; nor can I forget your skill in the conduct of public business. You will perhaps • permit me to read the inscription on the clock, the last line of which I think luippily summarises Lord Burnham's services to the association." The inscription ran: Presented to ■ the Eight Hon. Viscount Burnham, G.C.M.G., G.H., President of tiio Newspaper Proprietors' Association from .1906 to 3928, as a token of affection and esteem from his Fellow Members. ' 'lie

serv'd with glory and admire). success." i ■ . The Earl of Birkenhead, proposing the toast of "The Institute of Journalists," said: "You will perhaps allow me in the first place to make it plain that I, of all others, have a special reason to be grateful to Lord Burnham. He is not, indeed, an old man. I cannot conceive him as an old man.' But ho has, nevertheless, reached an age when he might well have chosen to consider his own comfort and ease when I asked him to become a member of a most anxious and responsible coms niission, than which none more anxious and none more responsible has ever left, the shores of this country. Lord Burnham never hesitated. Within 24 hours of-this new opportunity of public service being presented to him, he indicated his readiness to give up two years of his working life to this great and necessary Imperial service. (Cheers.) This decision came as no surprise to those who had followed his public career. • "I made his acquaintance, and I believe ho would allow mo to add, I made his friendship twenty-two years ago, when we were members of the House of Commons together in a difficult and anxious period. Since-' then I never had one unfriendly word from him. I never remember —even in a life which I am the first to recognise has been much exposed to criticism—l never remember that one unfriendly word of me has been said in that great organ which he. controlled so long. This may diminish your opinion of tho perspicuous .-judgment of that organ —(laughter)— but I at least cannot be expected to associate myself with that disparaging reflection. I can put the claim higher. I cannot remember in those twenty-two years of friendship over hearing Harry Burnham say an unkindly or uncharitable word about any ,man or any woman. (Cheers.) A RULING PASSION. In the course of his reply, Lord Burnham said: f.'Tho, praise that I have received, however disproportionate to anything but the good-will of my friends, is in itself an introduction to posterity, even better than the obituary notice from the pen of,my dear old friend T.P.—(laughter)—which I am sure is duly filed—(laughter)—in the graveyard of that office in Fleet street, which I left the last day of last year. .Perhaps it is even better than the "Mumblings from Peterborough Court," in which I may indulge in my anecdotage. Especially did I value what was said of me by the Prime Minister, who has never pretended to believe that the newspaper Press is verbally inspired from abova and even from below1— (laughter)—but always estimates that it is just about on the parity of national character as it should and must be. "My parting from Fleet street has been painfully drawn out, and some of youl'may say that'l have been-an unconscionable long time getting out of journalism. At any rate, it has enabled me to read a good many criticisms of my worlting life. They have been uniformly kind' as from follow-farers in the sam« way, and none was kinder than that written by the late Mr. Raymond Thompson, who some years ago,, with perfect truth, in writing.with sarcastic humour of me in his 'Minor Celebrities,' set it down that the ruling passion of my life was for small advertisements. ' (Laughter.) Ho probed by iiistinct the sordid nature and the sordid secret of my career. WILLIAM CLISSOLD JUDGMENT. "The considered judgment, however, upon which' I rely and witli which I entirely agree, was passed upon me by Mr. H. G-. Wells in 'The World of William Clissold.' William Clissoid said of me, without perhaps any foundation, that 1 had 'a greater sense of public obligation than the others,' meaiiing the' other newspaper proprietors;b'ut that: -''I' had no inner light, no drive, and no desire.' He added that my 'idea of a newspaper' was 'a pillar instead of a power.' , William Clissold was absolutely right. I feel the criticism is, just, and even touches finality as far as lam concerned. But in spite of it I am glad to think that my family has upheld tho pillars of Fleet street, and all that Fleet street stands' for, for three generations of pressmen. (Cheers.) It is true I have broken the entail, but I hope that I have handed over the newspaper which my father and grandfather made what it- was with its efficiency undiminished and its reputation unsoiled. (Cheers.) "I was proud, and I hope I was legir timately proud, of the news service of the 'Daily :Telegraph.' Journalism is a wide term. You will recollect that Matthew Arnold once said that journalism was the semblance without the reality of always hitting the right nail on the head. But whatever is the authoritative decision, I hope this gathering establishes my right to claim .that I liave been a journalist for the best part of1 my sixty-five years. It is as a journalist, and nothing else, that I have pla3red my part in making such contributions as I had it in me to do to the life- of my own time. - THE FOURTH ESTATE. "As we all know, the newspaper Press has been called for many years the 'Fourth Estate of the Realm.' It was' said that Macaulay first used the pjirase, but there is no record of it in his works. Mr. Augustine Birrell remarked that to call it the 'Fourth Estate' was the justest term ho know of. -.May I say that in my time I have seen the newspaper Press develop into being the.residuary estate of the whole realm, to which have fallenall tho powers that have not been specifically allotted To-day, perhaps for the last time, I speak on behalf of the residuary estats, and I am glad to do it, with some regrets, perhaps, that it. is the last time, but, so.far as"l know, the smallest rancour or disappointment. It is an occasion I, can never forget, and the remembrance of it will be with me all my days. (Cheers.)" . .-'..' All the guests received a miniature reproduction of .the first issue of the "Daily Telegraph and Courier," which was printed on Friday, 29tli June, 1855. It consisted of four pages—four eoluwns of advertisements, two columns of official announcements, a .page of \ commercial news, and the remainder leading articles and news paragraphs.