TRIBUTE TO STAFF

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20486, 21 February 1941, Page 4

TRIBUTE TO STAFF

LONDON NEWS SERVICE N.Z. PRESS ASSOCIATION RECORD CABLE WORDAGE (Per Press Association.) \ ' ■ ROTORUA, this day. In his address to the annual meeting of shareholders of the United Press Association, held in Rotorua to-day, the chairman of directors, Mr. E. A. Blundell, said: * . “I would like at the outset to pay a tribute to those who, in the face of intense bombing 'and the most difficult working conditions, have maintained an efficient news service from the heart of the Empire. To the members of the staff of the London office of the Australian Associated Press, with which we are associated in obtaining our overseas news, the highest praise is due for their courageous behaviour and devotion to duty. Some of them have lost their homes; all of them, men and women alike, share the hazards of London —hazards that I have no doubt would have to be experienced to be realised —yet they carry on with energy and enthusiasm.

“In the course of a letter to his directors, Mr. R’. Irvine Douglas, London manager and editor, 'said: ‘I have not heard one complaint—only expressions of gratification at the privilege of ibeing able to supply a news service in such a , vital crisis.’ Mr. Douglas, in a reference to a New Zealand member of his staff, Mr. Trevor Ross, his second in charge, said: ‘He works throughout the night, and thus except for his days off—by no means regular—his time is divided literally between working at night and sleeping in the daytime.’ Mr. Douglas added that without exception the staff had responded to the very heavy calls made upon them. This applied not only to the editorial staff, but also to the -messengers and typists.”

Mr. Blundell said that the volume of overseas news supplied to the subscribers to the association’s cable service during the year had amounted to 1,790,866 words, easily a record in the association’s history.