Death of Mr J. M. Cook.

Grey River Argus, Volume LVII, Issue 10273, 2 May 1899, Page 4

Death of Mr J. M. Cook.

The Times in its obituary notice of deceased gives the following particulars of the maa and the firm :— Although. Mr John Mason Cook was not the originator of the great business which bears his name, he was for many years so closely associated in it with his late father, and his part in the development of it was so considerable, that he may fairly be regarded as its second founder. It was in 1864 that he joined his father in the business of tourist agents, then being transferred from small premises in Leicester to London. Up to this date the business had been too small to demand his whole time, and he had accordingly served as a clerk in the offices of fcbe Midland Railway Com-, pany. Prospects changed, however, very rapidly, and by the time of the opening of the Paris Exhibition of 1867 the business had become very large. The next important stage was the invention of the hotel coupon system ; the next, the development of the Harwich route to tho Continent — . in which all the difficult negotiations with the Belgian and German railway officials were brought to a successful issue by Mr J M Cook, after a long struggle ; and next, the opening up of the East to the British tourist. In 1870 the Khedive appointed Mr J M Cook the agent of the Government passenger traffic on the Nile, and from fchat moment the firm took its place as one of the great facts of modern life. It had already won admiration and blame from many quarters \ Charles Dickens had long before allowed it to be praised in his magazine, while Charles Lever had denounced the parties of "elderly, dreary, sad-looking men" driven in* flocks through the cities of Italy by Cook's "personal conductor." But if the name of Cook was not greatly honoured by its association with these parties, ib must in. fairness be said that they and their tours formed but a small pa it of the business which came into existence under Mr J M Cbokis management. His real work consisted in breaking down the obstructiveness of foreign railway managers, and even Governments, and in making journeys all ever the world possible and easy to any one who might choose to buy a bundle of coupons at Ludgate-circus. Mr Cook's relations with the Government of the Khedive were bub the first of many semi-political, or wholly political, engagements of the firm. They wer« consulted by Lord Beaconsfield with regard to. the developement of Cyprus, and* in 1880; Lord Hardington, then Secretary of State, wrote strongly in favour of. Messrs Cook's plan for organizing travel in India. But the crowning instance of Government confidence came at the time of the Nile ■ campagn of 1884-85 when, for the first j time in British history, a private firm ' arranged to transport an army on the march. Messrs Cook contracted to convey to the Second Cataract the whole of the men and material constituting the expedition. What they

achieved was the conveyance of 11,000 English, and 7,000 Epyptian troops, 130,000 tons of stores and war materials, 800 whale boats, and over 60,000 tons of coal. To accomplish this they had 28 large steamers, running between the Tyne and Alexandria 6,000 trucks in use between Alexandria and Assiut, and 27 Nile steamers running day and night. If Mr Cook was not again called upon to undertake any enterprise so vast aa this, his services continued to be asked for when any great journey was contemplated in the countries which he, so to speak, had made his own. The last and moat stricking instance of this was the German Emperor's visit to Palestine, when Messrs Cook was entrusted with the whole of the arrangements. These were admirably carried out, but as we had said, the exertion was too great for Mr Cook. He was struck down by illness, and came home only to die.