"WHITE WINGS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18943, 14 February 1925, Page 4 (Supplement)

"WHITE WINGS."

| SHIPPING ! N EARLY DAYS Complete transformations of methods i I two distinct walks of life are emphasise! jby iMr. Henry Brett's boo!; "'Whit ! Wings, or .Fifty Years of Sail in tin New Zealand Trade," just issued by tin | Brett I'ub'iisliinjr Company, j Mr. Brett is the oldest survivor of the j shipping reporters of iSO or 60 years ago. when sailing vessels | were the sole means iof transport across | the ocean. From his experience on the staffs of the Daily Southern Cross and the New Zealand Herald in the sixties Mr. Brett has drawn an extremely interesting record of the voyages—iri many instances .singularly fast, voyages —of the vessels which brought out the pioneer settlers of the Dominion, particularly those of the Auckland provincial district. In Mr. Brett's early journalistic days in Auckland, the shipping reporter was the principal nerve channel along which news from abroad flowed to the press. Cable communication and regular mail services were things yet unknown. Consequently, it was the business of the enterprising reporter to board a newly-arrived ship at the earliest possible moment, and endeavour to " corner" all European or Australian newspapers on board—if possible, to the exclusion of his rival scribes. Of his own and other pressmen's adventures and hairbreadth escapes while cruising Rangitoto Channel, awaiting incoming ships, Mr. Brett tells many thrilling stories. Also he seems to have re- ~ " corded the voyages of most vessels of consequence -which arrived in the ports of the Dominion between the years of 1850 and 1900. Outstanding incidents of their passages are narrated in an interesting way. Mr. Brett, has evidently been at great pains io procure reliable statistics as to every voyage of vessels of consequence. and his record should be a conclusive exhibit for the settlement of the oft-recurring disputations between earlv settlers as to the length of particular trips. His bock is freely illustrated with views ot noted vessels and portraits of weli-known skippers. A separate publication dealing with the vessels which brought the Alherlland settlers is foreshadowed.