A GREAT JOURNALIST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

A GREAT JOURNALIST

SCOTT OF MANCHESTER j The late Charles Presjtwich Scott, proprietor and editor of the Manchester Guardian, who died on New Year's Day, 1932, at the -age of 85, was one of the greatest journalists of all time. In 1872 at the age of 25 he was appointed editor of the Manchester Guardian, a position which he filled for 57 years. In that time the paper became a moral force; it established itself as the leading organ of the new spirit and the new ideas; it became the mouthpiece of Liberalism for the whole world. The success was due to Scott's personal qualities and to his ability to select the right men for his staff. He ,once described a newspaper as a public-utility service, a service which may be performed well or ill, but which, on the whole, is essential to the interests of the public. H 6 felt toward the Manchester Guardian as a great civii servant feels toward the department which he guides and administers. The paper was not a commercial enterprise, nor a party organ, but a great public institution. At the request of his surviving son and daughter Scott's biography has been written by Mr. J. L. Hammond, the noted writer on social history, who was a friend of Scott. The book is necessarily to some extent the story of the Manchester Guardian. Mr. Hammond has been attracted in particular by the part which Scott and his paper played in national and international affairs. He deals at length with the Home Rule controversy, early labour disputes, the South African War, women's suffrage, British foreign policy, the Agadir incident, the "War, the Peace, and the post-war stages of the Irish question. The author has had access to a large number of letters which passed between Scott and men prominent in public life, and also to the summaries of Scott's political conversations from 1911 until his retirement in 1929. These records were confidential and have been accepted by the British Museum for the use of students after a given date. After consulting the chief persons concerned the author has included several of these documents in his book.

Mr. Hammond indulges himself at times by writing passages, and in one case a whole chapter, as if he were writing a history text book. His interpretation of events would have been approved by Scott but, excellent as these passages undoubtedly are, the reader is likely to feel that a little less background and a little more Scott would not have been amiss. The present editor of the Manchester Guardian, Mr. W. P. Crozier, contributes an interesting chapter on " ' C.P.S. ' in the' Office." His closing words form a fitting epitaph for his former chief. "A greater journalist and a greater man than his staff had known or will know." "C. P. Scott of the Manchester Guardian," by J. L. Hammond. (Bell.)