JOURNALIST'S DEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21906, 15 September 1934, Page 14

JOURNALIST'S DEATH

Ml!. ROBERT A. LOUGHNAN LONG AND VARIED CAREER LINK WITH EARLY DAYS [BV TKLBGR.W'H —OWN corkkspondknt] WKM.IX'.TOX. l-'ritlny The doath occurred to-day of Mr. Hohert Andrew Loughnan, aged !M, pioneer pastoralist, loader in local industry, veteran anions journalists, legislator of experience and biographer of an important public man. Mr. lioughnan had filled more nuinerons and picturesque positions than has fallen to the lot of most New Zealanders. He died the oldest pressman in the Dominion, having been engaged in the profession for nearly 60 years, and from his genial disposition was exceedingly popular with all his contemporary journalists. He was the oldest surviving member of the Parliamentary press gallery, his service there dating from the early 'eighties. In the course of his career he edited some of the most influential journals in New Zealand. Mr. Loughnan was born in India, his father being a Judge of the Indian Courts, and received his education in France, at Stonyhurst College, England, and at the Catholic University of Dublin. He emigrated to Australia with his father and brothers when just ouL of his teens and their ship was wrecked on Flinders Island, Bass Strait. or several years he was occupied in pastoral pursuits on the family run in tho Murrumbidgee district, New South Wales. Ventures in Industry At the end of 18C5 Mr. Loughnan came to Otago as the representative of a syndicate on whose behalf he purchased the big Mount Pisa run, near Cromwell. Of this property he became manager with a small interest in its ownership. Next he founded a meat canning industry carried on at tho Fairfield meat preserving works. This was long before tho advent of the refrigerating process had given a value to New Zealand meat, and the enterprise was not a success.

Mr. Loughnan's next venture was in the flax industry, which he carried on in tho Cust district, Canterbury, for a time.

An old friend, Mr. Vincent Fyke, then editor of the Dunedin Guardian, encouraged Mr. Loughnan to become a contributor to the paper on subjects of which he had had experience and his wide general knowledge stood him in good stead. At the same time he wrote for the Otago Daily Times, for which he became musical critic. About this time the editorship of the Lyttelton Times became vacant and the principal proprietor, the Hon. William Reeves, offered the post to Mr. Loughnan, who held it from January, 1875, until 1889. About that time Archbishop Redwood established a weekly paper in Wellington, the Catholic Times, and appointed Mr. Loughnan editor. When Captain Baldwin purchased the New Zealand Times, Wellington, in 1890, Mr. Loughnan became its editor and filled the position until December, 1896. Work in Australia His next move was to Australia, where he arrived in time to be present at the conference which led to the establishment of the Commonwealth and to write brilliant descriptions of it for leading metroixditan papers. For some years he was on the editorial staff of the Sydney Morning Herald, and also wrote for other journals. His last journalistic work was a period as associate editor with the late Hon. W. J. Geddis, of the New Zealand Times. In this period during the Great War he wrote most illuminating notes upon the progress of operations. Long before this Mr. Loughnan had won fame for scintillating sketches ot' proceedings of Parliament. These he resumed in the session of 1914 at the same time as he was writing editorial articles and two or three columns a dav of war notes. From 1907 to 1914 Mr. Loughnan was a member of the Legislative Council. There he earned celebrity for his genial and often lightsome criticisms of legislation. Further literary work that stands to his credit consists of the "New Zealand Handbook," 1901; "The Royal Tour" (that of the present Sing and Queen in New Zealand), 1901; "The Settlers' Handbook," 1902; "New Zealand As It Is," 1905; and "Biography of Sir Joseph Ward," 1928.