OBITUARY

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11705, 18 December 1923, Page 8

OBITUARY

FRANK MORTON--WRITER. By Telegraph.—Pyess Assn —Copyright. SYDNEY, December 17. The death of Frank Morton, the I writer, is announced. j Frank Morton was the “free ianoe” journalist par excellence. Original in his outlook, as in his literary style, he wide with an extraordinary facility on a multitude of topics, drawing at will from a stock of miscellaneous knowledge which for its scope and depth was the admiration of his readers, and the despair of all but the most talented in his own profession. As a critic of literature and the theatre lie set his standard high, and though his judgment was hy no means infallible, and he had the prejudices of a radical temperament; his opinions were unequivocal and expressed with the fearlessness of his nature. The most compelling influence in all his writing was his intense hatred of humbug in all its forms, andhe was never tired of inveighing against it. Yet while he hit hard and often at the protagonists of tho conventions he deemed outworn and useless, the transparent honesty of his indignation was such that his blows seldom rankled, rnd some of hie steadfast friends were men and women of convictions fundamentally opposed to his own. Frank Morton was bom and educated in Staffordshire, but early in his life his family settled in Sydney, and he himself went to the East, where he worked on newspapers in Singapore, Calcutta and Hongkong, notably on the Calcutta “Englishman.” Later, in New Zealand, he became associated with Mr O. N. Baeyertz as co-editor of the “Triad” magazine, and a few years ago he removed to Sydney. He maintained an extensive connection with newspapers and periodicals in Australia and New Zealand, all the time writing a great deal in prose and verse for the “Triad,” in which bis most intimate and characteristic work He leaves a wife, two married sons, and two daughters. BARON "WILLOUGHBY DE BROKE. Reuter's TeliMVam. (Received December 17, 7.40 p.m.) LONDON. December 16. Baron Willoughby de Broke is dead. Born in 1869, he succeeded in 1902 to a title which .was created in tho year Columbus discovered America. He was one of tho best-known sportsmen in England, and had been master of the Warwickshire fox-hounds since 1900. He published “Hunting the Fox” in 19z0, and in 1921 “The Sport of O'ur Ancestors.” He was a lieutenantcolonel in the Warwickshire Yeomanry, and commanded a regiment throughout the war. His heir is the Hon. John Verney, a lieutenant in the 21st Lancers.