CAPTAIN J. H. HALL SAFE

Southland Times, Issue 25652, 20 April 1945, Page 4

CAPTAIN J. H. HALL SAFE

First War Correspondent

(Special) CHRISTCHURCH, April 19. The safe arrival in England of Captain J. H. Hall, first official war correspondent with the 2nd N.Z.E.F., who was captured in Greece, was reported in messages privately received in Christchurch yesterday. The reports were that Captain Hall was in illhealth, and that his return to New Zealand will not take place for some months. The camp in which he was a prisoner was over-run by Americans, and on his release Captain Hall made a long march back to safety. Captain Hall’s father, Mr Andrew Hall, of Edendale, Southland, was in Christchurch yesterday when the news was received. Captain Hall’s wife and two children live in Wellington.

Captain Hall is a well-known journalist. Now 47 years of age, he joined The Southland Times in 1916, and became chief reporter. He came to Christchurch in 1918 to join The Sun, which he represented in the Parliamentary Press Gallery until he resigned in 1921 to become a student at the University of Otago. He was a good athlete, representing Southland at Rugby and winning field events in Canterbury. He won the New Zealand University blue in athletics. Returning to Christchurch in 1924, he was cable sub-editor of The Press, and he was then appointed editor of The Hawera Star. In 1927 he was appointed editor of The Sun, Christchurch, and six years later resigned to become editor of The Dominion, Wellington, a position which he held until 1937. Joining the Government service, he was appointed commissioner of the New Zealand Pavilion at the Glasgow Exhibition, and he was a collaborator at the League of Nations. Before becoming Deputy-Director of Publicity in New Zealand at the outbreak of the war, Captain Hall was publicity officer for the Railways Department and editor of the Railways Magazine. . He left New Zealand with the 2nd Echelon as the first official war correspondent, staying in England for a time before the echelon was transferred to the Middle East,

Already a Master of Arts of the University of New Zealand, Captain Hall studied law while he was in the German prison camp. He passed the examination as a bachelor of laws, and had completed two sections of the examinations for the degree of master.