VETERAN JOURNALIST

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1932, Page 7

VETERAN JOURNALIST

NINETY-FIRST BIRTHDAY. DOYEN OF DOMINION PRESS. The doyen of Wellington journalists, Mr. R. A. Loughnan, celebrated his ninety-first birthday yesterday. The son of a judge of the Indian Law Courts, Mr. Loughnan was sent Home at the age of eight to be educated. He attended Stonyhurst, the famous Roman Catholic College in Lancashire, in the great library of which he first acquired his taste for literature, which in later life he put to such good use. It was as a contributor to the Otago Daily Times that Mr. Loughnan entered journalism, in the ranks of which he has always held a distinguished position. When writing for that paper his work attracted the attention of Christchurch newspaper proprietors, with the result that in 1875 he was offered, and accepted, the editorship of the Lyttelton Times, and held the position for about 14 years. Then he went to Wellington, as editor of the Catholic Times, a weekly paper which ran for several years. Next, he served under Captain Baldwin’s ownership of the New Zealand Times, and then followed a period of editorial writing for the Sydney Morning Herald. Finally, he served the New Zealand Times in war-time, as a leaderwriter and producer of notes upon the campaigns. His knowledge of places and people was most illuminating, and his cheerful optimism as to the ultimate outcome of the great conflict was reassuring to many. Mr. Loughnan came out to the colonies as a young man, having the exciting experience of being wrecked on the coast of Tasmania in a sailing vessel on the way. He was engaged in pastoral work in New South Wales until he came to New Zealand in 1865 as part-owner of the Mount Pisa station, Otago Central. Management of the Green Island meat-preserving works filled up his time until he took to journalism. Mr. Loughnan was secretary to the Seddon Government’s Land Commission of 1905, and also wrote for the Government the official report of the visit of the present King and Queen to New Zealand early in the century. He was appointed to tlio Legislative Council in 1907, and sat there for seven years. Mr. Loughnan is the last survivor of the Parliamentary Press Gallery of ISSS, and certainly the oldest pressman in the Dominion. Musical criticism was one of his strong points, and was in the first instance answerable for his first drifting into journalism, while he was also a capable baritone singer, and used his voice much in the service of the Catholic Church on important occasions. Three years ago Mr. Loughnan compiled a volume on the life and political career of the late Sir Joseph Ward, in which his knowledge of New Zealand politics for over half a century was demonstrated.