OBITUARY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19829, 19 June 1934, Page 5

OBITUARY.

MR W. H. TRIGGS. By Telegraph—Press Association CHRISTCHURCH, June 18. The death occurred at Wellington ! yesterday of Mr William Henry Triggs, who for 25 years, from 1895 till 1919, was editor of “The Press.” Mr Triggs was born at Chichester, England, in May, 1855, so that he died in his eightieth year of age. He was educated at private schools in England, where he entered the profession of journalism at the age of 17 years. After six years’ experience as a reporter on various papers in England, he came to New Zealand in 1878, and at once joined the staff of the “Evening Post," Wellington, subsequently becoming sub-editor of the paper. In 1885 he succeeded Mr Edward Wakefield as editor of the “Timaru Herald,” and the following year he joined the editorial staff of “The Press.” He visited England and Europe in 1894. He was the guest of the English Institute of Journalists at the annual conference held at Cambridge in that year, and he also attended as New Zealand representative the first International Press Congress at Antwerp. Returning to New Zealand in December, 1894, Mr Triggs was appointed Associate Editor of “The Press,” with a position which he held until November, 1919. His association with Mr J. S. Guthrie, and the following year Mr Triggs was appointed Editor, “The Press" covered a period of 34 years, and he retired in order to enjoy a little more leisure than was possible while he remained in active control of an important newspaper. In 1894 Mr Triggs was elected a member of the English Journalists’ Institute. and in 1901 was elected to a fellowship of the institute, being the first New Zealand journalist to be so honoured. He was president of the New Zealand Institute of Journalists in 1900-01. He visited England and America in 1904 and again in 1910, and in the latter year attended the conference of the English Institute of journalists, being appointed chairman of the Overseas Committee, and during the conference was also elected vicepresident of the institute. Mr Triggs visited England and Europe immediately after the Great War, and was present at the signing of the Peace Treaty at Versailles, in 1918 he was appointed to the Legislative Council, and he represented New Zealand at the Inter-Parliament-ary Conference at Berlin in 1929. Mr Triggs has lived since his retirement in the warm climate of North Auckland.