A DOUBLE LIFE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19836, 27 June 1934, Page 14

A DOUBLE LIFE

FISHERMAN AND IRONMASTER. Mr Walter Blackburn is not what he seems, says a “Sunday Express” correspondent. His battered, peaked cap, blue jersey, boots, and ruddy complexion proclaim him a typical Devon fisherman. These same tokens lie. He is a Midlands ironmaster. There are few days, winter or summer, when Walter is not to be seen performing the shore tasks of a fisherman. The correspondent saw him mending nets and thought he was a fisherman. Other visitors -lave watched Mr Blackburn help launch the fishing boats and pull them in on their return. They have seen hirr. painting and performing a hundred and one humble tasks. They have not known that this same man directs from this little seaside town the operations of a large iron foundry in the midlands. They do not know that he employs 70 men at his foundry. Mr Blackburn described his double life when he was seen in a fisherman’s tavern enjoying a meal with his fishermen friends. “I established the Phoenix iron foundry,” he said, “at Walsall in 1907, and am still chairman of directors. I came here with my wife and children for a holiday eight years ago. I watched the fishermen and envied their lives. My own life seemed drab. “I contrasted the grime and sweat of my foundry with the sea breezes and blue skies under which these fisher folk live. They seemed really to live, And during that holiday I felt I had not really lived until then. I returned to Walsall, turned my iron works into a muted company, distributed shares among certain members of my staff to make them keen, and let them run the show themselves under my guidance. “I then moved my family to Teignmouth and settled down as a fisherman, giving my services free where they are wanted. I visit my foundary once a month for three days, just to keep an eye on it, and hurry back to the real life h^re.”