[Editor: These items are extracts from the “All Sorts of People” section published in The Free Lance (Wellington, NZ), 3 February 1906. Reference is made to John Barr and other New Zealand journalists who came to Australia to work.]
All Sorts of People
John Barr, of the “New Zealand Times” staff, journalist, poet, and general good fellow, is the last daily scribbler to be lassooed by the Sydney “Daily Telegraph,” which newspaper has made Wellington its recruiting ground for some years past. Within the past eighteen months it has secured three senior reporters from Wellington dailies — Louis Woolcott (“Post”), and Paddy Nolan and Jack Barr (“Times”) — and Wellington pressmen are beginning to ask one another, “Who’ll be the next?” as it is said there are at present a couple of vacancies on the staff of the great Sydney paper.
There is quite a contingent of New Zealanders connected with the Sydney press, who have been tempted from island to continent by the higher salaries and better conditions enjoyed by journalists in Australia, particularly in Sydney. In addition to those mentioned, Charles Marter, chief sub-editor of the “Daily Telegraph,” was just a reporter on the local “Times,” and Harry Taperell, leader writer of the “Telegraph” was also on the “New Zealand Times.” On one occasion he came back to the editorship of that paper, but the strain of having to write other people’s views got on his nerves, and he returned to Sydney and freedom in a few weeks.
In the case of “Jack” Barr, the ‘‘Telegraph” has secured the best writer of “specials” in this colony. Who in Wellington does not remember the powerful picture of the Salivation Army’s doss-house, which “Jack” wrote up from a self-sought experience gained by disguising himself as a “dead-beat” and dossing in with the rest of the shady ’uns. He did several police court sketches inimitably; went to Lyttelton in the stoke-hold of a coolie-manned liner, and told about it in graphic phrases; stopped with the fishermen at Makara beach, and wrote of the peril and loneliness of their grey lives.
In verse, Mr. Barr is strong and virile, but just a little inclined to be morbid, and mostly anything he wrote the “Bulletin” accepted, and on one occasion he wrote a yarn called “The Man who was Raffled,” for the “Evening Post,” and months afterwards came a handful of dollars and a request to be allowed to publish the story, from the “Boston Cosmopolitan,” who wanted more from the same pen. So that the “Telegraph” has secured a gifted writer, from whom Wellington pressmen part with a choke in the throat and misty eyes. “Jack” leaves for Sydney on Saturday week, and Mrs. Barr and the Barrlet travel west a few weeks later.
Rushing round for a sample of “Jack’s” stuff, we struck ‘Idyllic Napier,” a rhapsody forced out of him by that picturesque spot: “You who grub in the big city for money … will read this as a man would read a railway time-table. You will not be thrilled. You will not shout ‘This is no place for me!’ You will not rush home and pack up,” etc. But you are going to, “Jack,” just because you have got to “scratch in the mire for pelf.” Even a Bohemian grubs. The “Post” loses a brilliant man because the “Times” offers him a few shillings a week extra, and the ‘Daily Telegraph’ gets a man the country cannot spare because it offers a living wage. Ah, well, as “Jack” says, “When I die — when I escape from the thresh and clamour of things — take me to the Land of the Honey of the Sun, where I may sleep softly beneath a thousand fragrances.” That’s the worst of these poets, “When I die.” Why not “While I live” — in Sydney?
Source:
The Free Lance (Wellington, NZ), 3 February 1906, p. 3, column 3
Editor’s notes:
Bohemian = someone who is socially unconventional in appearance and/or behaviour, who lives in an informal manner, especially someone who is involved in the arts (authors, musicians, painters, poets, etc.); an artistic type who does not conform to society’s norms; can also refer to a citizen or resident of Bohemia; (archaic) a Gypsy or Romani; of or relating to a Bohemian, a group or class of Bohemians, or the Bohemian lifestyle
Bulletin = The Bulletin newspaper/magazine (published in Sydney, NSW), which was known colloquially as “The Bully” (also known as “The Bushman’s Bible”)
coolie = a low-cost Asian worker, unskilled labourer, or indentured labourer, especially one of Chinese or Indian ethnicity (can be spelt with or without a capital letter: Coolie, coolie, although usually the latter; plural: Coolies, coolies); of or relating to coolie labour
dailies = daily newspapers
dead-beat = (also spelt “deadbeat”) someone who is homeless and unemployed (usually referring to a man), a hobo or tramp; can also refer to: someone who is idle or lazy; a scrounger; a sponger; (as “dead-beat” or “deadbeat”) someone who avoids or evades debts or responsibilities (e.g. a “deadbeat dad”, a father does not pay for the maintenance or upkeep of his children); (as “dead-beat” or “dead beat”) exhausted, lacking energy, very tired
doss = to lie down or sleep; especially to “doss down” in a location that is close at hand, convenient, or readily available (e.g. to doss on a couch, under a bridge, or at someone else’s place)
doss-house = (also spelt “dosshouse”; also known as a “flophouse”) a cheap lodging house, hotel, or run-down rooming house (especially one located in a city, catering to homeless people or derelicts who have very little money); an establishment which provides a place for homeless people to spend the night (usually an establishment run by, or funded by, a charity or a government organisation)
grub = hard work, or menial and tedious work, especially low-paid manual labour; can also refer to: to dig around in the ground (especially when looking for something that is hard to find or hard to dig out); someone who is dirty; someone of low moral worth (someone regarded as despicable, or as a low-life); food (especially a cheap or simple meal)
Jack = a nickname for someone with the name “John” or “Jacob”; also used as a stand-alone name (without being derived from someone’s formal name)
lassooed = captured, caught, grabbed, obtained, snagged, snared, taken; to capture, catch, or tie with a lassoo (or as if using a lassoo, i.e. in the style of using a lassoo)
liner = (also known as an “ocean liner”) a passenger ship, especially a large passenger ship which is part of a line (a shipping company); a large passenger ship which operates on a regular route
pelf = wealth or riches, especially when dishonestly or immorally acquired; from the Old French term “pelfre” for booty (related to “pilfer”)
pressmen = newspaper men; men who work in the print media (i.e. who are employed to write for, or create, newspapers, magazines, and newsletters); male journalists
sketch = a brief descriptive article, without a lot of detail (a short general account regarding or depicting an event, person, or situation, especially one written in an informal style); can also refer to: a short humorous performance, usually consisting of one scene (performed on its own, or as part of a longer play or performance); a skit, part of a comedy show; a simple, rough, or basic drawing, without a lot of detail; to draw a picture
stoke-hold = (also spelt “stokehold”; also known as a “fire room” or “fireroom”) the hold (compartment, room) in which the boilers of a ship are located
stop = stay
’un = (vernacular) one (plural: ’uns) (may be spelt with or without an apostrophe)
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