For many years I have been requested by members of the Press and others to publish some of the experiences of the Auckland shipping reporters fifty years or more ago, when all intercolonial and foreign news, and all news south of Auckland, was obtained by "the man in the boat." In those days every vessel from a full-rigged ship down to a coasting cutter had to be boarded by the reporter.

We had to go out and meet everything that came in—fair weather and foul. Having been a keen oarsman in my home town of St. Leonards-on-Sea, the boat work was interesting to me, but nowadays, when I look out on Rangitoto Channel, lashed by a nor'-easter, I often wonder at the reckless way one used to run risks in stormy weather, with hardly a thought of the danger. But I was a young man then, strong and keenly interested in my work, and if the truth were known I rather suspect that the spice of adventure about the work made it all the more fascinating.