A man of three loves
A one-time Manawatu¯ Times editor left his mark on both sides of the Tasman before his sad death.
Sydney Daily Mail newspaper reporter Ernest Hoben had three loves in his life. One was rugby. Another was journalism. But above all, he had adored Eva Nelmes Hoben, his wife.
The Mail announced her death on Wednesday March 28, 1906.
Eva, 34, a nurse, died four days after the birth of her fifth baby. Their eldest child was 8.
Eva had never wanted fuss. The simple funeral service took place at 9am in Manly Cemetery, the morning after her death, but even at that short notice, crowds of wellwishers turned up.
Hundreds of letters and telegrams flooded in, including from members of the Fairfax newspaper family and Australasian editors and journalists.
The Mail’s obituary revealed that English-born Eva had emigrated to New Zealand, joined the staff of Wellington Hospital and ‘‘speedily won a wide reputation for her singular skill, absolute devotion, great personal beauty and charm of manner. She was idolised by the patients and loved
by all concerned with the institution... A singular feature of [the] deceased’s influence was that it was not merely curative physically, but many of her hospital patients literally began a new life in consequence of their respect and gratitude to her.’’
Several months after her funeral Hoben left Australia with his children and arrived in Palmerston North to become editor of its morning newspaper, the Manawatu¯ Daily Times.
Born in Auckland on February 3, 1864, Ernest Denis Hoben spent some of his youth in New South Wales and then in Tauranga, where, with dazzling stamina, he plunged into all forms of sport – football, boxing, walking, cricket and swimming.
By day he worked in a bank and in his spare time he contributed sports news to various papers. He always wrote as ‘‘ED Hoben’’. Soon, he left the bank to write parliamentary news for Wellington’s Evening Post. His success in ferreting out facts alarmed some politicians.
He was on the council of the New Zealand Journalists’ Institute, was music and drama critic for the
Post, and penned and published songs with his pianist brother Sydney.
As well, he was a regular New Zealand correspondent for Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald.
But Hoben’s biggest achievement was as a founder and general secretary of the autonomous New Zealand Rugby Football Union.
The 1897 Cyclopedia of New Zealand (Wellington provincial district) named the union as ‘‘the supreme body as far as football under rugby rules is concerned. It controls a membership of 50,000, and is therefore the largest and most powerful athletic governing body in the Colony.
‘‘Hoben, when he took the initial steps towards its foundation, was honorary secretary of the Hawke’s Bay Rugby Football Union... A New Zealand Referees’ Association with branches at various centres has been established. This has effected great improvements in the dignity and status of referees throughout the colony, under the direction of Mr Hoben, its general secretary. The union was instrumental in having passed through the Parliament of New Zealand an act which gives unique powers and status to the athletic bodies of the Colony.’’
Hoben was also a friend of the famous Ma¯ ori footballer Joe Warbrick, organiser and captain of the 1888-89 New Zealand Native football team.
At some point along this trail of success, Hoben met and married nurse Eva Nelmes, and eventually they and their family departed for Australia and the Daily Mail.
After Eva’s death, it was off to New Zealand for a new start on the Manawatu¯ Times.
Hoben was now 42, a senior journalist with 20 years of experience behind him.
One of his biggest stories on the Times was about two simultaneous events: the hastily finished North Island Main Trunk railway line and the ‘‘event of the century’’, the arrival of the touring Great White Fleet of American battleships to Auckland harbour. Just in time, hundreds of dignitaries and other passengers left on the first train along the Main Trunk route on August 8, 1908, to see the ships.
However, Hoben also added: ‘‘It was significant of the new consciousness of the Ma¯ ori people that they decided, in view of America’s history, to take no part, as a race, in the welcomes. They were not going to be ‘shown off’ to a race that might regard them – remembering their own home conceptions – as helots [slaves].’’
In 1909, perhaps remembering his late wife, Hoben devoted a long editorial to the just-deceased Mrs Annie Simpson Hislop, Wellington’s mayoress. ‘‘[It] serves to throw into strong light the sacrifice of the woman’s part in municipal and general public life... Mrs Hislop, throughout the four successive terms during which her husband was mayor, most unselfishly and devotedly helped forward every charitable and womanly cause with her whole heart and soul.’’
In September 1911, a comment in print by Rangitı¯kei Advocate proprietor-editor William Henry Smith prompted Hoben to sue him for libel. Smith, who had apparently implied Hoben was a ‘‘tyro’’ and an ignorant journalistic beginner, was sued for £501 in damages.
After some linguistic courtroom fireworks, Hoben was awarded a lesser sum of £275 damages and costs.
In 1918, now aged 54, he shipped out again to Australia, to join the Melbourne Herald as a sub-editor. But a diabetes-related illness laid him low before he set foot on shore, and he was taken to hospital.
He died there on February 3 – his birthday.
Footnote:
Hoben’s original grave was modest. But thanks to his greatgrandchildren, who found it in 2001, and the New Zealand Rugby Union, which contributed $10,000 for refurbishment, the grave, in Burwood Cemetery, Victoria, Australia, is now a fitting memorial to him.
Hoben’s biggest achievement was as a founder and general secretary of the autonomous New Zealand Rugby Football Union.