Last of the old-time editors

West Coasters adopted forthright editor Kit Carson as one of their own.

If Kit Carson had not been a colourful character, his name would have ensured recognition anyway. His real name was Christopher but he was endowed with Kit after American Wild West frontiersman Kit Carson, mythologised in movies and comics.

His assumed name caused an incident in New Zealand’s Parliament Buildings when newcomer Carson met a fellow press secretary for the first time. ‘‘Hi, I’m Buck Rogers,’’ said one. ‘‘And I’m Kit Carson,’’ the newcomer replied.

Rogers took offence at this riposte, thinking Carson was taking the mickey out of him; a fictional Buck Rogers was also popularised in movies and comics.

Carson, described by The Press’ sports editor and former colleague Tony Smith as probably the last of the old-fashioned small-town newspaper editors, died recently of cancer at his home near Rangiora. He was 65.

He served in Parliament as press secretary to railways minister Tom McGuigan, then joined the Tourist and Publicity Department to supervise overseas media representatives on a Royal Tour of New Zealand by the Queen. Carson accompanied Her Majesty throughout the tour. He and wife Sally were presented to the Queen, who gave him a set of cufflinks in appreciation of his services.

Carson grew up in Nelson. Soon after leaving Nelson College, he set off to travel the world. His mother was American so he carried dual American and New Zealand passports. This might have helped him enter the US but it nearly stopped him leaving. Young men were being drafted for service in the Vietnam War and Carson received notification that he must report for action. This was perhaps the only time the forthright Carson shrank from a fight or an argument. As Sally, says: ‘‘He did a runner’’.

He lacked the money to fly home but reached the Canadian border, where his New Zealand passport got him over the line. He then cabled his father for money and received the price of a fare to New Zealand.

The American authorities kept on his tail for months.

‘‘They followed him up. They chased him but eventually they let go,’’ Sally says.

The couple married and shifted to Dunedin where Carson launched his journalism career at the Otago Daily Times. He then moved to Wellington where he worked consecutively on The Dominion and The NZ Truth –a hard-hitting weekly paper. From there he joined the parliamentary press staff. Sally was a teacher and, as they both sought a change from the capital city, she took a position teaching correspondence lessons on D’Urville Island. They shifted there and Carson took up farm work and fishing. It was a wonderful year, Sally says. After it ‘‘he felt ready to go back into journalism’’. They moved to Greymouth in 1983 and Carson started as a general reporter on the Greymouth Star.

Friend and colleague Doug Sail says the community adopted Carson as one of its own. He attributes this to Carson’s willingness always to state his opinions fearlessly, a trait much admired on the Coast.

‘‘He had a personality tailor-made for living on the Coast and a genuine love of the region. His forthrightness got him into strife with some of the community. He pulled no punches,’’ Sail says.

Covering local rugby, Carson took a bold approach to reviewing games. He wrote honestly and some of his player assessments ‘‘dented a few egos’’. Playing and coaching in the senior-B grade probably helped him get away with it, as did his reputation as ‘‘a likeable rogue’’ and his involvement in community activities, Sail says.

Carson quickly rose to chief reporter and became editor in 1995. He retired from the Star in 2005.

Sail says Carson was ‘‘a good guy to work for, both professionally and socially’’.

While in Greymouth Carson wrote the book No Surrender, about the town’s frequent flooding from the Grey River. With Yvonne Davison, he co-authored The Longest Beat, a history of policing on the West Coast.

The Carsons settled near Rangiora in 2005. Carson took a labouring job in a vineyard at Waipara. He worked his way up to become a viticulturist.

He also took up journalism again, writing for local community paper The News.

Sally says he had a strong work ethic and was determined not to let his cancer stop him working. He kept active and was still ‘‘as large as life’’ at a barbecue four days before he died.

Christopher Michael Carson (Kit), born Auckland, June 21, 1949; died Rangiora, March 7, 2015. Survived by wife Sally, daughters Nicci, Sarah and Emma, son Daniel, and six grandchildren. Pre-deceased by one grandchild.