Part 28 in our series on William Hills: A call on the president
William Hills He had not been at the Pretoria News long before he was brought into close contact with all sections of officialdom.
He had not been at the Pretoria News long before he was brought into close contact with all sections of officialdom, City Times founder William Hills wrote in a story of his life as a journalist.
“President (Paul) Kruger was one of the most accessible men imaginable, but he very wisely drew the line at reporters and would not impart information to them in his room in the old government buildings unless the whole of the ‘Press Gang’ was there together.
“The pressmen used to assemble early in the morning in the lobby outside the president’s room facing Church Square.
“Once Kruger had gone through his papers with State Attorney and State Secretary Dr Willem Johannes Leyds, the reporters would be admitted to an inner corridor and then into Kruger’s presence.
“Sometimes memory of those early days returns to me with a rush and I again see the dignified old man seated being his office table – a table a minor official of a mining company would scorn…”
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Beside him would be Leyds, wearing a heavy, upturned moustache and clad in a fashionable black morning coat and striped trousers.
“The president is seated back to the sunlight streaming through the window so that the faces of the newspapermen are in strong light.”
Unlike the American journalists shown on newsreels sitting around President Theodore Roosevelt in an admiring and jocular group, “we remained respectfully standing in a semicircle with our notebooks open, ready to make whatever notes we needed”.
After wishing them a “goeie môre” (good morning) Kruger would make a statement either himself or through Leyds “an astute and clever Hollander”.
“Then came the most interesting part of the interview: ‘Is daar iets anders wat jy wil weet?” (Is there anything else you’d like to know?)
Dr Frans Engelenburg, editor of the Volksstem, might open the talk, followed by everyone else, with Kruger responding either immediately or waiting until all questions had been asked then responding to the lot.
“Very occasionally, the tables would be turned and we might find the president interviewing us,” wrote Hills.
“But he never gave anything away he wanted to conceal and there were few sensational disclosures.” (Article: Carol Stier).
Next time: Hills did not understand Pres Kruger much of the time
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