Early New Zealand Photographers: Thomas Pringle

Thomas Pringle

c. 1858 - 1931

Visit to Japan, Hong Kong and Philippines

21 May 1900 to 22 September 1900

Mr. T. Pringle, of Lambton-quay, is leaving Wellington next week on a trip to Japan, where he will spend a few months chiefly with the object of recuperating his health. He will probably be away from Wellington for four or five months.

Evening Post, Volume LIX, Issue 112, 12 May 1900

Mr T. Pringle is about to visit Japan in the interests of his health. He will be away for five or six months. It is hoped the sea voyage will have the beneficial effect that Mr Pringle expects it to have.

New Zealand Mail, 17 May 1900

Departed Wellington for Sydney 21 May 1900 on the s.s. Tarawera

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4056, 22 May 1900

The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), Mon 28 May 1900, Page 1

Departed Sydney 31 May 1900 for Yokohama on the Japanese mail steamer Yawata Maru.

Evening News (Sydney, NSW), 31 May 1900, page 2

That Thomas Pringle, now on a trip to Japan, will see the far East at a most interesting period, and should have some interesting experiences to relate when he comes home.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 3, 21 July 1900

Writing from Hongkong, under date 23rd June, Mr. T. Pringle (who is at present on a visit to Japan), says: — "We went on board one of the fine Canton River steamers, and there the Chief Engineer told us that on the previous night, when the boat had left Canton, there were long rows of Chinese hung by the neck along the river front. Steamers and people in the foreign quarters were being armed, and the native wives and children and the fairly well-to-do Chinese were leaving Canton. The Chief Engineer is an amateur photographer, and he showed me a whole-plate print (taken by himself) of a man whom he had seen a short time ago cut into thirty pieces. Whilst the photo was being taken crowds of Chinese were standing round, watching the execution, and feeling that they were getting a splendid free show!"

In another letter, giving a description of the Voyage from Thursday Island to Hongkong, Mr. Pringle says a party of seventy-seven Chinese joined the s.s. Wayata Maru [Yawata Maru] from Thursday Island, and the whole party placed in the vessel's safe a sum totalling £90,000. The men were returning to Canton with their wealth.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 31, 6 August 1900

That Thomas Pringle still holds up his end as one of the most artistic amateur photographers in the colony. No doubt he will bring back a bulky portfolio with him from Japan.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 9, 1 September 1900

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4155, 17 September 1900

There has just been opened up at Pringle’s, Lambton quay, a splendid assortment of Japanese pictures, photographs, fans, screens and artistic novelties, personally selected by Mr Pringle. Inspection is invited.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4155, 17 September 1900

Arrived Sydney 12 September 1900 on the Japanese mail steamer Kasuga Maru from Yokohama (August 11) Kobe, (August 13), Hongkong (August 24) Thursday Island (September 4), Townsville (September 7), Brisbane (September 10).

The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW) Saturday, 22 September 1900

Arrived Wellington from Sydney on the s.s. Mokoia 22 September.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4161, 24 September 1900

Among the returning Wellingtonians who arrived from Sydney by the Mokoia on Saturday evening were Mr G. B Izard, who has been on a trip to Australia, and Mr Thomas Pringle, who is just back from an extended visit to Japan.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4161, 24 September 1900

A New Zealander in Japan

Imprisoned for taking Photographs

Mr. T. Pringle's Experiences.

After an absence of several months spent in a combined business and health-seeking trip to Japan. Mr. T. Pringle returned to Wellington by the Mokoia on Saturday night. Mr. Pringle's experiences on tour included an exciting adventure with the Japanese authorities which at one stage of the proceedings threatened an awkward termination for the visitor, but fortunately resulted in but a four-hours' detention in custody, or, as he puts it himself pleasantly, "he became a guest of the State."

The complication arose out of Mr. Pringle's well-known enthusiasm for photography. Early on the morning on the day upon which his steamer (the Kasuga) was to sail, homeward bound, from Nagasaki, Mr. Pringle was on deck taking a panoramic photograph of the harbour. The Kasuga was lying out in the harbour at the time, and the police boat was patrolling the waters. An officer in the boat must have seen the photographer at work, for an hour or so later, as Mr. Pringle was preparing to go ashore in a sampan, a Japanese officer and an interpreter came on board the Kasuga, and the Wellingtonian, to his great surprise, was arrested. He and his photographic plates were taken ashore, the latter being developed, whilst "the foreigner" was closely examined as to his doings in the country and object of his camera operations.

The Japanese could hardly credit that their prisoner was an amateur taking pictures for his own pleasure, and a great deal was made of his having committed a breach of port regulations by taking photographs inside the forbidden area. However, he was "let off with a caution" on promising that he would take no more views of Nagasaki, and those taken were confiscated. When Mr. Pringle returned to his ship he was congratulated by the officers. He was informed that only the month previously a German tourist was arrested for exactly the same offence, and he was fined, his camera and plates confiscated, and he was detained some 24 hours, during which time his steamer left port.

Speaking of Japan, Mr. Pringle said the upper classes in commercial and official life were very progressive, and in some things were as progressive as the same classes in the colonies. But Japan as a nation was not so far advanced in modern ideas as some writers had made her out to be. What the nation sadly needed for her development was money, and efforts were now being made by her statesmen and financiers to raise a big loan.

Of her statesmen Mr. Pringle gathered, sufficient knowledge during his stay in Japan to form a very high opinion of their ability and patriotism. The Japanese declare that Li Hung Chang is so able and wily a diplomat that they would not be surprised to see him get the best of the allies in the peace negotiations. Japan was fully prepared for war, and had her troops all ready when the Chinese outbreak occurred, though that outbreak came prematurely.

Mr. Pringle spent about six days in and about Manila during his tour, and formed a very great opinion of the commercial possibilities of the Philippines in the hands of the Americans. It is not, he says, a white man's country, however, so far as labour is concerned, but if the islands do not furnish the labour required in the country's development, China is at her very door, and can furnish enough and to spare. America has sent a very poor class of soldier to the Philippines, and has also crowded Manila with bad drinking saloons. The Spanish cruelties of the past have been frightful, and the heavy hand of the oppressor has been lifted none too soon. With American enterprise industry will receive an impetus and bear a result of which it is impossible to gauge even the possibilities. The islands contain magnificent hardwood, forests which have been practically untouched, and the timber of which can be used for the best cabinet and other decorative work. In Mr. Pringle's opinion America has not yet realised the great possession she came into when took over the Philippines.

It is Mr. Pringle's intention to write an account of his tour, and he has brought back a fine collection of photographs, some 200 of which were taken by himself. Had the Japanese authorities at Nagasaki overhauled his luggage they would, no doubt, have confiscated more than those plates which were taken upon the morning of the Wellingtonian's departure from home.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 74, 25 September 1900

Back from Japan.
Wellingtonian's Pleasant Experiences.
Glimpses of Hongkong and Manila.

Partly on business, but more on pleasure bent, Mr T. Pringle, of this city, some months ago left Wellington on a visit to the Land of the Chrysanthemum. Some of his pleasant and interesting experiences whilst there and en route, Mr Pringle related to a "Mail” reporter in the course of a chat on Monday. Mr Pringle timed his excursion somewhat inopportunely, and consequently arrived at his destination when the East was sweltering in summer sultriness. His temerity in this respect was penalised by a touch of cholera after leaving Hongkong, but under the care of the Japanese ship’s doctor aboard, he soon regained his normal health and returned home on Saturday looking all the better for his trip.

Mr Pringle found Japan in a state of business stagnation. The recent war with China and recent calls upon the country’s resources have drained the national treasury; and from the fact that the imports considerably exceed the exports, there is a continual outward drain of gold; and this affects traders of all classes. The Japanese Government, being, therefore, hard up, would like to impose additional Customs taxation, but covenants with outside nations stand in the way of this unpopular proposal. Meanwhile, Japan is trying to float a £10,000,000 loan in England. The more than possibility of any such sum being wasted, if obtained, in a war to decide the ownership of Corea [Korea] is likely, however, to militate against the chances of flotation. Our townsman saw nothing of military movements in connection with the recent embroglio in China, but the stamp and style of the local soldiery impressed him very strongly.

Although the trend towards “westernisation" in Japan is slow owing to the large masses of population first to be influenced, there is a leaven at work which will inevitably leaven the whole lump. Education on English lines and on a liberal scale is reaching the children of all classes; and already the Japanese Universities have given striking proof both of the efficacy of their methods and of the exceptional capacity of their students.

If there was one thing more than another which appealed to Mr Pringle in Japan, it was the sunny temperament of the people. Away from the treaty ports, and beyond the reach of the vitiating influences of that “civilisation” which saw-like, seems to eat rough-edged into the heart of foreign countries before its smooth and beneficent influences can be displayed, the “little brown man” is a fine fellow. Life is a laugh in Japan. In the shops, in the tea rooms, on the streets, the crowd wears ever the same glad, happy exterior. Policemen are plenty, but Mr Pringle never once saw their services requisitioned. Funny little fellows they are, trotting about everywhere clad in white uniforms and carrying each a handy little sword. The Japanese police system is modelled on the French and like its parent, has astonishing ramifications. That a land whose people so markedly lack criminal taint should be so heavily policed is one of the abnormalities of Japan.

The sobriety of the Japs. is remarkable. Mr Pringle saw little or no drunkenness. This is the more interesting and instructive when it is remembered that there is absolutely no restriction on the sale of intoxicants there. Native liquors are sold openly at the principal railway stations, and no one seems a whit the worse. Several breweries have been established of recent years in the centres, devoted principally to the manufacture of lager and other light beers for which the Japanese exhibit a preference. The eight hours movement has not yet caught on in Japan, and a singular custom obtains amongst the inhabitants of shopping at night. Thus, when darkness falls, and the ordinary daily avocations cease, a sort of night carnival commences, into which the volatile Japanese throw themselves with characteristic spirit. The regular shops are brilliantly lighted, and thousands of peripatetic vendors draw out on to, the street fronts with variously designed stalls and stands covered with all kinds of goods calculated to appeal to the, eye and the senses. Then ensues a scone of light and laughter.

The fine aesthetic taste of the Japanese is exhibited in their marvellous carvings and bric-a-brac and hand painting, and they almost worship flowers In the spring special trains are run into the country, taking all classes to new with child-like pleasure the immense plantations of peach blossom which are cultivated for the eye-worship of the Japanese. Similarly the characteristic colour change of the maple foliage mean to these people more than can be imagined by materialistic westerners. Speaking of trains, Mr Pringle has nothing but praise for the Japanese system. Narrow-gauged and slow of travel like our own, the trains in Japan are more comfortable, and infinitely cheaper. One hundred miles, first-class, seven and fourpence, is the railway tariff, and a ten mile ride on an electric tram costs one shilling; but the tramways, though admirable in every other respect, have not yet reached paying point.

Japan is suffering an American invasion just now. Besides the tourist traffic which the comparative proximity of the two places induces, large numbers of American officers are convalescing in Japan after the trials and tribulations of Cuba and the Philippines. These people are very lavish with money, and thereby leave a rough row for the curio-hunting globe-trotter to hoe.

Judged by modern Japanese morals seem to leave something to be desired, but as some wise man has already observed, “Morals are a question of latitude and longitude.” The birth rate in Japan appears to be about one per cent, per annum. Mr Pringle’s experience is that a visitor comes away from Japan with the liveliest recollections of pleasure, and impressed with the splendid future which must accrue to the Japanese as a nation when once released by education from the Oriental thrall of lethargy and ignorance. Our townsman observed that though the gentle character, of the people asserted itself to the extent of courteous behaviour to visitors, there was a marked antipathy to foreigners of all nations—Englishmen included. Japan has a splendid press, printed both in English and in the native language, and this cannot fail to have a strong educational influence.

Going to and returning from Japan, Mr Pringle had an opportunity of seeing a good deal of Hongkong, which he describes as a wonderful place, enjoying an “almost blatant prosperity.” The prosperity of Hongkong is vividly evidenced by the fact that the share lists published in the local papers disclose stocks in local trading concerns running up to 495 per cent, premium. It appears that affairs in general at Hongkong are manipulated by a ring. Once inside that ring, the man of business is a made man.

At Manila, another stopping place, Mr Pringle found the Americans in strong possession. The place swarmed with soldiers and officials, and it was loudly whispered that Tammanyism was rampant. Mr Pringle was not impressed with the deportment of America’s fighting men. Manila is prolific of saloons. They are so numerous that “you could stand in one place and throw a biscuit into a dozen." The Philippines, of which Manila is the capital, are immensely rich in minerals and precious woods, and constitute a valuable American asset. They were, handed over by Great Britain to the, Spaniards some 300 years ago, and the latter being a truthful nation stuck up a tablet which is still extant proclaiming that the islands had been taken from England by force of arms. Old Manila is a most interesting place. Inside the immense walls, originally erected as a protection against pirates, stands the original city, which, with its castles and churches, is quite in the style of older Spain and Italy.

Mr Pringle secured a number of photographs of this and the other places which he visited, which in themselves constitute a valuable memento of his far Eastern tour.

New Zealand Mail, 27 September 1900

A private exhibition, of views taken during his recent trip to the East was given by Mr. T. Pringle to his friends at the Bowen street Schoolroom last night, Mr. Pringle had prepared an excellent series of slides for the lantern, and with his interesting descriptive lecture, the company was afforded a rare treat. The pictures showed a clearness of detail that won hearty encomiums for the photographer from those present, and included picturesque bits of Manila, Hongkong, Nagasaki and other parts of Japan, together with photographs of street life, industries, and architecture. Mr. G. W. Barltrop had charge of the lantern. Mr. Pringle should be induced to give a public exhibition of his interesting work. On the motion of the Rev. T. H. Sprott, a hearty vote of thanks was given to him last night.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 131, 30 November 1900

Japan, the land of topsy-turveydom, as some one calls it, must be a perfect paradise for artists. Mr. Pringle, who recently returned from the Land of the Chrysanthemum, showed some exquisite lantern-slides last week to a number of friends, and converted everybody to the belief that to see Japan, and see it as soon as possible, should be the aim of all. The Japanese women are absolutely bewitching, and look as if the worries of hired helps and the burden of unpaid calls never touched them. The temples are marvellous schemes of colour and design, in green settings of century-old trees. Let us go to Japan before its artistic simplicity and sweet naivete are spoilt by the introduction of the tall hat and the high-pressure boiler. Even now these are gaining a footing in the and before long Japan will be mined by alleged civilisation.

Free Lance, Volume I, Issue 23, 8 December 1900

An interesting “talk” regarding photography was given in the lecture hall of the Technical School last night before the Arts and Crafts Guild by Mr Thomas Pringle, who gave some excellent advice to photographic students. He spoke of suitable outfits, plates, developers, and printing processes. Dealing with the artistic side of photography, he said that the most common error was that of trying to embrace too much. Mere typographical detail was never artistic, and rarely pictorial. Condensation was badly wanted in most amateur landscape work, and it was no uncommon thing to see photographic prints which, if cut into two or three portions and treated separately, might have been a constant delight to the eye. In street scenes the most common fault was too much uninteresting foreground. In photography excessive retouching should be avoided. Mr Pringle displayed some fine limelight views from photographs taken during his recent visit to Japan. These comprised street scenes in various parts of that country, pictures of Nagasaki, Yokohama, Kioto, Nikko and Nara, with views of many interesting spots in these parts. There was also a striking view of the mountain of Fusi-Yama. Mr Pringle, in his descriptive narrative accompanying the pictures, gave an interesting insight into Japanese customs, and kept his audience entertained with the humorous touches with which he told his anecdotes of travel. On the motion of Mr A. D. Riley, he was given a hearty vote of thanks. The lantern views were shown by Messrs Ibbetson and Sim...

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4378, 8 June 1901