After Gareth’s death, The
Western Mail paid tribute to him by
re-publishing a selection of his articles from their newspaper and the proceeds
from the publication of this book, In
Search of News, went towards a travel scholarship which was founded
in his memory. The title page bears a
quotation from the eminent journalist, John Garvin, the editor of The Observer,
describing Gareth as a journalist who had won every step of his way by personal
force. That force is precisely what the
book reveals; it is a newspaper’s testimony to the achievements of one of its
brightest stars and a recollection of the kind of brilliant informative writing
he had contributed over the years. The
little book - published over half a century ago, but still quoted as a record
of Welsh life in the 30s and of Welsh awareness beyond Wales - is a wonderful
example of Gareth’s powers of description and evocation. His articles describing Wales excite the
imagination, setting the scene with the sounds and sights of the
countryside. He describes local
characters whose trades have long since fallen into obscurity and recalls such
characters of folklore and legend, telling the story of Bob, the Raven of
Brechfa, or the legend of the Lady of the Lake, the Mystic Maid of Llyn y Fan
Fach. One only needs to read that
lovely recollection of an evening in a Welsh farmhouse to see his passionate
love and appreciation of his Welsh heritage.
Turning to the pieces in the Eisteddfod is to see him feeling that love
for historical investigation and observation of the continuing influence of
that tradition. Even the articles on
his foreign topics - Lenin’s widow and the Seven Japanese Virtues reveal a
journalist who was essentially a Welshman abroad.
It
was Gareth’s ambition to Search for News that eventually led him to
explore further afield. Although he had
already travelled extensively in Europe and the United States, the Far East
remained unknown territory to him, and, wishing to investigate its growing political
problems, it was to this turbulent region that he was next to turn his
attention. Over several months, his
work took him throughout Asia, before bringing him, on July 4th,
1935, to Peking (Beijing). It was from
here, a week later, that he was to embark on a journey into Inner Mongolia, a journey
which would prove, tragically, to be his last.