Brooke later made a career as a writer, but in the essay competition, his style was marked "too flowery", whilst Veel was judged having used "good, straight-forward, sensible English.

[6][7] With strong ties to the Anglican church, he had a letter of introduction with him to James FitzGerald, who had just gone to England as Canterbury's immigration agent (1857–1860), though.

[3][8] Colborne-Veel initially went farming in Linwood and marked exam papers for Christ's College.

[9] In March 1868, he left during a time a deep economic depression to be sub-editor of the Westland Observer, a newspaper run by George Sale.

Towards the end of that year, the ownership of The Press changed, its publication reverted from three times a week to daily, and Purnell moved on.