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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 3
[trade dispatches]
We have to thank Hr. Smalian, Berlin, for sending us two copies of the Journal für Buchdruckerkunst, containing an article bearing his signature, Über ein Welt-Schriftsystem. It contains much valuable information on the basis of the type-standards in use in Germany—information which we have long desired to possess, and which will form a valuable supplement to what we published in the series of articles in our first volume. We are the more obliged to Hr. Smalian, as the Journal is one of the very few trade papers of any importance that do not exchange regularly with Typo.
Now is the time (says the Printing Times) when the art-critic astonishes the world with the peculiarities of his vocabulary. Even a staid paper like the Athenæum has adopted the common slang of art. Thus, in the course of a few lines we read:— « The art of the scene-painter is frequently precious and grandly inspired. » « We have in a view of the Medway a sheeny piece of milk-white water, almost as precious as a Hook in its multiform tints and delicate tones. » « The morbidezza of her flesh is what is called English in its wholesomeness, and the firm impasto which distinguishes a charm-mingly unaffected subject. » There are those who are modest enough to think that their education has been neglected when they do not understand writing of this kind. The need be under no apprehension. Nobody understands it, least of all, artists.
A libel action which extended over ten days has just been concluded at Adelaide. William Hutchinson, a large pastoralist of the southeast, sued the proprietors of the Narracoorte Herald, claiming £2000 damages for charges of conspiracy to dummy lands, and of attempting to take possession unlawfully of a portion of the Bordertown main road by placing fences across it. Mr George Ashe, the writer of the alleged libels, made a brilliant address to the jury. Mr Justice Boucat, in summing up, ruled that the occasion was not privileged, and strongly animadverted on the plea of justification which the defendants had put in, indicating in plain terms his opinion that none of the assertions made in the article had been proved against the plaintiff. The jury after a retirement of two hours and a quarter, returned a verdict for the plaintiff, awarding £250 damages. They stated that they were divided in opinion as to whether the charges of conspiracy against the plaintiff were proved.
A friend has sent us a copy of No. 1 of the Australian Trades and Labor Journal, the company weekly so long promised. The first thing that strikes us is the large size of the sheet—five columns to the page, 13 ems wide and 102 deep—the next, the beautiful press-work and paper. The pages are enclosed in a broad double-rule border, and the engraved heading is an excellent piece of emblematic work, and really well engraved. We recognize the ten trade emblems as being adapted from a series by Bruce. There is a lack of uniformity in style of composition—large and small, new and old, leaded and solid, being alternated without apparent reason—unless it be that the founts at the disposal of the office were not strong enough for the work. The first page is in all respects but one a model of neat display. The fault is in the two long lines of roman under the engraved title, which kill each other. In the hands of Mr J. C. Hart, it was to be expected that the paper would be well printed; but we think it is a little too superfine for a newspaper. It is better than a good deal of what passes for bookwork in the colonies, and yet it is not bookwork after all. The literary work is good, and if the Australian trade-unionists have any public spirit at all, the paper will prove a great success. It has our best wishes.
There is no love lost between the Dunedin Tablet and its rival the Catholic Times of Wellington. The former is owned by a Bishop, the latter by an Archbishop. The manager of the Tablet, writing to the proprietor, who is in Great Britain, made some damaging remarks about Mr Weale, then editor of the Catholic Times. The Bishop handed over the letter to the Dublin Freeman's Journal, in which it was published in due course, and the manager of the Tablet has had to apologize, both on his own behalf, and that of the Bishop. He says the letter was private, and this really appears to have been the case. At any rate, the freeman's Journal has been guilty of publishing a very serious libel, for which no shadow of justification can be alleged.—Mr Weale, in a long letter to the Tablet tells some queer tales about the Catholic Times. He says it was started with the double object of opposing the « national » Irish movement in the colony, and of running the Tablet out of the field; but that in his capacity of editor, he was able to counteract these objects. This may or may not be correct, but it shows very singular ideas on the part of the writer as to the duties of a salaried editor. If he felt justified in conducting the paper in direct opposition to the instructions of its proprietors, he need have felt no surprise when they dispensed with his services.
A Napier compositor summoned on a Supreme Court jury, applied to be excused on the ground that he was engaged on a morning paper, and had not got to bed until 5 a.m. The judge asked if he was in a fit state to serve, to which he replied that he did not know, but that he had only had four hours' sleep. His Honor said he could not grant the application, adding, half-seriously, « I think I ought to punish you for coming here when not in a fit state to serve. »
Richard Pigott's life was insured for £2000, and after satisfying certain charges upon the policies, a sum of £830 will remain for his children. The money will be paid, notwithstanding a clause in the contract by which the policy would be void in case of suicide. The company are wise. Not only have they gained a reputation for liberality, but they have avoided the necessity of proving to the satisfaction of an English court that Pigott died by his own hand, as is commonly reported and believed.
In reference to the late murder in Wellington, a weekly paper has published a sensational imaginary account of the crime, endeavoring to connect it with some unknown « maniac » who lately published an advertisement in a Wellington paper predicting divine vengeance on the city, and its overthrow in forty days. To assert that one of the most familiar forms of mental disturbance is necessarily homicidal is a piece of gross presumption. The unknown advertiser may be a lunatic, though of a harmless type; the writer of « Who killed Hawkins? » is dangerous, and should be forthwith made the subject of an inquiry de lunatico.
Until the newspaper establishments in the larger cities abandon job-work, the trade will never be in a thoroughly healthy condition. To keep up two establishments is a costly and wasteful system, and to attempt to conbine the departments is hopeless. Job and news-printing are really different trades, and require different methods and machinery. A correspondent sends us a copy of a bill of fare, turned out of the office of an influential and admirably-conducted newspaper in the south. There is an attempt at decoration with Yankee card ornaments, and the whole thing is a botch that might put an amateur to the blush. A specimen of work like this awakens feelings that « do lie too deep for tears. »
The correspondent of the Tuapeka Times gossips thus concerning old New Zealanders in Melbourne:— « Mr T. Richards, at one time a comp on the Tuapeka Times, has dropped into a frame on the Standard, the new evening paper. Speaking of the Tuapeka Times reminds me that Mr W. Epps was at one time a member of your staff. After a spell on the reporting staff of the Age, he has started a paper of his own in Melbourne, called the People's Weekly, and a creditable production it is, with a circulation of about 50,000. Mr J. F. Edgar is one of the contributors. Mr Edgar is, perhaps, the latest arrival here from Tuapeka. He soon secured an engagement on the staff of the Melbourne Herald, the leading evening paper. I have also seen him in the Press Gallery at Parliament, where he takes a seat for the Press Agency. Speaking of newspaper men, I had it on good authority the other day that Mr Chas. Norman, recently of the Dunedin Star, and who is now on the Argus, is making his £500 a year; and Mr E. T. Fricker of the Otago Daily Times, who has only recently joined the Argus, is already spoken of as one of the best men on the staff. When up in the house the other night I saw the three Otago men—Messrs Fricker, Norman, and Edgar—sitting side-by-side in the Press Gallery; and felt gratified to see that even New Zealand newspaper men are not inclined to take a back seat among their Melbourne rivals. »