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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 4

[miscellaneous paragraphs]

We hear a good story from one of the Australian colonies in connexion with American piracy. A book agency had run a Yankee edition of the Bible, with Doré's pictures. On the arrival of the shipment—500 copies—Messrs Cassell, who hold the Doré copyright, took the necessary proceedings to stop the sale of the work, and the whole shipment was seized. Not wishing to be too hard on the importer, however, they consented to allow the books to be circulated if the whole five hundred sets of plates were cut out and handed over to them, which was done. Immediately afterwards, the subscribers to the work received a circular in which it was stated that a great change had taken place lately in ideas concerning sacred art, and in particular as regards Doré's work. Many people had begun to doubt the propriety of inserting pictures of such a class in the Holy Scriptures, and the publishers therefore, after mature consideration, had decided to omit them 1 Whether the subscribers will pay for the mutilated books, or refusing, can be compelled to do so, remains to be seen.

What Mr DeVinne has to say about printing always deserves attention, and a recent article on the subject of « Printing as a profession for young men, » is well worthy of study. Nothing, he believes, has done so much to demoralize the printing trade, as newspaper work. The necessity of haste on newspapers compels a publisher to make everything else subordinate to it; he has to overlook slighted work which no book- or job-printer could think of doing. And fully three-fourths of the printers graduate from news offices. « Most printers, » he says « think that job composition is the highest branch of the art; the majority of boys are more anxious to learn how to twist rules and make eccentric combinations of types than they are to do plain and thorough work. I think a well-printed book is more difficult than any kind of job-printing; the chances of error are infinitely greater, and successes are much more rare. Book printing ranges in difficulty from an ordinary reprint of a novel up to books which are illustrated, having side notes, quotations from foreign languages, extracts from authors, with breaks and irregularities in the method of composition. The compositor who can take all these irregularities, which are unavoidable, and so arrange them that each part has its proper size and place, is a more skilful workman than he who can twist rules or print in many colors. »

A friend from the South has brought us very favorable accounts of the result of the Master Printers' Associations in Christchurch and Dunedin. He says there is a better feeling not only between the masters, but between the masters and men; that wages are better, and a better class of workmen are finding a field for their abilities; that the wholesale stationers are selling their best stock, and that the demand for inferior qualities of paper is falling off; that they are mot troubled as formerly with requests to renew bills; that there is a general improvement in the class of work, and that the advertising public are developing a taste for something better than that with which they have hitherto been content. Fair prices are obtained, and no one is the worse for it. This is only what might have been foretold. Improvement in quality, or progress of any kind, is impossible when work is habitually done under cost.

No country is better fitted than New Zealand for the successful inauguration of a Master Printers' Association. More than nine-tenths of the work must be done locally. A few « pound-foolish » merchants have their printing done in large quantities by home houses on wholesale terms, and then compare the local prices for an order of 250 until supplies arrive with the London rates for 10,000; but a business man cannot afford to do this, even if he would. Australian houses are too remote to compete except in such profitless lines as paper bags. Nor is there any tendency of work to gravitate to the large centres. Every town of importance has one or more fairly-equipped offices, equal to undertaking any ordinary kind of work. There would be no better field for such an association; and if wisely managed it could be productive only of good. It could work in harmony with the N.Z.T.A.,—provided that both parties could resist the besetting temptation to threaten coercive measures. In every town where a branch of each existed, a joint committee could be formed, to hold regular and special meetings, at which points of difference could be amicably discussed and settled in a reasonable manner. Nine out of ten disputes arise originally from misunderstandings, complicated by obstinacy on one or both sides. We are not advocating anything in the nature of a « ring » or « trust; » but an organization which shall secure such a rate for work as would provide standard wages for the workman and at least a wage to the employer over and above expenses and interest on capital. At present, large contracts are commonly taken at from one third to one-half less than such a standard, and businesses of many years' standing, with plant and machinery worth thousands of pounds, are steadily drifting towards the insolvency court.

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The great publishing houses, (says a home paper), are being rapidly converted into limited liability companies. The prosperous firms of Routledge & Co. and Trubner & Co. are about to become joint-stock companies. In the case of Routledge & Co. the whole of the preference and ordinary capital will remain in the hands of the present members of the firm.

« Printing Machines and Machine Printings » is the name of one of the most useful handbooks we have met with. It is by Mr John Southward, the author of « Practical Printing » and editor of the Printers' Register; and its account of modern printing machines is based on Mr F. J. T. Wilson's work. The volume is issued as one of Messrs Wyman's Technical Series, and to that firm we are indebted for our copy. The book should be in the hands of every person who has anything to do with presswork. All the leading machines are described, and the special features impartially noted. The book is published at five shillings, by Mr E. Menken. Printers who wish to obtain this work should let us know, as we intend to import a few copies for sale.—From the same firm we have the half-crown « Printing Trades Diary and Reference Book for 1890. » It is a quarto diary, interleaved, its special feature being 66 closely-printed nonpareil pages containing trade tables, lists of technical terms, compositors' wages, scales of prices in force in London and the Provinces, decisions of the master printers' association, and the laws relating to printers. The latter is very complete, and includes the legislation of 1889. Much of the information is not to be found elsewhere. The book is in its twelfth year, and well deserves the high commendation it has received from the technical press.

The Melbourne correspondent of a contemporary says:—A certain document, the property of the Sanitary Commission, has found its way into the columns of the Age. How did it get there? That is the question. The Government have instructed the Crown Solicitor to investigate. This incident reminds me of something that occurred in another colony some four years ago. The Governor, Sir J. Pope Hennessy, had been up to one of his tricks with a gentleman who had the misfortune to differ from him in the Legislative Council, and had received a smart reprimand from Colonel Stanley, then Secretary of State; and there is no mistake the hon. Fred, could lay it on when he thought fit. What made the reprimand more galling was the order that accompanied it: « You will be good enough to furnish

Mr?with a copy of this despatch, » an order that Sir John was not in a hurry to comply with. Whenever a despatch came in his favor he sent it to the press; anything that told against him he suppressed. It leaked out that the despatch alluded to had been received, but that it was not to be published. A representative of the press went to the Council Office, and he was told that he could not have a copy given to him. « But, » said the clerk, « it is under that blotting pad. I am going across to the Auditor-General's office, and shall be away ten minutes. Don't you get prying amongst the papers during my absence. » That despatch appeared in print next morning, but no one could say that the Council clerk gave a copy of it.

Some of our news letters are not to hand this month—possibly because, this being the slack time of the year, our correspondents find very little to write about. An occasional correspondent from Auckland, writing on the 19th inst., says: « Things in the printing line here are very dull, and there seems a probability of some of the regular hands having to take their turn at a three weeks' holiday. The jubilee caused a bit of a bustle in the trade while it lasted, but a reaction has followed. [Our correspondent here gives an instance of « cutting » on the part of a large establishment, which he says is conducted on a system that « is the very kernel of the sweating system. » ] I cannot make out why the masters do not get an Association formed in such places as Auckland and Wellington. As; things are, they are really standing in their own light. With such an Association, not only would masters get a fair price for work, but each would have a fair chance. A fair wage could be paid to the workman, who would be encouraged to do better work in return.—There is some likelihood of a rupture between the Auckland branch of the N.Z.T.A. and the Executive at Wellington, which will doubtless end in the Auckland branch severing its connexion with the Executive, and taking an entirely independent position. The Auckland branch has a good standing, and working on its own basis would be a power in the trade. It derives no benefit from its association with the Executive, which seems to do nothing but tax the branches and pay big salaries to its officers. » —We think our correspondent is a little hard on the Executive. Union is strength, and a breach would probably lead to opposition. The mistake of the Executive, in our opinion, is not in trying to consolidate all the branches of the Typographical Association; but in allowing itself to be drawn into a league with outside trade organizations.

Wellington is taking up the matter of a Free Library in earnest. Out of £3000 required £2300 has already been raised; and the promoters are now talking of extending the original plan and starting with £10,000 worth of books. Among the subscriptions are ten guineas from the Southern Cross Lodge, I.O.G.T., and a similar amount from the Wellington Rechabites. And there are some who say that it never occurs to temperance folk to assist in providing counter-attractions to the public-house!

A letter posted at Masterton early in July, addressed « Birmingham, near Fielding, » was despatched to Birmingham in England, thence to the London dead letter office, thence to Wellington, and then to its original destination, after six months' delay. The local paper blames the postal officials. If people are stupid enough to name an unknown bush hamlet after a great commercial centre at home, they must expect their letters to make an occasional detour of thirty thousand miles before they are delivered.

Few people are sure of the way in which the name of the celebrated « Jenolan » caves in New South Wales should be pronounced, and the discussion waxed warm at one time in the colony itself. The word as written has every appearance of native origin. « Finally, » says the Mataura Ensign, « a reporter was sent to make enquiries on the spot from the 'oldest inhabitant'. The truthful man of letters, after probing the matter to its depth, said that Jenolan with a j like a g and a short o must be the right thing, because, as far as he could make out, the wonderful caves were called after their discoverer, one I 'Jemmy Nolan'—whence 'Jem Nolan'—whence, by a euphonious contraction, 'Jenolan.' »

« Venice, Jan. 11.—Vanderbilt, the millionaire, has purchased Turner's Canal in this city for £20,000. » Such was a singular telegram that went the rounds this month, with the variation that « Vienna » sometimes took the place of Venice. Some of the editors were sufficiently awake to recognize that Turner's grand picture was intended, and to correct the item accordingly; others confessed their inability to understand the message. One, bolder than the rest, commented as follows:— « By cable we learn that Vanderbilt has bought a canal in Venice. Here begins the spread of a Western invasion into the home of tradition and romance. The acute Yankee millionaire doubtless sees in the canal a source of revenue present and prospective. We shall probably live to see an American syndicate busing up Jerusalem. »

« Goody » stories are not often found in trade journals, but the following, in Books and Notions, is an exception: « A Belleville bookseller was converted at Hunter and Crossley's meeting (says the Kingston Whig) and then he had a fight as to his attitude regarding cards. He had a stock of them, $30 worth, and reasoned, 'Can I as a Christian sell them?' The Devil said 'Yes;' conscience said 'No.' Conscience was victorious, and the cards were burned. Next day the bookseller sold more Bibles than he had ever before. » The last sentence is particularly good. By sacrificing cards to the value of £5 or £6 (and judiciously proclaiming the fact), this shrewd tradesman appears to have secured the custom of all the revival converts, and the active assistance of the evangelists. « The devil » appears to have been no match for the bookseller.

Libel actions in Ireland are peculiar affairs. The verdict of the jury generally is decided by the politics of the accused, and the amount of damages by the warmth of their political sympathies. Capt. O'Shea might have known beforehand that no Dublin jury would venture to give a verdict against the Freeman's Journal. The story that he trumped up an infamous charge against his own wife to damage Mr Parnell was about as improbable a one as even the vivid imagination of a Dublin journalist could evolve; but the verdict was given for the defendant. The real issue, however, will be tried elsewhere. For « commenting » on the case before trial, a London reporter of the same paper has since been fined £100 and costs. As a contrast to the Freeman's Journal case we have that of the Limerick Irish Times. In a paragraph referring to Mr Matthew Harris, M.P., the word « not » was accidentally omitted and a local jury fixed the damages at £1000! They somewhat overshot the mark, and a new trial was applied for. The case came on before the Exchequer Division, when Baron Dowse described the damages as « not only excessive, but preposterous. » £200 was suggested as the outside limit; but this Mr Healy, counsel for plaintiff, refused to accept, and the new trial was granted. If the venue is changed to a district free from home rule agitation, the plaintiff may yet regret that he refused the £200.