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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 4

[miscellaneous paragraphs]

Mr Henry C. Haselden, stationer, Wellington, has filed a declaration of insolvency. The assets are set down at £464; liabilities, £384 6s 0d.

Mr Labouchere says that « the majority of the members of the House of Commons are a disreputable crew. » He omitted to state whether the member for Northampton was one of the majority.

The New Zealand book-shops (says the Wellington Evening Press,) afford most complete and damning evidence that we are not an educated people, and that we are not an educated nation.

Professor Eliot, of Harvard College, roused the ire of the Boston press by denouncing at a dinner of the Harvard Club the reporters of that city as « drunkards, thieves, and dead-beats, » and adding that the terms would fit all newspaper reporters as a class in Boston.

At a recent book-sale in Dunedin, a set of the Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, complete with the exception of one or two of the latest parts, was knocked down for 19s l½d! The buyer was one of the local agents for the book.

In the Court of Queen's Bench, London, Edgar Bluett, a postage stamp dealer, sued the publishers of the Philatelic Record to recover damages for libel. The paper had published a letter from a correspondent stating that he had purchased three spurious stamps from the plaintiff, and further stating that he believed he was not the only collector who had been victimised by the plaintiff, and commenting generally on the sale of bogus stamps. The letter was headed « Rubbish, and Rubbish Mongers. » The jury awarded plaintiff £250 damages.

A late decree by Prince Bismarck reads as follows:—Several gentlemen from whom I receive documents write their names in such a manner that, although it may serve to their own eyes to represent those names, it is to others quite incomprehensible. This is absolutely inadmissible, and a legible signature is not only an official duty, but also a duty dictated by politeness. Not only I myself, but everybody who receives an official document, has the right to expect the signature attached to it to be easily decipherable, without being obliged to refer for assistance to an official list. I should be very unwilling to be obliged to call the attention of certain gentlemen particularly and personally to this matter, but I shall be compelled to resort to that course if occasion be again given for such a step. I request officially that every official shall write his name, not in such a manner that it may be deciphered, but that it can be easily read at the first glance. » It would be well if a good many officials outside of the Fatherland would profit by this gentle hint.

In New South Wales, this month, in the small debts court, S. Hawkins, proprietor of the Waggawagga Express, sued Charles McGovern, soap manufacturer, residing at Albury, for advertising his soap for fifteen months. Plaintiff stated that the order was given verbally, and that he understood the advertisement was to remain in the paper until countermanded. At the end of the first quarter the account was sent in, and it was again rendered from time to time afterwards, but no notice was taken. Defendant stated that he had only ordered the advertisement for one quarter, and had not been aware that it was being continued. The magistrate said it had been ruled that anyone receiving a newspaper, even if not ordered, was liable for payment unless he sent the paper back. He considered the same rule applied to advertising. Defendant had been informed of his advertisement being in the paper by means of the accounts from time to time rendered, and he should have paid up and countermanded the advertisement at the end of the first quarter. Judgment was given for plaintiff.—The decision was right, but we are convinced that the magistrate's law was bad. We have often read of the « ruling » referred to, but have never seen it authenticated by any reference. In this case the order was admitted, and the defendant had received regular reminders. But we do not believe that any publisher could recover in the absence of a definite order. It would be contrary to all equity if he could.

Among those drowned in the terrible wreck of the Quetta off the Queensland coast, were Mr and Mrs John Watson. Mr Watson was the senior partner in the large bookselling and printing firm of Watson, Ferguson, & Co., Brisbane.

Messrs Whitcombe & Tombs have fallen out with the Christchurch Typographical Association in consequence of a circular issued by the latter, and have made their establishment a non-union shop. The firm pay the full rate of wages; but have offended the union by employing women in the composing-room.

Two important paper mills are now at work in Brazil—the first factories of the kind in South America. The machinery was built in Germany. The material used is exclusively cellulose, made from the fibres of the country. The number of hands employed at the mills amounts in the aggregate to 700 or 800. Up to the present time most of the printing papers used in Brazil have been imported from Germany and Belgium; the fine paper and fancy sorts from England and France.

The brothers Chamberlain, farmers, of Wairarapa, and members of the Masterton borough council, having been accused by the local Star of « deliberate falsehood » in connexion with a late mayoral election, brought an action for libel against Messrs Smith & Hogg, proprietors of the paper, claiming £1000 damages. The case came before the Supreme Court, Wellington, on the 14th inst, and occupied part of two days. The jury, after retiring for half-an-hour, found a verdict for the plaintiff, and awarded one farthing damages. There being no order to the contrary, therefore, both sides have to pay their own costs.

The Typographical Association of Sydney have refused the application of Miss Annie Hill for admission to membership on the ground that the constitution of the society prohibited the admission of females, the lady wrote to the secretary asking for a copy of the particular rule referred to. No such rule existed; and the secretary was driven to take refuge in the excuse that the masculine form of pronoun was used throughout! The union has made a grave mistake. As Miss Hill has shown, she is a skilled workman, has served a regular apprenticeship, and has complied with union rules. She did not wish to seek employment in non-union offices, but will now be compelled to do so.

In the dispute between Messrs Stone, Sons, & Co., of Dunedin and the Customs authorities, the latter were put to great shifts in endeavoring to prove that blocked cloth covers for books were dutiable. Up to this year, the importers had passed them as un-enumerated articles, duty free, without question; but the Wellington officials (had the £800 expert a hand in the matter?) found fault. The importers demanded to know under what head the duty was levied, and after considerable hesitation, the department replied that the goods came under the category of Textile Fabrics!! Before the case came into Court, however, this was changed into « manufactured stationery. » The expert evidence was unanimous that book covers are not stationery, and the Customs were defeated.