.jpg)
Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 5
[miscellaneous paragraphs]
A debt-collector in England has been fined £5, at the instance of the Incorporated Law Society, for writing that he was instructed by his « client » to take proceedings for the recovery of a certain debt. It is now definitely settled that the word « client » is sacred to the legal profession, and must not be used by outsiders. 150
page 150
In a former issue we mentioned that we could not give the names of the designer and first founder of the « Ivy » combination. The Flinsch Foundry have sent us an old specimen sheet showing both the Ivy and the « Supplement » of forty characters. The latter is marked as original. In our article on design we credited the Flinsch Foundry with the « Supplement, » and so far as we know, no other foundry shows it; but we are no wiser as regards the origin of the Ivy itself.
The « labor party » in the colonies is at least candid. In New South Wales they allow a candidate no freedom of action, and refuse him any confidence. To obtain their support he must give a written pledge that on all questions he must vote as the majority of the labor-party in caucus may decide, or resign his seat. In Wellington, a leading member of the party entered a protest against the chosen candidate as utterly unfit for a labor representative. « We did not take into consideration at all the question of the most suitable representative, » was the written reply of the Trades Council.
A genuine and artistic novelty in fancy paper is the imitation calf, manufactured by the Actiengesellschaft für Buntpapir und Leimfabrikation, Aschaffenburg, Main. For pamphlet-covers we have seen nothing to equal it, and it ought completely to supersede the horrible and inartistic « alligator, » and other embossed designs. The surface is an exact imitation of the finest calf-leather, and the specimen sent to us shows fifty different tints. The manufacturers have issued a quarto pamphlet, in various tints, containing advertisements printed in tints, colors, and gold, from which it is manifest that, with this paper, the finest presswork is possible.
There are 125 newspapers in New Zealand. The Egmont Settler has been reckoning how many support the Government, and can only find fourteen besides itself. These are the News, Invercargill; Standard, Gore; Globe, Dunedin; Mail, Oamaru; Leader, Temuka; Colonist, Nelson; Times, Christchurch; Herald, Wanganui; Standard, Waikato; Star, Auckland; Observer, Auckland; Standard, Palmerston North; News, Napier; Star, Masterton. Of these, three at least are moribund, and two are owned by members of the Ministry. This list is a fine testimony to the general independence of the New Zealand Press; for certain very decided advantages are possessed by papers of « the right color. »
Lord Onslow, in a speech delivered before leaving New Zealand, referred to the ignorance regarding the colonies still prevailing at home. He said: « Since I have been here I have blushed for my country when I read in The Times newspaper, at the time H.M.S. Dart made an unusually long passage from Auckland to Sydney, that it only took 48 hours from New Zealand to New South Wales, and that the ship must have perished had she not been able to call in at some port between New Zealand and Sydney. (Laughter.) And I am informed that there is an encyclopædia, which I have not seen, that describes Christchurch as a small town in New Zealand recently destroyed by an earthquake » !
Mr T. Harrington, m.p., Dr. Fitzgerald, m.p., and Dr. Kenny, m.p., have issued an appeal to the Freeman's Journal shareholders to support the present directors of the Freeman Company. The circular states that if the attempt of Mr Gray and his friends to change the policy of the paper succeeds, its commercial prosperity, as well as its political character, will inevitably be lost. « We believe, » they say, « that no bonâ fide shareholders outside the immediately interested shareholders will continue to be parties to a scheme for handing their property back to the Gray family, who received for it from the public the very generous sum of £66,000 in cash, and £34,000 in shares. It is too obvious that this policy of grab is the main policy which you will have to support or reject. The national crisis is being unscrupulously used as a means to that end. »
New Zealand (says the Wellington Times) has not forgotten Mr Parnell and the eight hours' movement he so modestly inaugurated in Wellington half a century ago, and we think it probable that Australia has not forgotten him either. We notice in the Baltimore American a very well-written succinct account of Mr Parnell's lifework, from the pen of Mr T. L. Mills, of this city. The readers of that journal will have realized from his narrative how this great boon to the working classes was got for them, without any agitation, by a plain man, who set about his work in a plain, determined way. They also owe to the industry of Mr Mills a table showing the hours of labour in seventeen different countries of the world. Any result in the direction of diminishing the contrast must be remote. If such a result does come about, Mr Mills will be able to claim that his capital paper has had some share in producing it.
A southern contemporary « regrets » that it cannot find room for a little original poem that someone has sent for publication. There is in the same issue a new county ad. filling 4½ columns. Spring poets have to possess their souls in patience when that kind of copy (disgustingly dry reading!) comes in.
The manager of a theatrical company lately telegraphed to a lady who had offered her services, asking particulars as to her qualifications. The advance agent telegraphed asking dimensions of a hoarding. The answers were transposed in delivery, and the manager was startled at receiving the reply: « Sixty feet long, ten high. »
The Dunedin City Council has decided to join with the Auckland Council in objecting to the proposal to let the right of advertising on telegraph and telephone poles. Typo entered a protest months ago, when the proposal was first mooted; but the press generally and the chambers of commerce were too busy to trouble themselves about it then. It is rather late now to raise objections.
؟What magic is there in the word « alleged »? No man is ever charged with « alleged murder » or « alleged forgery, » though we read of such almost daily. A northern contemporary records « a particularly gross case of alleged cruelty to an animal. » The penny-a-liner appears to use the term as a charm, as the « alleged » attorney's clerk carefully appended « without prejudice » to the teams of endearment in his alleged love-letters.
The following is quoted by the N. Z. Schoolmaster from a home paper:— « Spelling, that bane of school life, is beginning to be seen in its true light. It has done incalculable harm during the last quarter of a century. It has disgusted the young with books; it has retarded their progress in the acquisition of knowledge; and it has brought with it no compensating advantage. … There would be no limit to the good books read, if the spelling demon were strangled. »
« Mr Labouchere declares that Mr Parnell informed him that Captain O'Shea was concerned in the forged letters which played a prominent part in the Parnell Commission, also that the Captain had obtained money from Mr Chamberlain with which to pay Pigott. » Mr Labouchere probably knows as much about the Pigott affair as any one living; but this last story is extremely « thin. » The man who is alleged to have given the information was not distinguished for truthfulness, and is now beyond the reach of questioning.
A New Zealand comp writes to us from Adelaide, under date 22nd December: « The weather is very sultry here just now. Yesterday the thermometer registered 98°•3 in the shade, and on a previous occasion the temperature was 99° with some odd decimal. I knew I was coming to a warmer climate, and was in a measure prepared for it. I suffer no inconvenience from the increased temperature; but my 'better half' finds it very oppressive. … I am doing fairly well here, and though I could not but regret leaving old associates, the change and additional remuneration in some measure compensate for what I lost. »
Some comment has been made on the fact that the Wanganui Herald office, in which the Premier has a large interest, does not pay union rates of wages. The Herald admits the fact, and adds that after all the hands have the best of it, as the concern has not made any profits for some years. If the wages are low, they are regularly paid. A comp in another North Island town writes feelingly: « It is not so much the low wages complained of as the difficulty, in some cases, of getting those wages when they have been earned. Some Liberal organs are run on very liberal lines, and it is the compositor who mostly suffers. He is sometimes expected to take shares in what he knows is a financially rotten concern. For the 'good of the cause' he has to accept small payments on account of wages, and to hold his tongue lest it should leak out that the paper is ruined. »
Mr Leader, the late Government Printer of South Australia, was a firm believer in the value of a library in connexion with a printing-office. Under his management an excellent library was established, to which he gave many books, and of which he held the office of chairman up to his death. At the last annual meeting of the library the present Government Printer, Mr C. E. Bristow, was elected chairman. The report showed steady progress: membership, 122; number of books, 1,720. The Melbourne Typographical Society has a library of 2,000 volumes, including a set of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It is open to members, apprentices, and females employed in society offices, at the nominal subscription of 2s 6d. The library, with its reading-room attached, is found to be a special boon to unemployed members.