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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 1
[trade dispatches]
From a far country—even from Buenos Ayres—a printer with a foreign name sends an order for Typo. Yet there are still some printers in New Zealand who have not subscribed!
Miss Maxwell, wood engraver, Dunedin, sends us some specimens of her work. They represent different styles of the art, and are all exceedingly good. A figure subject in outline, displays artistic taste as well as mechanical skill in its execution. We hope Miss Maxwell will find a profitable field for her talent.
At Hastings, on the 2nd September, before G. A. Preece, R.M., Alfred Amory George, printer, was charged by James Henry Clayton proprietor of the Hastings Star, with false and malicious libel. The ground of action was a long letter written by accused to Mr W. Beyer, Napier, and shown by him to other printers. The letter professed to « tell how his [Clayton's] paper is run, » and described prosecutor as « a blackguardly scoundrel whom every printer ought to shun. » The accused, who reserved his defence, was committed for trial, bail being allowed. His Worship expressed his disapproval of criminal proceedings in a matter of this kind, and refused to certify for costs.
The London paper Tit-bits has been publishing accident insurance coupons—the friends of any person killed in a railway accident being entitled to £100 from the publishing office if a copy of the paper is found on the person of the deceased. That the offer is bonâ fide has been proved in one instance by the payment of the amount. But tin Inland Revenue Office has taken proceedings against the paper. Each copy being to all intents and purposes an insurance policy, should have borne a penny stamp; and the penalty for each unstamped policy being £20, the publisher has rendered himself liable to a penalty that would pay the National Debt. He has obtained a legal opinion to the effect that there has been no breach of the Revenue Act; but he will probably find some difficulty in inducing the Courts to take this view of the matter.
The « Kerbstone Howler » is the elegant title invented by the Saturday Review for the Pall Mall Gazette. The Saturday is sorely exercised over the Langworthy exposure, and displays its own powers of ululation with piercing effect. The article in question exhibits an ostentation of legal knowledge almost sufficient to justify a suspicion as to its source of inspiration. The scrupulous accuracy of all Mr Stead's statements regarding the case constitutes, in the reviewer's eyes, an aggravation of his offence, as precluding the actions for libel which would have been promptly instituted had a single erroneous statement appeared. The crime of blackmailing is punishable with penal servitude for life. The Gazette, in reporting a case of the greatest public importance, which the rest of the press had chosen to ignore has, according to the Review, been guilty of as serious a crime against society—but for which English law provides no penalty!
For printing the innocent-looking word « sheepwash » the Melbourne Argus has had to pay £250. A certain firm imported 13 tons of bisulphide of carbon, a most dangerous chemical, as ordinary merchandise, thus evading special freight and insurance charges, and causing deadly risk to the ship and all on board. The master of the vessel having stated that the stuff was shipped as sheepwash, the Argus in forcibly commenting on what Mr Justice A'Beckett afterwards called « a danger of the most terrible description, and an offence of the most serious character, » inadvertently copied the shipmaster's statement. The importers, on the sole ground that the goods were described in the shipping documents as « merchandise, » instituted an action for libel; but a verdict was unanimously given for defendants, who, as the Judge said, had made the statement « in discharge of a duty to the public. » A second trial was obtained, and a two-thirds majority of the new jury was idiotic enough to find a verdict for the plaintiffs, with £250 damages. The Argus has had the satisfaction of putting an effectual stop to the villanous practice it has exposed, and willl not be much inconvenienced by having to pay the amount awarded; but the fact remains that more than human accuracy is sometimes demanded of the journalist who ventures to denounce the grossest wrongs or abuses.