There is a new company in course of formation here with a proposed large capital to carry on job printing. The company is started with the avowed intention of cutting the ground from beneath the feet of the master-printers who have recently formed an association for the protection of the prices of work. The Master Printers' Association at its foundation drew up a scale of prices for work on a much higher grade than has been ruling here for several years, and it is the intention of the new company to cut in and do work at less than scale prices. However, from what I have heard, the master-printers have not much to fear, and I think it is time—in Canterbury at all events—that the price of printing was raised to a payable scale; for I believe competition has been so strong of late years that work has been done at prices that would not permit of the masters employing men to carry it out.

I hear that the Canterbury Typographical Association has under consideration a motion for giving scholarships in the high schools for the children of printers. This is, I think, a step in the right direction, and perhaps it might be better still if instruction could be given to apprentices in the shape of a course of lectures on printing; or the society might offer a prize or two for apprentices answering a series of questions drawn up by, say, a committee appointed for the purpose. It would tend to make the boys take a greater interest in their work, and also be an incentive to them to make the most of their time in perfecting themselves in their trade. This is done at home by the heads of big houses and founders, and perhaps it would not be out of place to introduce the system into the colonies. I also hear that the Association are trying to have a Printers' Library established.

At the meeting of the Literary Society of the Y.M.C.A. on the 13th inst., Mr Chapman, of the Referee, read a paper on « Printing. » The subject was well dealt with, and received very favorable criticism at the hands of those present. Mr Chapman touched upon the invention of printing; printing in America, China, Japan, and Russia; printing for the blind; manufacture of type; photo-printing; photo-engraving; and the influence of the press.