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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 4

[miscellaneous paragraphs]

A Christchurch firm recently received by mail from a customer the half of a £1 note, with an accompanying memorandum stating that for safety he would « remit the balance in stamps!»

Mr J. DeCosta, president of the Gisborne Phonographic Society, has resigned. He has been eight years in the one town, and has made up his mind to travel. The Society accepted his resignation with regret, and with many expressions of good will.

The Gisborne Standard satirises the committee that organized the Eight Hours' Demonstration in Auckland for calling for tenders from the various bands to supply the music. It says, « Music by contract will be a pretty sarcasm on the cause of Labor. »

The oldest printer in Ohio is Walsh C. Wolf, who still makes a good « doc » every week on the Standard. He is 82 years old, and has worked on the paper from its first number. He entered the Baltimore Gazette office at the age of sixteen, and has worked steadily at case for sixty-five years.

We have received a finely-printed programme, four pages quarto, in blue and gold, printed at the Napier Telegraph office, for the consecration of a Masonic Hall. Napier has for years past been quite abreast of the big cities in the matter of high-class printing, and the specimen before us does credit both to Mr. W. Timperley, in charge of the job-room, and to the machinist.

Sir Henry Parkes (says the Shorthand Journal) is the most lucid speaker in the N.S.W. Assembly, and gives the reporters the least trouble. He has the calm deliberative philosophical style of a statesman always anxious to weigh his words and speak by the card. The consequence is, that he is nearly always faithfully and accurately reported. Sir Henry's speeches, like those of Mr. Gladstone and the late John Bright, give the pressmen no embarassment in writing out.

Mr Hogg, a candidate for Masterton, whose decalogue is briefly comprised in the new commandment, « Thou shalt hold no land, » is the latest newspaper man who has been tripped in over his Scripture references. In a speech at Woodville he said that if the sons of Noah had « inherited » the characteristics of certain North Island settlers « they would have divided the whole world between them. » Upon which the Telegraph quietly remarks: « It may be news to Mr Hogg to learn that this is exactly what the sons of Noah did. »

Napier and West Coast comps will read the following item from the Australian Shorthand Journal with interest:— « Mr. Schulstad, until recently on the reporting staff of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, has been appointed shorthand writer in the Justice Department, at a satisfactory salary, and with good prospects. It may be said of Mr. Schulstad that, like William of Deloraine, he was 'good at need,' and prepared at a moment's notice for any thing, from a cock-fight to a coronation. His talents will be somewhat buried in the monotonous routine of a Government office. »

A correspondent writes: « A type-setting contest for one hour between two members of the Wellington Evening Post companionship—Messrs. J. W. Kilner and C. Curry—came off a few days ago, with the result that the former « put up » sixty-five lines of minion (12½ ems), and the latter fifty-nine lines. After making deductions for corrections, Mr. Kilner's total was brought down to sixty-two lines (2,666 ens), and Mr. Curry's to fifty-eight (2,494 ens). When it is taken into consideration that the copy was an average Letter to the Editor, the performance is an exceedingly good one. Messrs. J. Rapley and A. Clark acted as judges, and Mr. F. C. Millar as referee. It is only fair to state that Mr. Curry is assistant maker-up on the paper, and is therefore a little out of practice. »

In the N.S.W. Legislative Assembly on 1st October (says the Shorthand Journal), Mr. Torpy presented a type-written petition. The Speaker said that the standing orders provided that all petitions should be in writing, and that they should not be printed or lithographed. He should have to rule that this particular petition was not in writing, and that type-writing was a form of printing. Mr. Dibbs said that when the standing orders were drawn up, type-writing was not invented. There would obviously be many conveniencies if documents of this character could be type-written. He should like to move, with concurrence, that the petition should be received in type-writing, with a view to its being taken as a precedent for the future. The Speaker said that a difficulty might subsequently arise through such improvements being made in type-writing that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish it from printed matter. Sir Henry Parkes: « I object. » The petition was not received.

page 136

Mrs Miller, wife of the Governor of North Dakota, dropped into the office of a newspaper at Dryden, N.Y., recently, and set a couple of stickfuls of matter, as a reminder of the old days when she was a compositor in that office and the Governor was « making up » to her.

Mr E. A. Haggen, the proprietor of the Woodville Examiner, announces in his issue of the 7th inst., that he has introduced the co-operative or « profit-sharing » system. The workmen take no risk, and no deduction is made from standard wages; but at the annual balancing each receives a share of the profits as a bonus. We record the fact with pleasure, as we hold that it is in this direction that the solution of the labor difficulty will ultimately be found. And in the second place, we regard it as a particularly hopeful sign that any newspaper in this colony finds that it has any profits to share.

It is small business to make merry over a mere « literal, » when it gives no unintended or comic meaning to the sentence. A contemporary—noted for its own slovenly reading—asked if « The meeting then adsournek, » in its rival's report, was English. Curiously enough, the critic's paragraph also contained two literals in one word. And in another column, in the same issue, appeared the phrase gorma pauperis. The second word will be recognized as Latin, but, as the immortal Mr Peggotty would say, we are « gormed » if we know what language the other is!

The Dunedin dailies, in view of the great number of parliamentary candidates, have adopted a kind of « closure. » They both make the following announcement:—

Election Speeches.—Local candidates for election to Parliament are notified that a report of each candidate's first speech to the electors, not exceeding two columns, will be given in the—, and if they wish subsequent speeches to be fully reported, arrangements must be made for same with the manager.

It is quite time that such a step was taken, and we expect that the good example will be pretty generally followed in future. No candidate can complain of unfairness in this system—all are on the same footing; and if they are not able to « strike ile » in two columns, so much the worse. As polling-day approaches the strife waxes fast and furious, and with seven or eight candidates spouting nightly the expense of reporting all their verbosity would be too much for the wealthiest paper in the colony. Nor has the man who is rich enough to pay for a report every day the slightest advantage. If he thinks his much speaking will help him, he will be greatly mistaken. The last few sessions have made the electors realize more than ever before that the business of the country is neglected for the sake of talk, and there is no representative so much in request as the man who has the priceless gift of silence.