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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 6

Press and Personal Record

page 92

Press and Personal Record.

Comical things sometimes happen in connexion with company papers; and one of the oddest on record has occurred in the office of the Wellington Times. Mr Jellicoe, a well-known lawyer, had moved for an inquiry into the death of a Chinaman at a lunatic asylum. Later on, referring to a leader in the Times, he wrote that he had seen the manuscript, and that it was in the handwriting of Dr Macgregor, the Inspector of Asylums. The Times denied that the manuscript was written by the doctor. It was in a hand well known to the editor. Next day, the paper further explained that it was not the custom of the office to produce manuscript leaders for the examination of those interested; that Mr Jellicoe, during the absence of the editor, had called and persuaded a junior reporter to show him the document, asserting that it had not been correctly printed! Strict precautions had been taken to prevent such a thing happening again: and that as a matter of fact, the article was written by the editor himself. Since the appearance of this article, a letter by Mr Jellicoe has been printed, in which, as a director of the Times company, he requests the manager « to preserve for a meeting of directors the manuscript of to-day's sub-leader … I shall require to know what justification your editor has for publishing a sub-leader contributed by persons who are not on the staff of the paper. » The magnificent ignorance of newspaper usage and superb defiance of journalistic etiquette displayed by all concerned are almost without precedent. In any other than a joint-stock concern they would be impossible.

The Taranaki Herald comes out with an 8-page illustrated Christmas Supplement.

Mr A. Pallot, for many years bookkeeper in the Telegraph office, Napier, has now joined the staff of of the News in the same city.

The principal New Zealand weekly newspapers have this year shown more than ordinary enterprise in the production of extra Christmas numbers.

« Man know thyself » is seriously quoted by the Wairarapa Star as a passage of Scripture. « Not dead, but liveth, » is a favorite quotation of another journal. We would like to know where the editor finds it. Mr H. Ellison, late editor of the Waipawa Mail, has bought the Wairoa Guardian, and takes over the concern with the new year. The public of Wairoa county are to be congratulated on the change in the management.

We are glad (says the Marlborough Press) to learn that our old friend Mr E. H. Petherick has got into harness again, and is by this time installed in the editor's chair of Mr C. G. Beckett's new paper at Inglewood, in the Taranaki district.

« Our special thanks, » says the Wanganui Herald, « are due to the proprietary of the Chronicle for the kindness and courtesy extended to the Herald office during the past fortnight in performing the necessary machine work connected with the issue of this paper. Through an unforeseen accident our machine broke down. »

The Wairarapa Daily Times has made a « buil » of a very neat kind. It publishes a letter a column in length, criticising some of its editorials, and adds a footnote: « We willingly allow the rev. gentleman the last word, though we would have wished that his last word had not been so long. We must now, in the words of our friend Oscar, 'pull the string.' » To allow a critic the last word, and at the same time add a postscript to his letter, is ingenious.

After the affidavits lodged by Mr Haggen, in the libel case, it was clear that the matter could not be allowed to rest. An information was laid by a local doctor against the plaintiff, charging him with malpractice, resulting in a committal for trial, when the prosecution was taken up by the Crown. In the Supreme Court the professional evidence was conflicting, more than one doctor testifying positively that an offence had been commited, while another was equally positive that all was perfectly regular. The result was an acquittal. The case will do good, as it must lead to a needed reform in the law of the colony. It was not generally known that it is lawful for a chemist who chooses to take the risk, to privately perform operations of a delicate and critical kind, such as no medical practitioner, possessing ordinary prudence, will undertake, save in the presence of a responsible female witness.

؟Who was Sara Slick? We find her quoted in the Egmont paper.

« The new organ of the Chirologists, » a contemporary informs us, « is entitled the Psalmist. » Probably Palmist is intended.

« Our usually well-conducted and above the literary average con temporary » is a late example of New Zealand newspaper English.

The Bay of Plenty Times complains that while the editors of the Coromandel News, Te Aroha News, and Hauraki Tribune have all been appointed J.P., its own staff, from editor to machine boy, has been ignored. Another injustice to Tauranga.

The Wellington Typographical Society have just paid the last portion of the costs and expenses in connexion with the libel action brought last year by Mr J. Evison against their President and Secretary. The total cost to the Society was nearly £300.

Mr G. Jackson, overseer of the jobbing department of the Wellington Press, was presented by the apprentices, on Christmas Eve, with a handsome silver-mounted pipe. The gift came as a surprise to Mr Jackson, and mutual expressions of goodwill were interchanged.

« 'O Lord!' exclaimed Cauth when she had recovered her breath. Her mistress could only stare helplessly …. 'You little divil!' cried Cauth. » This is a sample of the elegant style of realistic fiction gracing the columns of our religious contemporary, the N.Z. Tablet.

The staff of the Wairarapa Daily Times gathered round the stone a few days ago, when Mr J. Poynton, on behalf of all hands, presented Mr H. Winsett, one of the staff, with a handsome marble clock and an address, as a testimony of esteem, and as a wedding gift to himself and his intended bride, Miss N. Hill, of Masterton.

« Professor Pearson justifies Rachael's reasons for excluding the Chinese from Australia. » Such was the puzzling item in a late Wellington Times telegram. Who the lady was, and what were her reasons did not appear. The real message was, that the Professor justified Chinese exclusion « for racial reasons. »

The supervision of businesses by trade unions has been carried pretty far in Wellington. The latest example is in the baking trade. Unionists have been called out from the shop of a certain Mr N., who employed union hands, kept union hours, and paid union wages. But he was found to work himself two hours longer than the men; and it was resolved that this could not be permitted. The union states that it has taken action « in the interests of the employers. »

Mr Seffern's « History of a Colonial Newspaper » has been read with interest in England. The Daily News of 15th October devotes a leader to it, and the Marquis of Salisbury, in a letter to Mr Seffern, dated 14th October, 1890, thus refers to his visit to New Plymouth fifty years ago: « I have a lively recollection of my arrival from the Manukau iu the little vessel you mention, which, as far as I can remember, was of thirty-two tons burden. The half-deck formed a very cold and wet bed during the night's passage down the coast; but the beautiful view of Mount Egmont was more than a compensation for the discomfort. »

In a former volume we noted some beautiful specimens of heliotype work sent to us by Mr Spencer, photographer, of Tauranga. The locality was not a good one for such a process to yield a profit, and we are glad to see that Mr Spencer has found a better sphere for his talent. We are in receipt of a parcel of specimens from Messrs Spencer and Stevenson, electrotype block makers, collotypists, &c., Albert-st., Auckland, and the plates, which are admirably printed, are, without exception, the best we have seen produced in the colonies. They include reproductions from photographs and from line engravings, and are enough to rejoice the heart of the printer who has had to wrestle with ordinary colonial process-blocks. We hope yet to show some of Messrs Spencer and Stevenson's work in our pages, and we wish them all success.

The libel action against the editor and printer of the Prohibitionist was heard on the 19th inst. The Rev. L. M. Isitt, the editor, was fined £2 and costs; Mr T. E. Fraser, the printer, was fined 1/4d, without costs. The case is of interest as showing how a very slight error as regards a matter of fact may cast a newspaper in damages. The alleged libel stated that one Drummond, a publican, had promised the wife of a drunkard that he would not supply her husband with more liquor; that the man afterwards went to the hotel drunk, and was served with a bottle of whisky; that the wife taxed the landlord with breaking his promise, when he said that the drink must have been supplied by the housekeeper or someone else. It was in fact the barman who had been spoken to, and who was addressed as « Mr Drummond » by the woman, who took him for the landlord. For this inaccuracy (which did not affect the main point) the landlord claimed £750 damages, « We assure our readers, » says the Prohibitionist, « that we neither feel nor intend to express the slightest regret for our article. »

page 93

« Cyclops » comments thus on the Wellington Times incident: « Moral No. 1: Don't trust a lawyer inside a newspaper office. Moral No. 2: Don't trust a lawyer at ali. »

« Time rolls his ceaseless flight » is the quotation with which the Western Star begins an article. We would like to know where the line is found.

The companionship of the Christchurch Press send Typo a neat three color card containing the season's greetings, which we heartily reciprocate.

From the companionship of Sands & McDougall, Melbourne, we have a striking Christmas card, in rule-and-tint. A Cupid and an easel are the principal features of the card, which was designed and composed by Mr J. Wighton, upon whom it reflects great credit.

Mr Syms, J.P., Woodville, threatens an action for damages against the Press Association for alleged garbled reports of the abortion case. The public are pretty sick of the affair, and are not inclined to regard with equanimity the re-opening of the unpleasant subject.

As showing the wonderful effect of advertising, says the Pahiatua Star, we have only to mention that Mr Tosswill inserted an advertisement on Wednesday for a bunch of lost keys. The next morning he put his hand in the side pocket of his coat, and there found the missing articles.

Last month we noted the mysterious and nearly fatal assault on Mr J. L. Kirkbride, of the Wellington Press, by some person unkown. Circumstances have since pointed to a young man named Albert Thomas, a cabinetmaker, as the assailant. He was arrested and remanded more than once, Mr Kirkbride not being sufficently recovered to appear in court until the 23rd inst. Evidence having been taken, Thomas was committed for trail

The Star Almanac, Innes & Co, Hawera, expands visibly, year by year, and now contains 420 pages, exactly one-third more than the issue for 1891. It is scarcely necessary to speak in terms of praise of this excellent handbook, its reputation is now so well established. We are glad to see that the advertising support is liberal, and that the increase in this important section of the work is in proportion to the rest of the contents.

The abuse of quotation marks is sometimes carried to a ludicrous extent. A fine example occurs in a country contemporary, where we read that « the report of the committee presided over by Lord Onslow 'whitewashes' 'General' Booth, &c. » Throughout the paragraph the words General and Army are most punctiliously punctuated. Really, if the « new » « management » of the newspaper in question realized how « perfectly absurd » and « ridiculous » this « style » of « punctuation » looks in « print, » they would « instruct » their « intelligent » « compositor » to « drop it. »

A curious libel case has just been decided in Sydney. The newspapers were out of it this time. A boarding-house keeper and his wife claimed £500 damages from a greengrocer, who, failing to obtain payment of a small account alleged to be due, hired a man to walk up and down in front of plaintiffs' house with a placard bearing the words « bad debt collector, » occasionally knocking at the door. The jury found a verdict for £300 damages, in addition to £2 paid into court. This decision should be of interest to certain debt-collectors who occasionally resort to similar practices.

The redoubtable A.J.Millar, Dnnedin, of « strike » celebrity, has issued another manifesto. He says: « Capitalism, to-day, through our want of knowledge and carelessness, is stronger than civil governments. It controls a hireling press to dupe and poison the minds of the wage-earners against each other in order that they may be subject to it. In times of strikes it lauds to the skies the so-called free-laborer; in times of industrial peace it calls him a loafer. » This is so much blank cartridge. The amount of confidence the public have in Mr Millar was conclusively shown at the last general election. It is always the unpopular and disappointed man who blusters about « a hireling press. »

The Globe printing office, London, was destroyed by fire on the 24th inst.

At a conference of anarchists in Brussels, it was decided to start a paper to advocate their interests.

Those who agitate as « unemployed » in London object to the liberty of the press. The Daily Telegraph and the St. James's Gazette have received letters threatening violence if they continue their criticisms on the movement.

The London Society of Compositors has recently admitted a woman as a member. Mrs Pyne, who thus leads the way for the sex, is employed as a a compositor at the Kelmscott Press, Hammersmith, which is under the direction of Mr William Morris.

The American faith in the power of the dollar is superb. The representative of an American syndicate lately visited Printing House Square with instructions to purchase The Times. The agent and his principals were disconcerted to find that the property was not for sale. Then they tried the Daily News, and were even more surprised to find that money would not buy the concern.

« Messrs Sampson Son, Marston & Co. announce without any explanation, that they have withdrawn from the publication of Miss Kate Marsden's On Sledge and Horseback to Outcast Siberia, which has been so extensively advertised by them. » New Zealand readers will have no difficulty in finding a reason. The lady romancer has probably at last stretched her long bow to fracturing point.

The career of the late Mr W. H. Smith has a curious parallel in that of the late Caiman Levy, the great Paris publisher, who for many years sold an annual average of 1,725,000 volumes and 2,500,000 periodicals. Besides this he maintained fourteen paper mills, thirty printing offices, twelve bookbinding establishments, and eighty-five other manufacturing establishments. He began life as the proprietor of a little open-air bookstall, with a capital of 9s, and died worth about three millions sterling.

Mr J. E. Blue, editor of Conner's Typographic Messenger, sends us a very original card, in rule-and-tint, with curiously scrolled effects, introducing the portrait of the founder of the firm. A golden comet, with a pink-and-blue striped tail, curls gracefully across the card. Teutonic influence is shown not only in the type selected, which is Schwabacher of various sizes, but in the very diction. The heading, « Typefoundry James Conner's Sons, » reads like a literal translation from the German.

More calendar blotters from the States. Our enterprising friend Mr W. H. Wright, the « electric » printer, sends us his latest, with device of a hand holding a torch. We have one nearly every month from the W. N. Durant Counter Company; latterly the company has wisely had them printed by Mr Wright, whose work in this line no one can surpass. Mr Wright also sends us a little book, a « harvest » of notices of his calendar blotters and general work. It is needless to say that it is got up in admirable style, and is full of original ideas. Even the « ink-blot » design is made use of, and affords room for a play of Mr Wright's humor.

One doss not usually find mixed metaphor in the leading columns of a London morning paper; and when one does, it is, as might be expected, in an article on Irish affairs. « The Irish home-rulers, » says the Standard, « believe they have got Mr Gladstone in a cleft stick, and they have no intention of allowing him to quit that uncomfortable position until he has given them all the pounds of flesh they clamor for. » In the same article we read that « Mr McCarthy and his following, frightened out of their placidity, and alarmed lest Mr Redmond and his little band should out-trump them, protest that it is they who will continue to put the screw on the prime minister. »

The Printers' Register contains some particulars about the sale of the Pall Mall Gazette which may be relied on. The buyer, or at all events the nominal buyer, is Mr Lowenfeld, proprietor of a much-advertised « temperance drink. » He is supposed to be acting for certain American financiers. More important is the identity of the editor. Mr E. T. Cook, the former editor, is replaced by Mr C. Kinloch Cooke, to whose ability the success of the Observer and English Illustrated Magazine are sufficient testimony, and he is assisted by a strong staff. Between Mr Cook and Mr Cooke there is likely to be some confusion. Mr Gates Thompson, the late proprietor, behaved very handsomely to the staff on severing his connexion with the paper.

Mr F. W. Thomas, of Toledo, Ohio, sends us a packet of really unique specimens, in which, by the way, we see no sign of what he has made a specialty—rule-curving. « The Lady and the Printer » is a « booklet » of four pages only, in imitation parchment cover. The lady, a graceful figure in outline, appears on the cover; the printer, Mr Thomas himself, is represented within. A neat advertisement in blue, with orange initial, sets forth Mr Thomas's specialties in fashionable printing, and an illustration of the striking sign of « the Electric Press » occupies the fourth page. « A Business Point » is a collection of decidedly original postal card advertisements, quaintly illustrated, and with marginal comments. We cannot but infer that many American business houses leave the form of their advertising announcements almost entirely to the printer's discretion—in this case with mutual advantage. « A Souvenir of Admatha Blodget, a Patriot of the Revolution, » is a job for a customer, in the same neat style as « The Lady and the Printer. » Some neat cards in colors are also enclosed. It is not necessary to wish Mr Thomas the prosperity he deserves—every specimen before us gives a proof of a successful and thriving business.