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Typo: A Monthly Newspaper and Literary Review, Volume 5
[miscellaneous paragraphs]
This is from the Fielding Star. « Earl Dudley, we learn from an English paper, is going to give up storekeeping, and to marry a Princess. If he had advertised more this necessity would not have arisen. »
The Rangitikei County Clerk rather startled the Councillors a few days ago in reading the tenders for a piece of road-work. Opening one of the envelopes bearing the proper endorsement, he read: « Dear Annie, » ——and suddenly stopped; nor did he even go so far as to discover whether the tender epistle was written to wife or sweetheart. The tender was passed over as informal. What the Gentle Annie said when she opened her missive is not on record.
The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes:—A well-known member of the Australasian staff is at present laid up —Mr E. S. Chapman, the « Augur » of the sporting column. He has never recovered from an attack of la grippe which seized him as he was setting out to one of the intercolonial meetings. It fastened on a weak lung, and he is prostrated with bronchitis and asthma.
Mr D. Christie Murray, in his lecturing tour last year, showed so much histrionic ability that several newspapers suggested that he could make his mark on the stage. Much to the regret of his friends, Mr Murray joined the St. Maur theatrical company, taking a part in a play written by himself. Telegrams from Victoria state that a rupture has occured between Mr Murray and the company on account of financial matters, and that a lawsuit is pending. If, as a result, the author of « Aunt Rachel » leaves the stage and resumes his story-telling, the public will be the gainers.
By the last San Franciso Mail information was received that Mr Percy Baldwin, of the Middle Temple, had obtained a fresh scholarship at the Inns of Court, amounting to £50 a year for three years. This makes three scholarships, amounting in all to £200 a year, won by this young man during his residence at the Inns of Court, which is said to be a result never previously obtained by any colonial student. Sir Richard Webster, the Attorney-General, has publicly complimented him on his success. Mr Percy Baldwin is a son of Capt. Baldwin, proprietor of the Wellington Times.
The Melbourne Shorthand Journal says: Reporters generally have wondered how the ranks of the Government shorthand writers' department have always been so restricted, but it is so because of the fact that the leader of the staff declines to have anything to do with any shorthand writer who uses any other than his pet system, which is something after the style of Gurney, with a few alterations and additions from Mr Webb, at one time chief of the shorthand writers in the colony. It seems an extraordinary thing that Pitman is debarred in favor of a system which has almost gone out of use; and a determined effort will have to be made to break down the barrier of restriction raised apparently for no other purpose than to create a monopoly of some fat Government appointments.
A well-deserved check has been given to a theatrical company in Queensland. Their stock-in-trade consisted of foreign dramas of the dullest type, and of more than doubtful morality. They usually failed to draw until one of the company would have a strongly-worded anonymous letter published in a local paper, alleging that the plays were grossly indecent, and asking if in the interest of public morality they could not be put down. By this trick they contrived to fill the theatre for the rest of the season. At Brisbane the Acting-Governor was invited to one of these performances. He took the trouble to ascertain what kind of piece was to be played, and wrote declining to attend, as he « objected to be present with ladies at a play of that character. » One of the company read his Excellency's letter to the audience, prefacing it with a vulgar sneer; but it caused cold chills to pass down the spines of the females present, and gave them a shock which it is hoped may prove salutary.
Young Author— « ؟You have read my new novel, I suppose? » Laconic Friend— « Yes. » Young Author— « ؟What in your judgment ought that book to bring me? » Laconic Friend— « Remorse. »
At the Poverty Bay sitting of the Supreme Court the other day, the word « Kihipene, » was repeated once or twice to a witness, and His Honor innocently asked: « ؟Kihipene means sixpence, doesn't it? » Counsel said it meant Gisborne!
A young man who had been talking to a bored editor for quite a quarter of an hour, at last observed: « There are some things in in this world that go without saying. » « Yes, » said the editor, « and there also are some persons in this world who say a good deal without going. »
Fame has its penalties. Under the title of « Kipling's Romance: A Pretty Story, » a piece of slanderous gossip from some American kennel-raking periodical is going the rounds. It bears every outward mark of being an infamous invention. Respectable papers should shun paragraphs bearing the « Police Gazette » stamp in all cases; but a specially grave responsibility attaches to the circulation of those that libel living celebrities.
Sir Noel Paton's new picture, « Beati Mundo Corde, » representing youth made strong by faith to withstand temptation, is thus described: On a lonely mere, under an evening sky, a young mail-clad knight stands in a boat beside his steed, his head crowned with a helmet surmounted by great golden wings, his gaze fixed upon the pure upturned face of a white-robed angelic figure that sits at the prow and holds the oars. In the murky water of the lake float two sinister figures— Pleasure and Despair.
A curious change has come over the Wairoa Guardian lately. It seems to have found its mission at last—to annihilate the temperance movement. It began the attack by an altogether false and libellous paragraph about a temperance benefit society in a distant town; and it has now developed into a kind of Licensed Victuallers' Gazette. It should be enough, surely, to suffocate an ordinary man who does his best to remove temptation from a neighbor's path, to read that his life exhibits « that intollerant pharasaism which enshrouds itself in its exclusivism and smug self-complacency impervious alike to reason or argument. »
An incident occurrred on November 22, which showed remarkable fertility of resource on the part of an English newspaper. Owing to an accident at the gasworks, the town of Middleborough was wholly deprived of gas for all purposes. This did not come to the knowledge of the North Eastern Daily Gazette (the machinery for printing which is driven by gas power) until ten o'clock; but a novel idea was evolved and promptly acted upon. A gang of workmen was hastily obtained from neighboring works, and heavy iron plates were laid in the yard adjoining the printing room, through the wall of which a large aperture was made. A 15-ton steam road-roller was then got into position, shored, and rapidly geared, and one hour only after the usual time of starting, the powerful Marinoni steam printing machine began work, the issue of 64,000 copies being produced without a single hitch in this unique manner.
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The Daily Telegraph says:—A single sentence of Mr Gladstone's speech at the National Liberal Club occupied twenty-four lines of news-type, and contained 214 words. It was like one of those orthodox German sentences that look as if they would run into the Ewigkeit—except that its meaning was perfectly clear and uninvolved.
At Leeds Assizes recently, a physician obtained a verdict for £1,000 for a libel published by the proprietors of a patent medicine. The libel consisted in the defendants publishing in one of their pamphlets a statement that the complainant had wrongly treated a patient, who had all but lost his life under his treatment, and whose life had been saved by taking their patent medicine.
There is no better edited daily in the world than the London Echo. Mr Passmore Edwards bought it from Baron Grant (who had sunk a vast sum in the concern without any success) for £18,000; sold it to the Carnegie syndicate for £70,000; paid a fine of £5000 rather than complete the sale, and sold it the next year to the same syndicate for £75,000, buying it back two years later for £100,000. He now values it at £140,000. The net profits have reached nearly £10,000 a year.
A little closer supervision of the humorous column on the part of newspaper sub-editors would not be out of place. Too often these tit-bits are cut out half-a-column at a time, and run up without any examination. The result is occasionally the appearance of matter quite unfit for publication. In a New Zealand weekly, specially addressing itself to ladies and to the home circle, we find a witless verse, containing an abominable double entente, of the kind which formed the special feature of the late Sydney Dead Bird.
Messrs Hazell, Watson, and Viney, in declining to tender for the London School Board's printing, drew attention to the undefined responsibility which the printers incur. In their own case a verdict was recently obtained against them for libel contained in proceedings of the Board, which they were under contract to print, and although the Board had guaranteed the costs, they had never been paid, and the firm is now commencing proceedings for recovery. These gentlemen add— « We are unable to see why a printer for a public body should be expected to bear a responsibility from which a private customer would immediately relieve him. »
The nasty Dead Bird of Sydney quickly succumbed after it was refused mail transit. An attempt was made to resuscitate it under another title, but in the first issue appeared a libel against the Postmaster-General, who promptly served a writ for £2000 damages, and the Bird is now trebly dead. But the family is not extinct. There is more than one weekly sheet in Sydney nearly or quite as bad, but which manages as a general rule to keep as close as possible to an infraction of the laws against libel, sedition, and obscenity, without committing any obvious or flagrant breach. No law can be so framed as to repress this kind of literature; but it is rapidly corrupting the younger members of the community, and is clearly responsible for much of the lawlessness and vice with which the Australian governments find themselves confronted, and which are a standing menace to the law-abiding population.
It is announced that Mrs Patchett Martin has in hand a volume of short stories by colonial authoresses only.
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly (New York) is in future to be known as Arkell's Illustrated Weekly.
A new craft organ entitled the Engraver and Printer has made its appearance at Boston. We have not seen a copy.
Messrs Marshall & Sons, publishers, have presented the profits of the publishing of the Methodist Times, amounting to over £300, to the Aged Ministers' and Widows' Fund.
The Dunedin Globe has been offering prizes for original stories. One of the successful ones opens thus: « 'Come on, boys, your father's going to tell you a story,' cried Mrs Sabine to her two little twins—both seven years of age » —a promising beginning!
The home correspondent of the Dunedin Star reports that Mr Phillip Mennel, who has for many years acted as cable correspondent for the Age and South Australian Advertiser, finally severed his connexion with those journals on New Year's Day. He is succeeded by Mr Terry, of the Sydney Telegraph, and Mr J. Graham Hill.
Under the title of Motive, Herr Seemann, Leipzig, is issuing in parts a collection of single decorative subjects in outline, comprising selections from all styles and ages. It is compiled by Max Heiden, the curator of the Industrial Art Museum, Berlin, and will contain 300 plates, with some thousands of subjects.
It is a fact well known to all journalists, though strangely overlooked by professional writers on hygeine, that the regular payment of newspaper subscriptions is conducive to longevity. The London Globe can produce a notable instance. For many years an old subscriber, signing himself « J.S. » has sent by post an annual greeting to the editor. He has just sent in his congratulations along with his 66th year's subscription in advance. Here is an example worthy of imitation.
The good old times when master and workman lived in harmony and spent long years of life together, have not quite passed away. On the 16th December, the completion of the fiftieth year of service of Mr Edward Hicks, foreman of the electro and stereo department with Messrs Silverlock & Co., was celebrated, and he received some handsome gifts from his employers and fellow-workmen. This is the third jubilee celebrated at the same office within the past nine years.
The Chicago Herald is about to put up a six-story palace. The proprietors intend to do the thing properly. « The bath-rooms, the toilet-rooms, the lunch-room, the reading-room, the barber's shop, give to the reporter and the typo, and the perspiring stereotyper and pressman all the comforts of a modern club. Hot and cold water flow in rivers everywhere throughout the building; there is steam-heating that will satisfy the chilliest of mortals; there are luxurious elevators, to which the workers have the same rights as the tenants of the leased offices; nor are the patient carriers and the hustling mail department and the wild-eyed newsboys forgotten. »
Contributor; « ؟How much ought I to get for this poem? » Editor: « About fifteen years. »
« An excellent magazine: always fair, candid, and well-written; the printing and makeup good. For its size, there is nothing better in the world. » This is what the Printers' Register (St. Louis) has to say of Typo.