WOOD ENGRAVING, FOR ILLUSTRATING BOOKS, CATALOGUES, PERIODICALS, &c. WILLIAM J. WELCH Begs to call the attention of Publishers, Authors, Printers, Stationers, &c., to his Establishment for the DRAWING & & ENGRAVING ON WOOD. Blocks for all kinds of Colour Printing executed in the finest Style of the Art. OFFICES-25, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND, LONDON, W.C. WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE, LONDON, E.C. Printed for the Proprietors by W. H. SMITH & SON, of 186, Strand, in the Parish of St. Clement Danes, in the City of Westminster; and published by E. W. ALLEN, of 11, Ave Maria Lane, in the City of London. No. 44.- Friday, July 1st, 1870. NO ELECTRICITY, NO BOILER, NO EXTRA INSURANCE. To Start or Stop the Engine, all that is necessary is to Turn the Gas On or Off. Particulars, Testimonials, and numerous References may be obtained on application, and the Engine seen at Work. FRED. B. VALLANCE, BRIDGE STREET, GREENWICH, Price, Delivered in London-Quarter-Horse Power, £40; Half-Horse Power, £65; Cne-Horse Power, £85; Two-Horse Power, £110; Three-Horse Power, £130. ARTICLES.-CHARLES WHEELER, Journalist, NO NEWSPAPER PROPRIETORS TO BE SOLD, TRADelves instructions at his office, The Oaks' Crescent, Wolverhampton TO EEDER NEWSPAPER PRINTING MACHINE, by DRYDEN, to Print a Paper 40 by 364 inches, in excellent working order. May be seen at work, on application to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C. NEWSPAPER MACHINE, by NAPIER, in good working order, FOR Table 51 x 40. Apply to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C. OUBLE-DEMY ULVERSTONIAN, by DAWSON. Apply LONDON, E.C. DOU OUBLE PLATEN MACHINE (Imperial), by BROWN, Kirkcaldy, in excellent order, for sale, cheap. Apply to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE, LONDON, E.C. WHARFEDALE PRINTING MACHINES. TWO DO, UBI ORO SUPER ROYAL ditto, all recently new, to be sold, DOUBLE DEMY MACHINES, for best work (one for a bargain. Apply to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE, E.C. CUTI UTTING MACHINE (12-inch, diagonal) FOR SALE, nearly new, by FURNIVAL. Apply to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE, LONDON. TWO WO-COLOUR PRINTING MACHINE, by CONISBEE, (Double Royal), nearly new, for sale cheap. Apply to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE. FOR SALE With instructions complete-nearly new. FOUR DEMY SALE.-CROWN FOLIO STEREO-APPARATUS. By WROUGHT IRON NEWS CHASES, with Wrought Iron Side and Footsticks, to supply full or summarised reports of the iron, coal, and hardware trades of TO PRINTERS, FOR SALE, CHEAP, THE FOLLOWING SECOND-HAND PRESSES, &c., in thorough working order :- FOLIO POST Do. Do. DEMY COLUMBIAN Do., by Long. ROYAL SCANDINAVIAN, by Hopkinson. Apply to HUGHES & KIMBER, WEST HARDING STREET, FETTER LANE R. WHITEHEADS AND BROTHERS, ROYAL GEORGE MILLS, GREENFIELD STATION, near MANCHESTER, Manufacturers of all kinds of BLANKETS AND TAPES FOR LETTER-PRESS PRINTING; FELTS FOR PAPER MACHINES, and LINEN, WOOLLEN, and COTTON CLOTHS, for other Mechanical Purposes. Agents for the Letter-Press Trade :-Harrild and Sons, 25, Farringdonstreet, London, E.C., who have on hand a large Stock of Blankets and Tapes. De Carters Dalton Engravers and Quoins-also 20 Column Rules, all nearly new.--Apply to Lewis & Owen, ELECTROTYPERS and STEREOTYPERS. Casts from up Oswestry. NEWSPAPER PROPRIETORS.-A REPORTER Tof experience destres an engagement. Is a good reporter and descriptive writer, and could fill up time at case, if required. Salary not so much an object as a comfortable situation. Address XENO, post office, Aylesbury, Bucks. SUPERIOR WOOD ENGRAVINGS. a HE Publishers of the "Art Journal" respectfully announce which have appeared in that Journal and in other illustrated works issued by them; and that they are now prepared to supply Electrotypes of the best quality from any of these Blocks, at the rate of Ninepence per square inch (with a few exceptions). The Electrotypes will be delivered ready for printing, and guaranteed to work equally as well as the original Wood Engravings. They comprise several complete Series, in addition to a large miscellaneous collection, amounting in all to ABOUT TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND. Copies of the whole may be seen, at any time, at VIRTUE and Co.'s, 294, City Road, London; or further information will be furnished by Post to inquirers. A very extensive Stock of Engraved STEEL PLATES, in good condition, are also available for printing from, on very moderate Terms. ESTABLISHED 1852. EXHIBITION OF 1862-HONOURABLE MENTION. VICTOR MOREL, ELECTROTYPER AND STEREOTYPER, 48, FETTER LANE, E.C., Produces all kinds of Electrotypes for Printing, Embossing, Bookbinding, &c. 2,000 Blocks kept in Stock for Printers' Ornaments. Exhibition medals of every size and variety. J. & B. DELLAGANA Are prepared to furnish estimates for the supply of STEREOTYPE and Surface Plates for Engravers always in Stock at the Lowest Price. 106 and 107, SHOE LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. W. SARVENT, STEAM MACHINE LITHOGRAPHER TO THE TRADE, 54, REDCROSS STREET, CITY, E.C. To Proprietors of Illustrated FOR SALE, ELECTROTYPES OF UPWARDS OF 40,000 Wood Engravings. Address Messrs. CASSELL, PETTER, and GALPIN, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London. .C. If we glance through the work done, we find that the P.N.S. have hardly taken an enlarged view of the operations, power and scope of the newspaper world. We have a vivid impression of the manner in which Mr. Taylor of the Manchester Guardian was browbeaten, when he solicited the aid and co-operation of the society in forming the active Press Association, after the P.N.S. had failed to establish a telegraphic association of its own. There is one remarkable fact that "One of the oldest Subscribers" appears to have overlooked-that, whilst the subscription was only half a guinea, the number of subscribers increased very slowly indeed, and though the funds in the bank increased, the whole efforts of the society were confined to nailing defaulting advertisers to the door of the P.N.S., and to complaining of the low prices offered for advertisements. When the society decided upon raising the annual subscription to £1 1s., a permanent home was found for the society at the Salisbury Hotel, and certain privileges are given to members at that hostelry. The number of members has increased under the new régime, but the funds have declined, until the society finds itself obliged to appeal to the members for increased subscription, and is met by the circular in question. JUST as the NEWSPAPER PRESS was about to be published last month, we received a copy of a circular purporting to have been addressed to each member of "The Provincial Newspaper Society," with reference to its expenditure, by "An Old Newspaper Proprietor, and one of the oldest Subscribers." The letter is one that demands an answer at the hands of those who have the management of the P.N.S. The facts set forth are startling if true, but unfortunately we have no guarantee of their 'truth. Indeed we are assured, and we know from actual enquiry, that the original subscription of 10s. 6d. per annum was raised to one guinea, only five years ago, so that it could not have remained at a guinea for upwards of twenty years. A lapse of memory may account for this, but certainly that excuse ought not to avail "An Old Subscriber," who overlooks the fact that the increased sub-editors, but not with a view to their increase. This may be mere scription was demanded in order that the dinner might be paid for out of the funds. At the first glance it does seem "wasteful and extravagant to spend two thirds or thereabouts of the society's funds in eating and drinking; particularly when only a third of the members join the party," but we should not forget that the P.N.S. is somewhat of a social club as well as a trade society, and that several discussions have taken place with a view of making it a club entirely. In common fairness to the subscribers at large it ought to be either one or the other. A society of the rank and importance of the P.N.S. ought to be above suspicion, and far above the paltry idea of bribing its members to attend the annual meeting by means of an expensive dinner. But we would take a broader view of the subject than the "Old Newspaper Proprietor" has done. It is a strange fact that the P.N.S. only receives the adherence of less than a sixth of the newspaper proprietors of the United Kingdom, and that not more than a third of these attend the annual meeting. We miss from the list of those who attend the annual dinners many of the most influential names connected with the Provincial Newspaper Press, and sometimes, on glancing over the monthly circulars and the annual reports, one is tempted to ask if the "work is worth the candle." A great deal of money has been expended on the Libel Bill, but that has come to naught. It is shelved and dead. In asking for too much the P.N.S. have got nothing, and this agitation did much to exhaust the society's funds. With respect to the future, it is easy to foretell the fate of the Provincial Newspaper Society. It must be merged into the energetic Press Association, with its regular staff of officers to conduct its business. It will be an easy transition, and it will give tone to the association, while it will destroy the suspicion which attached to it on the part of the great majority of newspaper proprietors and employés. It may be unfair to allude to the subject, but there has been a warmly expressed opinion frequently given, that the members of the P.N.S. have frequently debated the question of reporters' salaries and the stipends of slander, but there is a strong feeling that this has been the case, and this feeling could not exist if the Press Association combined within itself the active work and watchful administration of newspaper interests in the United Kingdom. Practically speaking, with the exception of the modification of the Libel Law, there now remains nothing for the Provincial Newspaper Society to do, save to resume its old functions of watching over defaulting advertisers and keeping up the prices. The idea of the club will, however, continue to exist, and possibly something might be done on a broader footing in connection with the Press Fund to make this a tangible reality; or at least some existing literary club, which has the necessary accommodation, might not object to receive the country members during their periodical visits to town, and at the same time promote a more cordial feeling amongst all sections of the newspaper world. "THE GRAPHIC."-On the completion of the first volume of this beautiful paper, the proprietors speak thus hopefully:-"They feel great pleasure in stating that the success which they have met with exceeds their most sanguine expectations. The Graphic is now established on a solid basis of prosperity; week by week the circulation steadily increases, while at the same time a continuous demand for the back numbers, proves that they are not laid aside as soon as they cease to be new, but are preserved as works of permanent artistic merit. Encouraged by the hearty appreciation which the public has from the outset displayed for the Graphic, the proprietors are resolved to redouble their exertions, and by constant improvements, both in the literary and artistic departments, to obtain, if possible, still more triumphant success than that which they have already achieved." THE RANK AND FILE OF THE PRESS. VIII. THE COUNTRY REPORTER. THE duties demanded of the country reporter are very different to those of the Parliamentary reporter. The latter, though supposed to have an intimate acquaintance with the various subjects brought before Parliament, always has an opportunity of knowing the general tenor of the business before the House, and the topics which will be brought under discussion. If he can pass the preliminary ordeal and has had sufficient stenographic practice, his duties, though occasionally severe and arduous, do not demand that incessant activity, variety of resource, and peculiar items of general information, which are imperatively necessary in the reporter of a provincial journal of standing. There are reporters and reporters, as in other pursuits and professions, and though many veterans are ready enough to complain that during the past few years you miss the jovial, careless, yet clever "gentlemen of the Press who belonged to country newspapers half a generation back, there is no doubt that the duties of a country reporter are as well performed as they have been since newspapers were newspapers. Doubtless, the increase which took place in newspapers some fifteen years ago introduced a number of very efficient shorthand writers, but very inefficient reporters, into the newspaper world, but these have either sank into obscurity, or have become simply "liners" in large towns. A large number have taken to other pursuits, whilst others have striven and practised until they have attained a permanent and very respectable rank in their profession. As the nature of the duties demanded of the reporter become better understood, those ambitious young gentlemen, who, on the faith of a slight acquaintance with Pitman's very excellent system of phonography, imagine that they have the key to unlock the gates of fame and fortune in the literary world are obliged to think twice ere they leave their native counters and shops, for the hard and well worn field of newspaper work. It is no doubt a seductive prospect to the looker on, to see the self-possessed reporter in the best seats of an entertainment, in the foremost ranks at a public assembly, in the most convenient position at a public dinner, waited on, feasted, and courted, whilst the outsiders are neglected, pushed, cuffed, and despised at fêtes, reviews, regattas, and festivities. The reporter is the cynosure of thousands of eyes; he passes lynxeyed guardians of the public peace, the most crabbed of money takers. The Cerberus who guards the inmost recesses of the most private pleasure grounds welcomes him, and even old Charon would pass him over the Styx if he presented himself. But under that careless demeanour, suavity of manner, and courteous bearing, the reporter merely hides a sense of responsibility and a power of work for which the world gives him no credit whatever. When satiated pleasure seekers are going to their quiet beds, the country reporter, if he knows his business, is hard at work condensing the indefinable impressions of the day into coherent language and intelligible phrases. A thousand unnoticed phases of the day's proceedings are stored in his brain, or note book, and these when produced are combined into a harmonious chapter of local history, and form a picture of the time which future historians will treasure, and over which historians of the past may well utter a sigh of regret. The power and influence of the newspaper reporter in the country varies with the locality and the individual. Occasionally a reporter will follow one who has been highly popular, or who has been disliked, and for a time he must bear a little of the odour of the ill-will which the latter has engendered, and in the other instance he may assume at once a portion of the popularity attached to his office, and, if wise, he will strive to retain it by courtesy, accuracy, independence, and impartiality. A notable instance of how differently a reporter's position is regarded in the same locality occurs to the mind. A young man of some experience on the Press was induced to accept the position of editor and reporter on a provincial journal of standing and repute. By an unfortunate mischance, two of his predecessors had left behind them an atmosphere of coldness and suspicion. The circulation of the paper was falling away, and the gentle man who had first vacated the post was building up a newspaper on the ruins of the property he had done much to injure. By care and attention the old country journal again became noted for its accuracy and impartiality, and at the end of three years the contemned reporter found himself a welcome guest in all the principal houses in the county the poorer people trusted him with their complaints, and the influential inhabitants respected his uprightness and ability. On visiting the spot a dozen years after he had been called to other duties, he had the satisfaction of knowing the paper still enjoyed the prestige and popularity he had infused into its pages, and what was more, the proprietors acknowledged that they owed the very existence of their property to his quiet energy and sagacity. He found, however, that none of his successors could afford the county or the paper a good word, and even left it voluntarily to accept inferior positions elsewhere. Enquiries outside proved that no heart was thrown into the work; it was, therefore, imperfectly done, and the position of the reporter was impaired in consequence. The golden fruit left to be gathered was turning to ashes. A few hints to the gentleman then holding the position were turned to good account, and the old pleasantness and prosperity revived. A recent case, just reported, shows how a reporter recovered £100 damages against a man who charged him with wilfully garbling his reports, but this only shows the necessity for general impartiality and accuracy. The reporter loses his position if he becomes a partisan, and his power for good is impaired if he either reports twaddle, or indulges in tall talk. There are reporters in the country who often interlard remarks of their own into their reports, but this practice is to be highly reprehended, and is fatal to the character of the reporter who does it, as well as to the newspaper in which the report appears. The profession is not proverbially modest, for that charming virtue would be sadly out of place in a dashing reporter, but the absence need not necessarily lead to impertinent obtrusiveness or rudeness. The duties of a country reporter can hardly be defined. He graduates in police and county courts. He is great at archery fêtes and flower shows. At agricultural dinners he responds in grandiloquent terms to the toast of the Press. At assizes and quarter sessions he is hard worked for a day or two. At the periodical meetings of boards of guardians, or common councils, he is a mighty individual. He is able to prompt the chairman, supply a missing link of evidence forgotten by the clerk, and is frequently appealed to by the members as to the occurrence of some matter of fact. The days of minute verbatim reporting are over to a great extent. More attention is paid to style, perspicuity, and clearness of expression, than to mere verbiage. A well written descriptive introduction, if not too stilted, or interlarded with too many quotations, is always satisfactory both to editors and readers. This, however, is frequently overlooked. A careless paragraphist rarely writes a good introduction, for what the sonnet is in poetry, a paragraph is in prose composition. It should be simple, clear, and distinct, and formed upon definite rules. Country reporters too frequently neglect the humble paragraph, though it is a curious fact, that some of the most popular papers in the provinces of Great Britain are filled with paragraphs almost exclusively. No one can take up the Stamford Mercury, for instance, without being struck by the number and pithiness of its "pars." Saunders's Newsletter, in Dublin, the Limerick Chronicle, one or two of the Scotch papers, and many others, furnish examples in point. The qualifications of a country reporter should be-neatness of paragraph construction, accuracy of facts, quick perception, a rapid and correct short-hand note, and good powers of condensation and analysation; courteous in bearing, simple in habits, temperate in discourse-in short, an accurate painstaking gentleman. "REGISTERED FOR TRANSMISSION ABROAD."-The following circular has been issued by the Post Office authorities, to all registered newspapers:-"Sir, I have to inform you that the registration of the publication named at the back of this circular for transmission abroad as a newspaper, will continue in force until the 30th September next, previous to which date a further notification will be issued. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, JOHN TILLEY.' |