THE "EARLY DAYS" OF NEW ZEALAND JOURNALISM.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 193, 22 August 1885, Page 5

THE "EARLY DAYS" OF NEW ZEALAND JOURNALISM.

[Concluded.]

• us to Mr Fahvasser a aversion la"d ( mbe^etb, 1843. It was issued fro.r f i" Chance^trcct, by T. G. ?lry, f« the proprietor J. Moore. M " d c Hsemenb nro numerous, mid Tho then we two worth mentioning ninong tnt' fg (ho fourtll all a j fts t part Tlie Monnaeil'j Maori Grammar, wliicli of »'■ «»u" 0lof publication. Tho price «• °n, 1 rrown, and tho size, 48 pages was M"-2,, tbcr advertisement referred octav' 01 £ho a cruel shot at Mr Falnrasser ""•f.Jrtoe" "ft.Mt run. : " For sale, a """"inr Engliaii-mndo powerful mangle AN'Vin "hit issuo announces "that " v "iitfioient number of subscribers should » El™°!, j lr k. C. Joplin would Til-"* pot entitled "No/zealand." PSears that the necessary subscribers 11 PP to bo found in young Auckland, *"'"■ Vn 21 of tho samo volume of the to'Lil" (27th Dec , 1843) this advor- ': Chr°ti »%.: "Just published, te«mef ~ . j- e «- Zealand,' a poem in 3 I*"? "hv X C Joplin. As thore are only cantos, u> • • application is necea 'feffC°C y»t "the Chronicle ' Ollice » ,« w Zealand Almanac " for 1845, prico o n.bfohcd by Ueorgo Buckingham It nnHceable that tho übiquitous Rowland hrf <lyintroduced to the pakelim and V«?i hU incomparable Mncoj^r Oil "..The Southern Croc*. Now Zonknd Rnarilian, and A..ekla.nl, Thames, and Bay • winds Advertiser," commenced it* lorn Saturday, April 22nd, 1843. I. «Ufehed weekly, and charged to subSirs 10s per quarter, payable!., advance A!wrti-ements were inserted at the rato o tfnrsix lines and under, every additional in threopenco. It was printed in Shortl"dCrescent for tho proprietor by l\ K« M t «nd 0. E. Hunter. Its leading f r ticlo found a subject, not unnaturally, in Wli-and it. enemies, of whom there wore •nnnrently at least a few before the venture Stto existence. Then follow articles on tho current topics ot the hour :-" New t tand compared with other Australian "totaas a field for emigration ;■ Injun. Mints per Weetminster, two hundred of Ch Padboe n recently landed and badly treated at tho hands of tho authorities ; Great Barrier Mining Company, of which Mr Abercrombie was tho loading spirit, and which promised to hare in tho course of a couple of months 100 tons of copper ore ready for exportation ; County Court ; annual Licensing Meeting, where eighteen public houses and taverns passed under the notice of the Justice? ; Correspondence ; a poem; extrac's from other papers ; and a three wlnmued account of an overland journey from Auckland to Port Nicholeon. Such, with advertisements, are tho contents of ih'efirst number of tho famous " Cross." One of the local paragraphs deserves cita-tion-"Good opportunity of forwarding letters to England. Tho Caroline, whaler, toils from tho Bay of Islands for London in the latter end of this month. A mail will bo mado up at tho ro3t Office to go by her and forwarded to thsßay by tha first opportunity." Among tha advertisements this ono reads strangely, though to bo sure tho days of twenty-five perciat. are not yet past in Auckland: — "Wanted £150 to i'2oO upon undeniable security, and for which 25 j>er cont. interest will be paid." The names of tho advertisers in the first numbor are aa follow : — Nathan and Joseph, John I. Montefiore, Edward Rich. Gibson and Mitchell, Brown ami Campbell (who offer Baltic timber, placed, tongued and proovod at 12s per 100 feet). In tho third number of the "Cross," the following list of current prices is given :—Pork offered by native traders at 2Jd per lb. ; potatoes £2 10s to £3 per ton; tishat nominal prices ; melons, pumpkin!, turnips, cabbage?, and garden staff of native growth at less than half their cost in England. Hire U the first issue of another wcllknayn newspaper, " Tho Now Zealander," nhich bears tlato Juno 7th, IS-1-"), and was printed and published by John Williamson it Thompson's Lane, Shortland Crescent. Its motto was tho hackneyed " Bo jußt and fear not," and its politics as expressed in to Wing article : " In a colony tho only fen.'iWepolitioa for all classes is unanimity in promoting the advancement, welfare and prosperity of (heir adopted country." Tho longest article takes up most of the 1(3 damns of the paper, and has for its subject tho courso of events at tho Bjy of Islands from the commencement of Hone Heke's "rebellious proceeding! " to dato. The "New Zealander" could not boast a good start so far as advertisements too concerned, for they aro contained in a couple of columns. The names of the advertisers will perhaps be interesting to fomo whoso memories reach back beyond tho present generation ; -Brown »nd Campbell, W. S. (Jrahamo, J. and N. Siams, Hart, H. R. Crotnay, John Scott, William Wilson (bakor), R. and D Graham

So far, newspapers of the North alono have be:n mentioned, but tho "Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chroniclo" takes us to tho other Island. A very curaory examination copTincea one that this was by far tho best printed of the euly newspapers. The paper is of an unusual thickness, tho type clear cut, and tho machining to match. The price chargod was 10s per quarter in "Jrance, anj the proprietor, Mr Charles tJiot A 12 paged supplement to No, 9-1 (23rd Deccmbo', 1843) contains an elaborate «M carefully prepared narrative of tho nuran massacre, illustrated by a map of ™ «ene of the occurrence. There had e.laprcd, it U only fair to remark, a<nple '"as in which to prepare this narrative, for tne massacre took place six months proviously, Crossing over tho straits wo light upon, "The Now Zealand Gazette, and Wellington Spectator," represented in tho Museum collection by No. 30S, dated December 20th, 1813. It was published wcea ireek. An Almanac for Wellington, price la, is advertised to appear on Ist. January 1814. Tho paper in question negan it 3 career on April 18th, 1840, and fas, therefore, one of tho first published in 'no colony.

I 1 Jn WellinSton Independent," (No. 35, «ly 30th 1845), mado it 3 appearance on »e<ine?day ß and Saturdays, and proudly claimed to bo " tho only papor in New «aland published twice a week." The Mv«msement sealo was 2* for six lines and unaer, 3d for every additional lino. Tho names on the imprint are fivo, viz., E Roo, i'fjwnt, J. Muir, G. Fcllingham and r. McKenzie. Still another Wellington paper, "Tho »w Zealand Spectator and Cook's Straits r wn'" which W!V3 i?suorl overySatm-- ?{; bo. 20 bears dato February 22nd :;. ! a.ni* tn° imprint states it to havo been Wed by E. l; 00 and published by Wm. X, Tho Wellington Almanac for 1845 ti t a year of Publication—is advertl,» i. interesting fact or two about «>B.shore whaling parties of tho colony tv% i! n tlien°w's columns. It appears WM* darius 1814 there were employed 85 ~ ,r by G73 men, who were successor We °g lll3° tODa Of oil and -7' tons fr»ei?u ning to Auckland, thero remain a mL ?l' papers to mention, but the roraarkstheroonwill bo brief, as this article „, ''^J exceeded the limit* originally propped "The Anglo-Maori Warder" LI,, 6' \ Iay 30th 1848) was published mtl y, Me?prs w»ll'amson and an '°. ' n question contains a highly Zu^ / nd oul°!*tio ™™ of •n* [ t0 10 "f Thackeray', " Vanity Fair." S iS 6 »f tho autl^ who wm thus AnWji*0 in*rorl"o3 Becky Sharp, C tolll> y> ? nd Captain Rawdon C™"--be,,l. , "land publio cannot Probably to * "!'™ w- for ho was too-modest An-ft. ?• 'nitiala t0 llis Production, fchthlr T mCDt ann 0«»« that on June "Kaivl2 ' WOuld b0 Iniblifil>cd of Price*. klV nata!"-a o nga ;«i ctua." The Journal* v' 1 Examiner and People's ■fi' >?; 3°. 'J^ocl July Oth, 1857. PWMDv ? tOn «««sp« quarter, or6d ran ,d l veF £ t"iemontH werocbarficdat :'Klc a 1 -a-wown for S lines and TbTLSi? 1 overy line additional. 'Sheta w W>; nd,ham-Btre e t, and tho pnb--01, Weie J' RWmitoon, and T. J. Sanj^Tho Maori Messenger, Te Karen

Tholastpaporto bo mentioned is a tiny 4 paged quarto affair named " Tho Albert t"andTh° U°i' Mr S' J°llnsOn P^d it, and the subscription demanded woa the modest sum of :is per quarter. The repre whirl, 1° °T ■ l h°- lVluSoum i 9 the f°u*h which saw tho light in September, ISG3 Another short quotation from i)r Thorn son respecting New Zealand newspapers will not unfittingly bring the present article to a close 'In lboS.-'says tho Doctor, "there wore 15 newspapers published in the colony: Iwo semi weekly and two weekly, at Auck land j two somi-wcokly at Wellington and Nelson j two weekly at Canterbury and Utaaoj and ono weekly at Taranaki, Uanganm, and Napier." (Vol. II Pp 215-40, J.D.I).