Journalistic.

Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 1017, 11 June 1878, Page 3

Journalistic.

- . ♦— HOW A.MRTH LAD LOST £1000 I!» HABD CASH. Mr Mackie, the Conservative candidate for the burgh of Perth, addressed a meeting of the employers of Messrs Pullar & Son, dyers, lately. It had been said, he remarked in the course of his address, that, though he had been a successful _ newspaper publisher and proprietor in uorne parts of England, he had lost a good deal of money in connection with one newspaper. Now, that haH nothing

to do with this election ; but the story was this —In 1874 there was a newspaper in London which got into trouble. A Perthshire man of unknown kindness— a man who always upheld his own party like a man — had invested a good deal of money in it, and he came to him (Mr Mackie) after he had'retired from the active management of his own busineßß, and was residing at his ease in London, and asked him if he would look' into the books and suggest any way of making both ends meet. Now he should have given the benefit of hiß experience in such circumstances to the most Radical editor, let alone a Conservative. He stated that if he were to recommend them to go on any longer with the 7 "concern T he "would invest some money in the business ; and having made a recommendation to that effect he paid in to their banker £1000 in hard cash. The concern went^on for a good while, and he reduced their expenditure from L6ooa-week to L 213 a- week ; and so hopeful was be of leading the paper to victory that when some difficulty was experienced in raising money he accepted an offer which was made to him to purchase the paper entirely. Before the legal formalities were completed, however, he was prostrated by bilious fever, and another Scotchman came in and' carried otrthe paper till the day of its death. There was nothing in that to be ashamed of ; indeed, during the time he was connected with, the paper he did two or three things redounding to the credit of newspaper management of which he thought he had reason to be proud. Mr Bright, whom all valued as a liberal statesman, made his annual speech at Birmingham. He siood up to speatat eight o'clock, and by his management he (Mr Mackie,) was able to publish a verbatim report of the speech in London the same night— a feat 1 never accom* plished by any English or Scotch newspaper before. On an other occasion, when a 'speech was delivered in' the House of Commons which he knew would be criticised next morning by all the newspapers, he sent' to the leading papers in the country, Radical, Liberal, aud Conservative,' asking them to forward their opinions on the subject and he was enabled to present next' morning the unparalelled number of 83 extract* from different newspapers, giving the opinions of editors on the speech delivered the night before. If people wanted to attack him let them look out for something better than his newspaper management He was sure there was not a soul present who did not rejoice that a Perth lad had risen to be able to do such a thing.— (Cheers.)