Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1886.

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 116, 19 May 1886, Page 2

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1886.

OUBSELVES. To-day we present the E\jsning Post to our readers in an enlarged form. The lengthening of our columns will afford additional apace equal to considerably upwards of four columns. This, we think, will bo admitted to be a very substantial enlargement. For a long time past wo have been impressed with the necessity for enlargement, and the present alteration was decided upon more than six months ago. The great and steady increase in our circulation—hist week it was 42,750 copies, or an average of 7126 copies per night— has brought with it a corresponding demand upon our advertising space, and we have frequently been unable to meet this demand as fully as we should have liked, or as our clients have desired. The great pressure of advertisements has very often compelled us to curtail or omit reading matter of general interest, with which we havo been anxious to supply our readers. Especially has this been the caso in rogard to original correspondence, tho limited space at command forcing us frequently to hold over letters on matters of public interest until tho time when their publication would havo been useful had passed by.' To many esteemed correspondents our apologies are due for the apparent, but not real, neglect of their communications. We have also very strongly felt that the attention whioh wo have bueu heretofore enabled to bestow ou tho proceedings of Parliament has not bcdn of a character lo do justica to their importance, to Wollington as tho seat of Government, or to our own position in the ranks of the coloujal press. With greater space at our disposal wo shall in future be enabled to furnish, not indeed full verbatim reports to rival Hansard, but day by day a concise, intelligent, and accurate record of the sayings and doings of tho people's representatives in Parliament assembled. As already stated, tho present enlargement was decided on many months ago. To carry thut determination into effect, however, has necessarily involved delay, expense, and trouble. It became nocessary to provide new machinery capable of printing the enlarged sheets, and arrangements had to bo lnudo with tho English manufacturers, who make the puper specially for this journal, to alter tho size. We also took the opportunity of entirely renewing our type fonts. The new type has been gradually introduced during the last few weeks, but speaking generally wo may say that from title to imprint tho Evening Post to-night is printed with new type. In the form in which it now appears it is the largest penny paper— morning or evening—published inJNow Zoftlaud. Neithor cost nor trouble has been spared in our efforts to meet the requirements of the public and to keep abreast with the progross of the city with whose interests this journal is so closely — we may say inseparably — identified. It would porHaps be difficult to find a better or more tangible record of "the growth and increasing prosperity of Wellington than is to be found iv the successive volumes of the EvENWO Post. It is little more than 21 years since our first number was published. Of that issue we regret to say that we do not believe there is a single copy extant. Of the 200 or so which were printed on the small hand press then used, not one was retained iv the office, and oui utmost efforts within the lost few years have failed to discover the existence of a copy. In order, however, that our readers may fully realise the difference 'twist then and now, and understand from what a very small beginning our present sheet has been developed, we to-night publish as a supplement & facsimile reproduction of our second number. A comparison between its scanty proportions and those of our issue to-night will no doubt prove both interesting and instructive. The Evening Post has grown with the growth of Wellington. We owe it to the generous support of the people ol Wollington that we nave been enabled to attain our present position, and conscience acquits us of ever having willingly omitted an opportunity of advancing Wellington interests. There can bo no real conflict or antagonism between those of Wellington and those of the colony of which it is the natural centre. The contrast between our first tiny sheet and the EvEjjnja Post of to-night is not greater than that between the Wellington of 1865 and the Wellington of 1886. In tho former year the place was commonly and contemptuously spoken of as a fishing village. Now it is v fiuo city, rapidly assuming the poution of the commercial, as it already is the political, capital of the colony. Our venture in 1§65 was the first attempt to establish a daily newspaper in Wellington, and modest as it was, it was deemed a very Quixotic eaterprise, far in advance of the requirements of the times. At first it certainly appeared so, and had it been essayed by a less resolute man than the lato Mr. Henry Blundelx,, the arigbia) founder of the Evemnq Post, the effort to ga;n a footing would probably havo been abiyjdongd in despair before the venture was six months old. He, however, was not a man to readily wjjthi}ra W from any task to whioh ha hud devoted himgejf, Help came but slowly ; Burclj-.no nun yttt Put lever to tho heavy world iritli less. What need of help 1 Bfeknew how types werti get 1 He had a dauntluan spirit, and a press. Possessed of indomitable energy, and having a large newspaper expejffonce, he porse vered° He did not despise small beginuings, and remembered, no doubt, "that the great London Times grew in little "more than a century from an equally modest beginning— perhaps at the outset with no. greater hopes of success. He bid ftitti in Wellington, und he lived to see his faitb, rewarded. It was not granted to him to befrojd £hp present large proportions of the newspaper he founded and-for many years conducted so wisely and so well, but even in his time it was more than doubled in size, its foundations were finely set;, and it had entered on a career of proanorjty which has been uninterrupted up to the present time. Long before he was called away he w»b, as the result of bis labours, enabled to retire on a competency, and to hand over to his sons, the present proprietors, one of the most valuable newspaper properties in the colony. Following closely on its original lines of conduct, the Evening - Post rum ever eineo commanded and retained the confidence and support of the people oi Wellington. It has spared no effort to' deserve both, and we gratefully acknowledge the favour shown us. The present enlargement is tho ninth whjoh has . taken place in the size of our paper within the last twenty-one year.*, 60 that wo have been compelled to extond our borders, upon au average, in less than every two and a half y<w.s. Probably our present expansion will lhcst requirements for a year or two. We Lave, howevor, no doubt that as Wellington grows— and it is certain to grow even more rapidly in the future than it has done iv tho,p«st— we shall keep pace with its progress. We fully contemplate the necessity for further enlargement at no distant date, and we shall, whatever the cost may be, only bo too glad when circumstances justify and demand this. During the last two yean the increase both in our circulation and advertisements has been enormous. We confidently anticipate a continuance of this support, while, by conducting our paper as ie has been from the first ittsue to the raescftt t»w, we show that we deserve it. Gi»jJ7ftg.atea£;Jy wj'th the growth of Weilingtoo, the JLyjbjtpH) Post will still continue to afford striking jj#d practical proof of the progress, expansion, .u^d ii^rtusijijr prosperity of the community on jp/i*^ it depends for its support.