FATHER OF THE PRESS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 86, 8 October 1929, Page 8

FATHER OF THE PRESS

(To tho Editor.)

Sir,—''Condor," in his letter under the above heading, states: "I think it is incontestable that he (Mr. Kevans) was the father of journalism in New Zealand " My reading of this aspect o£ New Zealand history, coupled with a knowledge of the history of printing, gives me the impression that this is contestable, and as a seeker I shall enumerate my impressions. "The Press" is a. wide -term, and would mean that the man who printed and published the first newspaper could be the father of the Press, but not necessarily the father of journalism. To father journalism, or anything, I should take to mean say, a man who takes a paternal control and interest in the welfare, progress," and growth of journalism, for its own sake, not because he used it as a means 'to an end, nor even though he was responsible for its origin. George Stephenson was not the first to discover the power of steam, as is popularly supposed, but he certainly fathered the invention of the utilisation of steam power. Mr. Revans was a printer and I understand when he wrote, he wrote to the Press, not from it. As an intelligent man Mr. Revans took a keen creative interest in the first colonisation of the colony, and in this he deserves high tribute as one of its great founders. This applies also to a number of splendid pioneers who wrote to and for the Press but did not father it. It is, apparently, contestable that Mr. Revans actually edited the paper lie printed, and as one who hopes later to join the ranks of JTew Zealand historians, I need more than assertions that he did. In his book, "Early Wellington," Mr. Ward states: "On the removal from yi to-one to Thorndon in 1810 the 'Gazette' received the name of the IJ.Z. Gazafcte and Britannia Spectator/ Mr. W;

5S ..(IaT C % T SU'-^ VUJ ialu> bein 5 to 1843. If Mr. Ward is right, it seems that my contention has some foundation. ' In the sense described Mr. Wakelin certainly fathered journalism in New Zealand, and whilst I do not specifically claim for him the honour of father of New Zeaand journalism, it would seem that hia being a trained journalist, and continuously acting prominently in that capacity at a time when there were possibly no other professional journalists in the "field gives him some claim to the honour be! pS^ny^ars^ 8 *"** " lm" father, of architecture, but it iTparallel foVSfm * a Print6r WaS the fa™°f tW Cl d rent£ Uy ' "Condor" * 1 to say that Mr. Eevans was "apprenticed to the printing trade/ It should read '%tinti£

• _ _ HISTORY.