OLD “STAR” DAYS

Hawera Star, Volume L, 10 April 1930, Page 5 (Supplement)

OLD “STAR” DAYS

EARLY OWNERS AND EDITORS REFORTING THE FIfRE OF ’95 (By Joseph Guerin, Wellington “Evening Post.”)

It is indeed a great compliment to have been asked by the Editor of the ‘ ‘ Star ’ ’ to write an article on the early days of the paper; and it is an added compliment that the suggestion to the Editor that I should Avrite one came from Mr Patrick Galvin, one of the founders of the “Star,” one of my first employers, and a veteran of journalism in New Zealand.

In this article 1 will hu\e, at tin. start, to uring in a little or me personal element, for, tiiougn 1 was not on the “£>tar” stall when tm paper started, 1 was "connected" with the journal, being the telegraph messenger (.under Mr \V. J. Chaney who delivered tile many messages tin “Star” received day alter day. i car well remember the hrst nay of issue— April 10, 18b0 —when all Hawera was aw.aiting the arrival of the hrst newspaper ‘‘babe’’ in the southern portion of Taranaki. l<'or there was a "lusty infant' ’ at- Patea at the time—-the ‘•Patea Mail” (now “County Press”; — and the then proprietor of the "Mail” iiad “eyes” on Hawera as a place where he could add to his reputation as a newspaper-man. 'Phis was Mr Joseph ivess, the “ragplanter” as he was known in Press-life. Shortly after the advent of the “Star” the “Hawera Mail” twfis issued by Mr Ivess, and delivered around Hawera by “mounted courier” (a boy on horseback). The issue contained a number of items associated with Hawera, but for the most part it was a fascimile or the Patea paper. It did not last, long and the “."star,” now high, ro-se still higher.

Now tiie personal element has once more to come in, but it will, J tliink, be excused. J. had left Hawera and had gone to Patea, on the “Mail” which Mr Ivess had owned, but which he l had sold to Mr Edward Houghton, a former London journalist. In 1881 l joined the : ‘Hawera Star” staff as a young “comp.” Air Joseph .Braden Innes, one of the proprietors, was in charge- of the mechanical part of the paper—a finer type-setter has never been seen than ho. Air Galvin was editor, and he wrote articles of momentous importance to the district, which was then troubled by the conduct of To Whiti and Tolm—the • ploughing of land and other objections to European settlement. .Mr Galvin was a master of style. (In a number of occasions I have known him order the “unlocking” of the “forme” to have inserted or to have deleted a

comma which may have altered the meaning of a sentence. (This was; of course, before tile advent of “King Linotype.”)

Patea was then .so far advanced (being an older tmvn) as to have for the printing of its paper a Wharfedale ma-c-hiue (with “llier), while tiie :ilawera Star” was printed, by moults of an Albion hand press. The late George Purdy, well-known to old 11a-wera-ites as a champion walker at athletic sports, worked tiie press, and I (when-1 went to the “Star”) manipulated the “roller. 5 .’ MR J. C. YORKE’S ENTRY 1 have mentioned Mr Innes and Air Galvin in the foregoing, and now Alt J. C. Yorke comes into the picture. He was the “silent partner” at the inception of the “Star,” but later came into active management. He was a “Bluecoat” school boy, hatless, stiff-haired, a fine figure can .loot or on horseback. Alauy Hawera people will, in their mind’s eye, see him on his chestnut pony riding to his home at Inalia. Fifty years ago is a long time 4 to look hack on. and therefore* my remarks must of necessity be n little disjointed. But J must now refer to one of the outstanding men connected with tiie “Star”—the late Air W. A. Parkinson, the finest newspaper man I have over met. possessing a marvellous; knowledge of the world’s affairs,

peculiarly alert seiisp of the Hawera district's wants and -probable disabilities, full of "go,” a strong man, who placed the “Star” in a position from which it will never recede. I worked under Mr i’nrkinsou for a nuniher o: y«iiin, and 1 owe much to Jiis trainin');. He could condense a report without losing • the ‘‘meat” better than any man J. have known, and as a “longhand" reporter he (with Mr York'*) was unequalled. He was a Journalist. WORKING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. I well reinember the big tire of 1895 when seventeen buildings wore destroyed and two lives were lost. The “Star” building (then in lower High Street) was destroyed. The Post and