THE “LYTTELTON TIMES”

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12398, 11 January 1901, Page 3

THE “LYTTELTON TIMES”

A MEMORABLE JUBILEE. FIFTY YEARS OE PROGRESS and achievement. {By R.A.li:) “English newspapers, ISke BrJ^ Constitalie.il, have grown gradually their present strength.’’ T* we words used by the-London noticing the first issue of tin* journal. Old' colonists have a lively and recollection of the spirit in which the Can terhury settlement was founded. Canterbury people at large of been taught the same thing by paireg of the Jubilee edition, on. which the “Canterbury Times” reviewed, a lew weeks ago, one of the most remarkable and successful colonising experiments' o modern times. AH will, therefore, understand the reason which prompted! the bug “Thunderer,” still holding the pride of place it held in that far-off time, to make those remarks. Its namesake, the “Lyttelton Times,” was a small thing judged by pages, advertisement? andi extent of news. But from tbe point of view of tbe growth of great journals from small beginnings, the London editor regarded it as a big thing, and stamped 1 the first numbers of his contemporary with the appropriate aphorism. The aphorism is true as it is appropriate. It is a rule which, like all other rules, has exceptions. Ini land those distinguished weeklies, “The World,” “Truth” and “Modern Society,” a, score of monthly such as “ The Strand,” “ The Ludgate, ‘ Pearson’s,” “Harrasworth’s,” the “Westminster,” of recent days, as “The Cornhill, ■ Macmillan’s,” “ Temple Bar,” and others of an earlier time, and phenomenal ; daffy journals, like the “Daily Graphic,”' the "Daily Mad,” arid the “Express,” have leaped into successful financial life, armed at all points, as Minerva did from the brain of Jove. In Australasia the examples are fewer. The “Sydney Daily Telegraph,” indeed, is the only dally journal which began life fully developed. Four 1 years it had languished under an incapable directory, when, new ideas and fresh capital coming to the rescue, it at ones achieved the largest circulation! in New South Wales, and has remained at the head of the journalism of the Mother Colony ever since. On both sides cf the -ocean, however, the history of the bulk of newspapers has been very different. How the great provincial papers of Great Britain have grown gradually into their one, and in some cases two centuries of profitable life, may be seen in the columns of any encyclopaedia; and how the London, dailies, led by the “ Times,” have developed, many; of them to their centenaries, Mr Saunders told! the world fifteen years ago, in his entertaining volume upon “ English Journalism and the Who Have Made It.” In Australia, the “Sydney Morning Herald” goes back to the thirties, the Melbourne “Argus” to the fifties, the Melbourne “ Age'” to the sixties, the Brisbane "Courier’’ to the fifties, and the Adelaide “Observer” and Hobart “Mercury” -to the same decade. These have all grown by degrees with their respective countries, and, as the poet would have said had he thought of it, beautifully greater with time. This is the law of British journalism only. In America and France there has been gradual development, too, in this old style, but the number cf journals rushing up above ground with suddten glory is like that of the mushrooms.

The “Times” knew 'the ruling line of British history when it caught sight of its ambitious young namesake, and! promptly declared' it. To that rule, it may be here remarked, New Zealand journalism has been exceptionally faithful, as there is not in its history a single exception. Of the New Zealand dailies one of the oldest is the “New Zealand Times,” older than its name, for it began life as the “ Wellington Independent ” in 1844, under the guidance of Mr Thomas Mackenzie, who was like most of the journalistic pioneers—at all events, those who succeededl—a practical printer. The very oldest is tiie “New , Zealand Herald,” which, also, is older than its name. This powerful journal was started by the late Mr C. Wilson in 1863 (Nov. 13K but was some years afterwards (in 1876) incorporatedl with the “ Southern Cross,” then under the guidance of Mr Horton. This well-known newspaper proprietor had established! the “Timaru Herald” in 1864, which, under the subsequent management of Mr Bellfleld, ably assisted l by the brilliant pen of Mr E. Wakefield 1 , gave an excellent account of itself; as, indeed 1 , it does to this day. In the amalgamation of the “ Herald ” and “ Cross ” the name of the former was retained. The “ Herald,” therefore, may claim to go back to 1843. The “Otago Daily Times” started, like these two journals, in the germ of another journal, the “ Otago Witness,” which first saw the light on Feb. 8, 1851. The Christchurch “ Press started in 1860, and) the “Dunedin Evening Star” in 1866. From end) to end of the colony, New Zealand journalism has, without an exception, followed Hie rule promulgated in 1851 by the “ Times,” that “ English newspapers, like the British Constitution, have grown gradually into their present strengths." “ We are proud of his acquaintance and envious of his power.” This- other remark made by the “.Thunderer” in noticing its new .contemporary is worth hearing in mind. The “Times” was agreeably surprised', in fact, that the new journal had: dbne so well, from the journalistic point of view,-.and so quickly. It recognised that the elements of the usual growth were present. It touched, in point ,of fact, the exceptional thing in the establishment of the “'Lyttelton Times.” Auckland; founded in. 1840, had a paper, “ The New Zealand Gazette,” also called the “ Herald,” which was founded in 1841, but that paper died in nine months. Wellington had a paper in advance, “ The Gazette,” 'which, published its first number in 1839 in London, and Wellington saw the second number of the same printed on the beach among the bales and boxes of 'She first immigrants in 1840. But the paper died, in 1844. The same city saw the “ New Zealand Journal” started in 1840, which, in spite of the brilliant and able direction and writing of Mr H. Chapman, afterwards Judge of the Supreme Court, mid Mr Revan's, one of the best-informed men New Zealand has ever seen, went out of existence in 1843. “ The, New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian” was started in 1844, a year before the “Independent.” But the last-named was the only one which lived. In Dunedin, the settlement was furnished with a journal with equal promptitude. Indeed, the protecting /shadow of journalism was over the Otago settlers all through their voyage out in 1848, projected from the office of the “ Otago Journal” published in Scotland, which paper maintained a flickering existence till 1852. Locally MiHenry Grab aim started* the “Otago News” on December 13, 1848, but as he criticised neither wisely nor well, ids paper was not r seen after December 21, 1850, and Otago was without a paper till the establishment of the “ Witness ” on February 8, 1851. The Canterbury Settlement was just as promptly served with its newspaper as any of the other settlements, for the Pilgrims landed on Deo. 16, 1850, and the first issue of the “ Lyttelton Times ” appeared on Jan. 11, 1851. But the Canterbury paper published thus promptly was the only one of the whole aggregate of early publications which surtho eaahvjddfficullifts flndt.cam&Llums&

to greatness on the shoulders of the settlement which was contemporaneously founded. In this respect the position of the “ Lyttelton Times is absolutely unique in the journalism of the colony.

The “ Lyttelton Times ” was one of many details of colonisation ; the first four ships were said at the. tame to have carried every necessary detail from a dignitary of : the Church to the domestic fowl. These details did not all prosper; but manv did exceedingly, The Lyttelton Times ” was in this category. Its establishment was arranged for by the Canterbury Association, which contracted with Air Ingram Shrimpton, of the Crown Yard printing office, Oxford, to send out in one of the first ships all the plant and material required for a newspaper. The men who made the arrangement were quite aware that no one would venture, without substantial consideration, upon the project of establishing a newspaper in an unestablisihed settlement. However much a newspaper expert might believe in the country, he was not likely to begin his trade in it too early. But the pioneers regarded education as one of the essentials of their enterprise. It, had been- announced that sohdoling for the, young would begin on. board the first ships, and in pursuance of that promise Dean Jacobs was given charge of the germ of Christ’s -College which was put on hoard with him. To these founders it. seemed that education could nor stop with childhood. Endowments for books had been set -aside, but it was necessary for the np-keep of the general education- to- have a newspaper to place the truth before the new settlers in everything. Without a free Tress they felt that free speech might be dangerous, and that free meeting ivould to a large extent be useless. So they made their arrangement with Mr Shrinipton,. promising him at the same time a subscription of a thousand- copies weekly for a year, All John Ingram Slirim-pton, son of the gentleman just mentioned, accordingly came out to Lyttelton in- the Charlotte Jane, with a printing press -and a staff of printers. On arrival the plant was disembarked, and the first printing office of the “Lyttelton Times,”-a modest but commodious building, was put -up without any unnecessary delay. Its dimensions were twenty-eight feet by fourteen-, and it was divided into three parts, respectively used as composing room, editorial room and press room. In the last-named the original press -was duly installed, and there it did good work for as many years as it could keep pace with the leaps and hounds of advancing settlement. j 6e(^or was the late James Edward -Fitzgerald, whose name remained a household word in Canterbury long after he had left the province to reside in Welling--111 A he com Parative obscurity of official life. The first issues of the paper owed much to the genial secretary of Robert Godley, to hfe versatility, power and humour. Mr (afterwards the Reverend) Francis Knowles was the first sub-editor, to whom was due the method and order which no journalist can fail to recognise at the first glance over any of the early numbers. The manao- e . ment, including the canvassing, was controlled by Air Shrimpton, who was probably as -much astonished as were the conductors of various journals, the “ Times ” among them, at the practical evidences of energetic vitality the -pioneers of colonisation af, forded him.- To -these three was due the praise so lavishly bestowed uoon the first numbers of the paper by its namesake, ihe praise was not unmixed with banter, but it was the .half-exaggerated, wdullyappreciative kind of banter -which a stronoman bestows on a child who surprises him by doing his work. oi. his play, with capacity and thoughtfulness. The phrase frequently occurs in the “ Thunderer’s ” laudatory article, which covers every department of colonisation chronicled by the new paper that the settlement was “indeed.” as the founders bad intended, “a slice of Old England cut from top to bottom'.'” It was the character of the organ which had impressed fact on -the' London writer. Having said that he was proud of his new acquaintance .and envious of his'power, the “ Thunderer went on to ask, “If the edithr of the Lyttelton Times ’ could create so much out of nothing, what could he make out of such a breeding heap as this of London.’' That was a high tribute to the first editorial staff of this paper. It was at the same time a clear perception of the spirit which, triumphing everywhere over early difficulties, Las made New Zealand journalism what it is to-day from the North Cape to the -Bluff.

To the brief Fitzgerald regime succeeded that of Air Birch, whose fate it was to face the first election storm in our history. How many of these electoral tornadoes the “Lyttelton Times ” lias gone through in the halfcentury that has gone by so rapidly since that day, it would be impossible without a long and careful computation to say with any degree of accuracy. It is also impossible to say that any of the seven editors who have followed,-All’ Birch have handled the craft on these - stormy occasions with more courage and skill than he displayed on taking her through her first breeze. Neither was humour wanting to the pages in those days. Mr -Birch had a great .facility in throwing off “squibs,” which kept the community in a constant .state of amusement. In 1854 Air Ingram Shrimpton. came out to take charge himself, and edited the paper for little more than a year. Business had been so good that he was able to take larger premises in Oxford Street, and to increase the issue of the paper. At first it was an eight-page weekly. On August 4, 1854, it -became a “ bi-weekly,” and in March, 1856, the eight pages became twelve. In July of the last-named year Air Shrimpton sold the paper to Alessus 0. C. 80-wen and Crosbie Ward for £SOOO, and the latter practically became the editor. ..tie was one of tbe most reiharkable men this colony has seen. As a politician he was great, but as a Journalist he was pre-eminent, by reason both of Ms character and his method. The former gave to his -paper the toughness or fibre necessary for success, and to himself the ambition to lead his adopted country through the best political paths of advancement, His method was the outcome of a literary faculty which while keenly appreciative of every phase of literary achievement, rose in the difficult art of paraphrase to absolute genius. As his imagination was powerful, his wit ready, and bis courage high, it goes without saying that he was never taken at a- disadvantage. No occasion found him without a finished epigram or a shrewd retort ; no situation presented itself that he could not analyse in a sentence for good or for evil; nothing Jeu-ld exhaust his picturesque versatility; and through all he ever held , steadfastly the path he had marked clearly out from the beginning. Above all things he was thorough. Whatever cause he took up, that he believed in, and -that he supported with all his might, subordinating everything to the main chance, for which he had a remarkably discerning eye. No trouble was too great to secure accuracy of knowledge, no exertion was beyond his power of straining of every nerve to secure Ms object. A loyal friend he was, as well as a strenuous enemy, and his favourite maxim was that “war cannot be made by squirting rose-water.” These qualities carried the “Lyttelton Times”“to- the front of New Zealand journalism, and their owner to- the first rank in politics. His. untimely death after he had successfully established the first Panama mail service ,was widely regretted, but nowhere was it felt more keenIv than in the office of the paper in which, while leading it in an unbroken career of victorious usefulness, he had set the special stamp of his alert, robust, just, caustic and manly genius.

In 1857, twelve months after the sale of Mr Shrimpton’s interest, the size of the paper was enlarged, and in 1861 Mr Bowen, whose writings during his connection with the paper had helped to • maintain the high literary character with which it had started in life, finding it necessary to return to the Old Country, sold his interest to Mr William Reeves, with whom were associated Messrs J. W. Hamilton and T. Maude. For many years after this the paper was issued under the imprint. “ C'tosbie Ward and William Reeves.” Mr Reeves was another of the personalities of good influence to the character and fortunes of the “ Lyttelton Times.” Naturally, with a partner so strenuous as Crosbie Ward on. the literary side, he fell heir at the outset to the commercial- dntieg tn Jsss. but scarcely

less vital. There was need at the time for efficient service. In fact, the. main feature of ’the commercial side of those days was a laxity in the collection of accounts, which suited well enough with the careless spirit of a rollicking community, cheerfully and profitably subduing a readily-yielding wilderness, hut was not business, as Air Fitzgerald had pointed out a few years before, at one of the dinner’s of the founders in London. The settlement in its very infancy had risen to the proud distinction of first place in proportion to its population among the producers acknowledging the Queen’s supremacy. Naturally tbe business element, which had been very strongly represented in the original “ slice cut- out of Old England from top to bottom,” was distanced in that extraordinary race of progress which had so greatly exhausted the very men who- had run it. The consequence was a prevalence of the haphazard element. The first thing Air Reeves had to do was to set the house in order, and he did it with a vigour which left nothing to be desired. A Homeric fight, of which he was the single-handed hero in the Lyttelton Magistrate’s- Court, cleared the way for the new regime. Under the old system a species of barter had reigned supreme, the hands being paid by order on the various clients of the firm, whose accounts Were growing with the -development of the settlement. The order system, though tempered by occasional cash, was objectionable, and was fast becoming unendurable. Air Reeves, by big active measures, put an end to it, and for years the result was spoken of by the'older employees with admiring gratitude. Early in his career he established what they called “ the envelope system.” It simply consisted of giving every man his weekly pay in an envelope inscribed with his name. Having thus reformed its own system, the “ Times ” was able with better grace to turn its attention to all other reforms.

The death of Crosbie Ward threw the responsibility of both departments of the paper on the shoulders of Air Reeves,- and that great charge found him prepared. Though without the rare literary faculty of his late gifted partner, he was a very good judge of literary work, and therefore the literary side, when it came under his control, found itself in good hands. He had his ideal on the subject, and he never ceased-, in season and out’ of season, to insist on maintaining it. He was, _ moreover, just as strenuous. determined, practical and clear-sighted as his partner. The paper maintained not only its literary style, but also its political, consistency and its fighting strength. He, too, subscribed to the Ward doctrine of the incompatibility of Avar and rosewater, and the paper therefore remained always thorough. His Opportunities grew with the times, and he ,was always quick to take advantage of them. One notable example was the doubling of the four-page daily in 1878 another was the re-modelling, on broader and more varied lines, of the “ Canterbury Times” in 1876; and yet another was the purchase of the first stereotyping plant and Aveb printing machine a year or two afterwards. This last enterprise -enabled the company to take advantage of the large demand caused by the Taxawera explosion of 1886, by an issue of 30,000 copies of the “ Canterbury Times,” a feat till then unheard of in Nbav Zealand. Mr Reeves was a rare judge of men, seldom making a mistake in his selections for the various posts under his control; . and never in his treatment of his employees. It was his habit to judge by results rather than by details of method, holding, as he often put it, that men cannot be got to dance properly in fetters. He never overlooked or palliated a fault, and.his enquiry into such was always searching, as well as complete. On the -other hand, he never omitted to give praise when it was due, and his praise Avas a Happy mixture of geniality, tenderness and judicious discrimination. Nor did he confine- himself always to praise, as many a one can testily who has received generously substantial reward for specially energetic or more than usually devoted service. Last, but not least, ho Avas the personal friend, and often the counsellor, of every man in the establishment. In -difficulties he never hesitated. In every political crisis he quickly decided upon his side, and He maintained it constantly. With his mind full of the details of the past, and his eyes intelligently on the future, he daily gave counsel to all who needed it in the various departments under his -care. The day of his death was the saddest- day’s mourning in the first half century of thei “ Lyttelton Times ” establishment.

In 1863 the groAvth of Christchurch made a move necessary, and the twelve years of the Lyttelton life came to an end. The paper settled in Gloucester Street, on the site it now occupies. It Avas a modest cottage, Avith a verandah -and some horse-posts in front, a small store, small iieAvsroom, small machine-room, and -editorial cabins. Gradually these rooms Avere -enlarged. Soon the tAvo-storey building Ave-nt up in- the back part of the section, and one Sunday evening, in 1880, the neighbouring hotel catching fire, the whole establishment of the “ Lyttelton Times ” Company Avas in the greatest danger that it had ever encountered. But much heroism and a little luck iturnedi ihe scale, and the old buildings lived 'to be removed by tbe Avorkmen who put up the present premises. The transference to Christchurch was marked by the increase of the issue to three times a week, and a A-ery agreeable paper it- became to look upon, Avith its big sheet, as big as the present sheet, that is second to no first-class paper, in Australasia. Whatever they did ordid not knoAV in those days, they knoAAg at all events, how to print a paper. In 1865 the four pages came out Avith the announcement that they Avould do so daily in future,, and they have done so from that clay, Avith this difference, that since 1879 they have come out eight instead of four, and the price is one penny in stead of the twopence of the earlier time. The latter change, made in 1886, left the “New Zealand; Herald” the only twopenny large daily paper in New Zealand.

The early editors have been mentioned above. Of the number, Mr Birch, was the only regularly appointed one, as editors a-re understood nowadays, and Crosbie Ward was though sometimes absent, /and 1 not specially called of tire name, worth a hundred .editors in his own person. When Mr Reeves succeeded to the control of both branches, he appointed Mr J. M. Smith to the editorship. That was in 1867. Mr Smith had been, in the service of the “ Canterbury- Standard ” up to that time, and had a good reputation as a clever, hard-working, well-informed journalist. He was succeeded in January, 1875, by ilr R. A. Loughnan, who spent fourteen and a half laborious years in the post, and retired in August, 1889, to take up work in another sphere of journalism. Mr W. P. Reeves, now the Hon W. P. Reeves, and Agent-General for the colony, eldest son of the Hon William Reeves, succeeded Mr 1 Loughnan. He had for some years contributed good nervous prose and excellent satirical verse to the leading and other columns, and he had edited the "Canterbury Times” after Mr Hcbdcn's death. The work of his tenure of office is best known in the series of articles under the title of “ Pharos,” which he contributed to the “Lyttelton Times,” descriptive of the*various (socialistic land communistic schemes projected by all tire philosophers, and some of the practical workers in the game of social amelioration from Plato to our time. When the exigencies of his political career called Mr Reeves to , the position of ’Minister of Education in 1891, Mr >S. Saunders succeeded him as editor, and has kept up the high traditions of the paper worthily ever since. . . One of the oldest employees in the office is Mr J. C. Wilkin. who has spent all his business life in it. He entered as a boy in the. Lyttelton period, he was appointed inn eager by Mr Reeves in succession to Mr C. E. Briggs, and ii ft is now a shareholder, and the head and front of the business. The “Times” Office is about the only newspaper office which can be said to: have trained its own business manager in every department of its work. The maimer in which Mr Wilkin, manages the vast concern com-

mi feted to Iris care is » high tribute to his' own ability and his excellent training. _ The “ Times ” proprietary has established other journals' which flourish. The “ Canterbury Time's" began life in 1865 as a weekly edition of the daily, in the same way as the “Weekly Times” (the best news weekly, by the way, in the world and the cheapest) is the weekly edition of the London “Times.” Thirteen years later its character was changed in obedience to the verdict of colonial public opinion, which had pronounced emphatically in favour of the composite weekly paper of the type founded by the proprietors of the _ Melbourne “’Axrrus” with the “Australasian. The now type of journalism became quickly successful, and) had many imitators, notably the Melbourne “Leader,” the Sydney ‘‘Town and Country,” and the Sydney Mail, ana the imitators all waxed rich rather than powerful. As the New Zealand fieM «s not strongly held by any of them m 1878, the “ Lyttelton Times ” proprietary saw that the tkno had come for action. A committee, consisting of Messrs John ifobden, R. Eyton and R. A. Louglman was appointed bj Mr Reeves to formulate new lines for the “ Canterbury Times.” They did so on the .model of the “Australasian,” and Mr John Hebden was appointed editor. The energy, ability, fidelity, sustained power and concentration of purpose shown by Mr .Hebden in pushing the new venture are worthy of the best traditions of journalism. Indeed, the combination must be ranked with, the great combinations that are unique. They contributed greatly to the success of the “Canterbury Times,” which under Mr Hebden became a very valuable property. They are remembered with tender a-espect to this day in the office, and the deep regret which the sad death of that excellent'journalist and true Comrade occasioned in the winter of 1885 is not yet forgotten. Mr W. P. Reeves succeeded him, and pushed the paper rapidly along during the four years of his editorship” being relieved by Mr S'. Saunders when his political duties called him to the annual Parliamentary sessions. To him succeeded Mr Walter Atack, who had qualified for the post by a long and systematic course of Work in. every d/apartment of the journal he now edits with marked ability. The “ Star ” was first issued in 1868 to meet, as was intimated at the time of its birth, “growing requirements.” That it met those requirements adequately is proved by its present large circulation. Its first editor —separate and all to itself —was Mr W. H. Atack, subsequently for many years sub-editor of the “Lyttelton Times.” Mr Eyton, a journalist of Westland experience and Cambridge qualifications, succeeded him. Mr James Izetb was the third editor, and his reign was distinguished for vigorous and capable writing by a wide range of information, strong consistently Liberal political instincts, and great devotion to the prestige of the paper. Mr C. Hull succeeded Mr Izett, bringing to his work much practical knowledge of that part of the editing business by which numerous editions are worked off at'appointed times. The present editor is Mr Hugh Reeves, the youngest scion of the old house, who is daily proving himself worthy of the name he bears. The most remarkable publication, however, which ever issued) from the “Times” office was “ Canterbury Punch.” It had only twenty issues, but a more lively, brilliant and outspoken comic publication never was seen. In its pages appeared the greater number of the Canterbury rhymes, as well as squibs of all kinds,«n prose and verse. Caustic epigram and historic paragraph jostled cue another comfortably in its columns. Crosbie Ward was the editor, master spirit, and chief contributor, making always a prodigious display of his favourite art of shooting things flying. Mr John Manly,•‘•the actor, was the first cartoonist, but he quickly gave place to Mr H. H. Glover', who knew how to draw on stone, and whose cartoons speedily became the talk of the town. The place was too small for a comic journal o/f such power, and the art of illustration) in* too expensively backward a state fc.r a limited, exchequer'. Consequently, “ Punch,” after fighting up the finnanent for five months, appeared no more. Its memory •remains, and. unfortunately, some shadows of the resentment it created.

In its policy of half a century the “Lyttelton Times ” has followed the path of progress consistently and imswerving’fy. It began by urging the beating down of the exactions of the New Zealand' Company. It went on to denounce the system of government by the Downing Street clerks, whoso principal duty it was to teach geography in a perfunctory way to the colonial Minister, and to snub the colonists with effective insolence. It fought for selfgovernment, general and local, and though but young in years worked with a tough grasp of old Constitutional principles, which had come out, fortunately, as part of the original “ details ” of the settlement. It grasped the position of the Church, landed helpless in a new country, away from all the necessary conditions of its national life, and to its exertions is largely due the admirable system of Church government which has endured to this day, and is developing, according to the intentions of the power of the Church Constitution. The exceptionally gifted churchmen and laymen oi the early -settlement fought that 'battle, hut they had the “Lyttelton Times” behind them from first to last. Education found the “ Times ”in the front: every step made by the Provincial Government and by the distant General Government had in the “ Times ” an intelligent forward strenuous and well informed critic. The' agriculturist found in the “ Times ” a true and fast friend, who denounced monopolies fed by gridironing, land urged unceasingly forward' the policy of opening the country by roads and bridges.

The railway policy it advocated early, with a courage that alarmed many of its readers, and raised monuments to its influence. The railway system of Canterbury is one, the Lyttelton'tunnel is another, and a big- newspaper office in Cashel Street is a third. “A private company of gentlemen” —we quota from the “ Review of Reviews ” fuwJuly, 1893— “ alarmed at what they -regarded as the reckless policy of the paity led by the late Mr Moorhouse in Canterbury, whose advocacy of the great tunnel scheme at so early a .stage in the history of the province, and other energetic measures, was -deemed dangerous, determined to found a newspaper to counteract his influence.” The newspaper was duly founded in 1860, -and ultimately -became -an unexpected monument to the policy of this “ Lyttelton Times.”

So it lias ever been.. When the Public Works Policy was first formulated, the “ Times ” fought for it with all its strength (which by that time had got to be fairly great), while its opponents were getting ready to pack their carpet bags and shake the dust of a reckless country from then pusillanimous feet. Was it right? The answer of the last leaflet of the RegistrarGcneral, giving in detail the phenomenal progress of the last decade, is conclusive on the point. So is the answer of the volume of trade, ‘which has reached over twenty millions. So is the answer of the great advance of .settlement, of the vast balance of two hundred millions of material wealth over the national and private debts. There are other answers, and they are all monuments erected by events to the prescience of the ideal held by the “Times,’' and of the virility with which they wei.e driven to the front and kept there. The “ Times ” defended the M’Lean Native policy, of friendship rather than war. It was derided as the “ sugar and blanket policy,” and the result to-day is written in a smiling country in whiph none of the horrors so glibly foretold ever came to pass. The “Times” fought for the provincial system. one of the toughest fights in its record. It lost, hub it gained the respect of its enemies without losing the confidence of its friends. And time has fought for it, for though the system of local government has greatly grown since the fight was over, it is the unanimous cry of every section of every political party that local government .in New Zealand: must be restored to its former completeness. Every clamorous call for .the much-talked-of ’Local Governmen Bill speaks for the provincial policy ol the “ Lyttelton Times ” of 1375 and 1876. which was not to abolish, but to reform. The fight for the drainage of the city and surround-

ing district found the Lyttoltonl Times” again struggling fox progress, anrf| doing its work with aIL the up-to-date in-! formation obtainable. The result is that the periodical publication of thai vital statistics always cheers its friend)? with the reflection that its energy was qt' erted in a good cause. ■ _ The long stubborn fight against the Continuous Ministry'is not yet forgotten in the country. It was won alb last,; and the inward of the “Lyttelton! Times” was the removal of the barriers preventing the union of Canterbury. That union was effected by the great struggle fof the Midland Railway, which glorified the) decade of the eighties for the paper with another great victory. When that railway is completed it will be another monument to the power, consistency, and public-spirit-ed origin of the oldest Canterbury journal,. Canterbury united, and the “Lyttelton Times ” remained united when the great Liberal upheaval came in 1890, and the paper was again in front. It fought for the Liberal ideas, and it was, as usual, misunderstood and misrepresented, and it again won the fight. It fought for justice to all, for equal opportunities,,to all, for the protection of the defenceless, ’ for the good of the many, and it insisted at the same' time on the protection of all rights, and the compensation of all privileges lawfully acquired. It saw in the new ideas the real elements of national greatness, the basis of individual prosperity, the prevalence of reason over brute .’force, the fostering or the best interests of both Labour and Capital, the rapid development of manufacturst side by side with the wide extension of $ prosperous and hardy yeomanry, and the best utilisation by the people of the country’; resources. The,"“Times,”'in short, }iopiii| for the 'realisation of a noble nrajn ticaflily united Canterbury in the belief that the time for realisation bad come, and bj using t)he power bequeathed to it by its oli traditions, travelled at the head of its company a long way towards its goal. In vert truth, the “Lyttelton l Times ” has grown uj with the country, and the honoured position, it occupies to-day ini that country at th^ ■ end of its first half-century is the legitimate reward of the progressive policy it adoptee at the opening of that eventful period, and has vigorously maintained throughout.