SIXTY YEARS AGO.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXII, Issue 15511, 11 January 1911, Page 9

SIXTY YEARS AGO.

A NEWSPAPER’S DIAMOND JUBILEE. CELEBRATED TO-DAY. STORY OF THE “LYTTELTON TIMES.” It seems to be in the very dim and distant past when the “Lyttelton Times ” set out upon its career in the great world of journalism, and it is somewhat difficult at first to realise that it is only sixty years to-day since the first copy was published. This false sense of distance is created by the extraordinarily rapid march in the art of publishing- newspapers. There is more difference between the first “ Lyttelton Times ” plant and the present one than there is between the old stage coach and a railway train, or between a bullock-dray and a motor-car. The first plant, small in dimensions, but complete in details, was part of ■ the Canterbury settlers’ scheme of colonisation. It came out in the Charlotte Jane, one of the first four ships, with, its staff of printers and compositors: was erected in a hastily built printing offico in Norwich Quay, Lyttelton; and on this date sixty years ago, " at nine or ton o’clock in tho morning,” it offered to the colonists their own journal, established, to chronicle their doings and to iv a tell their interests. The oflico was a three-roomed building. The front room, used by the composing staff, was 14ft by 28ft: the press-room, at the back, was 14ft by 18tt: and tho editor’s office was 14ft by 10ft. tor some time the building was roofless, and its windows were calico. ■ Tho exigencies of the times were so exacting that for six months the editor’s room was used more by the wife and two children of a member of the composing staff than by the editor himself. On that Saturday morning a small crowd of colonists gathered around,tho front door, and bought copies straight) off the printer’s “ stono,” the ink still web and the paper damp from the old style Albion press. It was an eightpage weekly journal, about six inoliej by ten inches, with three columns to a page, which was triumphantly submitted to the public, and which made its namesake in London exclaim, with the good-natured banter that a giant might use to a pigmy: "We aro proud of its acquaintance and envious of . its power.”

In tho first sheet there were twenty--0110 columns of news and onlv three columns of advertisements. These, of course, were not plentiful, but they give some idea of the business life of the province early in 1851. One of tMfc most interesting advertisements bears the signature ot E. Jerningham Wakefield, whose brilliant intellect made him u prominent member of the community and an historical character in New Zealand’s affairs. He had, apparently, recently come from Wellington, and had entered into business as a land and commission agent. .“The undersigned,” he states in his advertisement, “having secured the. co-op-eration of a gentleman who has had ample opportunities, during a residence of.two years in the Canterbury district, of thoroughly inspecting its various portions, is prepared to undertake the selection of town or rural allotments for those persons who may not have leisure to form an opinion for that, purpose by means of personal observation.” There is on the frontpage another advertisement bearing a name which is inseparable from Canterbury’s historv. The advertisement itself indicates tho requirements of the early days and tho nature, of .the life the settlers were called upon to lead in tho new land. It is as follows: PICKAXES and Shovels are required for the Public Works of the Canterbury Association. Persons having them for sale may apply at tho Accountant's Office.

JOHN ROBERT GODLBY, Agent. An auction sale is announoed to be Held in the Emigration Store of “ forty barrels of flour, biscuits io barrels and bags, preserved meats, fruits, etc., cabin and emigrants stores—terms cash.” An enterprising importer announced that he had brought from Wellington first-class brandy, Old Scotoh whisky, Geneva, port-wine, superior colonial ale made in Wellington breweries, golden skerry, and champagne, and amongst these highly expensive luxuries wero blue dungarees, blue serge shirts, moleskin trousors, house-brooms, axes and blankets. A very suggestive advertisement announced that someone at the Lyttelton Arms Hotel had for sale several good working bullocks, which were invaluable, and also several good milch cows “well used to the climate and food of New Zealand,” a statement which balanced a news item in another column that three of the five historical cows brought out in the first four ships had died, one being killed by falling over a cliff and the others being poisoned by eating tutu, a plant which was then, apparently, very plentiful at Lyttelton. There are only two shipping advertisements in that first issue. One announces that tho schooner Henry, weather permitting, would sail “ this day ” for Wellington, and the other that the Alpha would sail for the sam« port in two days. In other departments of tho journal it is interesting to read that “ provisions are, for a new colony, very cheap,” and that, considering that th« arrival of the four ships increased the population of the township in one day from 300 to 1100 the rise in prices was remarkably slight.’ The following are some of the retail markot quotation* sixty years ago:—

Flour, first, 25s per cwt. Broad, 7d per 2lb loaf. Beef, 6d per lb. Mutton. 5d per lb. Pork, od per lb. Fowls, 3s per pair. Ducks, <s per pair. Frosh butter, Is Od per lb. Salt butter. Is 3d per lb. Potatoes, So per ton. Eggs, 2s per dozen. Cheese (New Zealand), Is 4d per lb. Maize, 5s fid per bushel. Ale, 2s 8d per gallon. Ham and bacon, 7d per lb. Firewood. £1 per cord. Sawn timber, 16s to 18s per 100 ft. The freight from Lyttelton to Christchurch by the Sumner Estuary and tho Heathooto River was 30s a ton f a price which was largely accounted for by the anxiety displayed by colonists to get on to the plains, and also bv the small fleet of cutters available. As to the price of land, it seems to have risen with the arrival of the ships. 'Sections along Norwich Quay were leased at 15s a foot frontage, and a quarter-acre section, “chosen for tho Colloge,” on No. 1 eeotion, had already been let for £IOO a year. Labour was scarce, and wages wero “very high,” carpenters receiving as muoli as Is.an hour. In this way, in advertising columns, leading columns, and news comrans, the “Lyttelton Times” of the early days carried out its mission; and now, sixty years after, there is not a lino, from tho words under tho title, “ Price Sixpence,” to the imprint at the bottom of the last column “ Printed and published evory Saturday by I. Shrimptou, at the office^ of the ‘ Lyttelton Times,’ section 2, Norwich Quay, Lyttelton.” which has not got an interest for people of the pj-esout^neratteu.