MODERN NEWSPAPERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9010, 15 October 1892, Page 3

MODERN NEWSPAPERS.

"Can a newspaper be carried on successfully without advertisements ?" is a problem which, so far as the colonies are concerned, has never been solved. Hundreds of readers pick up their favourite morning or evening " rag, and find the columns filled, not with useful items of information, or articles dealing with subjects of colonial interest, but with flaming advertisements of somebody " Selling off at alarming sacrifice," or invitation to try a " new blend," either of whisky or tea. ou turn away from these, and your eyes drop upon an announcement of "Save your money.' Half doubtful of such a process being feasible you read on, only to turn wearily away, for it is but some tailor seeking to entice you to patronise him. " Codlin's your friend, not Short." Cannot a paper be conducted then as a journal, and its pages so filled, that it will become a great educational lever? To this question we receive answer, "Impossible, the people won't pay the price, and we must therefore cater for those who pay." Hence the growth of advertising; and perhaps it is well to be so, it saves people adopting strange and expensive methods. We have all read of the enterprising firm who despatched a representative to paint on the Great Pyramid of Gizeh the virtues of his firm's blacking, but to-day the columns of the Herald or Weekly News are sufficient to convey to thousands the special qualities of Sanitas Pumice Sand Soap, how it cleans, polishes, and scours. What a help it is to housemaid and worker ? —and to do all 'this in a manner calculated to arrest attention, accomplish the desired end, and satisfy the reader that advertising is wise and beneficial. Again, we in New Zealand are never tired of extolling the natural beauties of land and climate, of the wonders of Rotorua and Tongariro, and advertising brings tourists to our shores, but how much better it is to read of scores of people being cured of their ailments by that wonderful compound, " Ye Bishop's Bottle?"to know, perhaps, of some sick mother, long the victim of wearisome nerve pain, once more the happy possessor of health, strength, and sunshine? or perhaps it is some public man, one whose absence from the helm causes the ship of State to steer most erratically, and we read how he, as a last resource, tried hitchens 1 blood restorer, and lo! he is restored to perfect vigour again. It is these things that cause us to forgive the advertising man, to thank the " newspaper people," and mentally make a note that when we are sick we will send for hitchens' blood restorer; or bad with neuralgia, then ye bishop's bottle shall effect restoration; or when our house requires spring cleaning, then sanitas pumice sand soap will be our capable help. Taking all these facts into consideration, we must admit that modern newspapers are conducted upon wise and judicious lines, and in the best possible manner.