NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18171, 17 August 1922, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

I NORTHCLIFFE ON MILLIONAIRES. One of the latest of the personal proi ductions of the late Lord NortbcHflfe is a ; pamphlet oii " Newspaper* and their MSI- ; lionaires." It appears to have been provoked by a quarrel about printers' wages, in which Lord Northcliffe was on the side of the printers. Running; over a list of London daily newspapers he realised for the first time " that behind every one of them, with the possible exception of some sporting journals and a Labour publication, there is a multi-millionaire, a millionaire, or a very wealthy colleague, a shipping king, a cotton waste king, coal kings, son oil iking, and the rest of them." As a aide lino to the controversy on printers' Lord Northcliffe chaffed his fellow millionaires on many subjects. In the list he included Countess Bathuret, Lord Burnham. Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Edward Hulton. Lord Iverforth. Viscount Cowdray, Sir William Ewert Berry, Sir John Leigh and Mr. Cadbury, all wealthy men connected with newspapers. Of moat of them and their newspapers, he speaks kindly, but there is a sting in the references to Lord Cowdray's toy, the Westminster Gazette. A SUGGESTED PARTNERSHIP. In discussing Mr. Cadbury's connection with newspapers Lord Northcliffe told the following story : A good many years ago. Mr. Cadbury asked me if I would, some time when passing through Birmingham, oome and see him. The invitation was pressed again and again. It happened shortly that I was- going through Birmingham on one of my regular visits to Manchester. I .was met at New Street Station by a nice provincial brougham, with sleek horse, and a young Cadbury; driven some distance to a pleasant suburb and a large provincial house, such as you see outside Pittsburg or • Manchester. A great feast had been spread. My companion and I could not for the life of us imagine why Mr. Cadbury should want to see us. My point of view is so different from his. and known to be different. Wo got through the meal somehow and after a lone awkward silence Mr. Cadbury said nervously: " I have asked you here because we do not liko the tone of the Birmingham papers. They print all kinds of horrible things and horse racing and we think the high tone of the Press as j important to this city as the quality of its : water supply. We want a new Birmingham paper," added the distinguished j member of the Society of Friends. " But," I said, " Mr. Cadbury, let me say at once that I have no intention of joining you in any newspaper enterprise." He replied: "I will supply the capital; I will interfere with you in no way whatever. I notice that your newspapers are singularly free from crime and vice." " But, I letorted. "I am not a Pacifist and unfortunately I believe that we shall one day be at war with Germany. I know about the Germans. I believe that the only salvation of the world is an Anglo-French alliance." "I do not care what you say on these subjects if tho paper can do something to purify the Press of Birmingham," he answered. A somewhat awkward interview ended and my companion and I i«turned to New Street puzzled. AN OFFER FOR THE TIMES. One of the stories told by Lord Northcliffe in this pamphlet is of an offer made to him for the Times. It runs:—An enormously rich amateur : came to see me at the moment when I bad obtained control of the Times; a shrewd, clever financier, who would have skinned me alive on the Stock Exchange more easily than I could have skinned him in Fleet Street: He wanted to buy the Times. I was placed in a most invidious position, because a s a matter of fact, unknown to anyone, I had for some time been in control of the Times, but, owing to preoccupation in Newfoundland, I was unable to attend to the matter. He spoke with a certain accent, and I said to him: "What do you want, to control the Times for? Are you a proGerman?" He replied: "No, I am not a pro-German, but I think every step should be taken to promote harmonious relations with Germany and with Japan." "Do you object to the policy of the Times?" " Very much. It is affecting Anglo-German business." "Would you propose changing the Times?" I asked. " Oh, yes," he replied. "It must be changed, or it will die. I have got all the particulars from my lawyers, and it is now selling fewer than 30.000 copies a day (which wa 8 almost true). There are great internal struggles." (Which had been true.) Then he said: " What I came to see you for, Lord Northcliffe, was to asE you how 'these things are managed. It seems to me that a newspaper must be a kind of manufacturing business. Who buys the paper and ink, for example? Is it the editor? Who looks after the accounts?" I replied: "So far as I know, the Times accounts are kept by Mr. Mbberly Bell in a penny, notebook which he keeps at home." (Which was true.) " Well, well, well!" he said. " It's a funny business, and I shall not offer more than* a preliminary deposit of £1«0,000." To which I replied, quite truly! "I am afraid you will not get it.' AMERICA'S SHIPPING VENTURE. The extent of the losses on the United States Government shipping enterprise and the prospects of establishing an American merchant marine were renewed by the chairman of the Shipping Board, Mr. Aloert D. Lasker, in a letter to members of Congress urging them to pass the Ship Subsidy Bill. Explaining that the board recommende3 a policy of subsidies because it realised "the inefficiencies und great cost of Government operation" and the impossibility of selling the ships to private American owners, under existing conditions, Mr. Lasker wrote " that proposal contemplates that should America ultimately get the 7,500,000 gross ton 8 necessary to carry half our overseas commerce, the cost to the Treasury, directly and indirectlv would be something like 40,000,000 dollars per a&num. The 400 ships the Governmenji«g now operating at a cost of 50.000,000 dollars a year would, under the proposed measure, draw but slightly more than 8,000,000 dollars government aid. The Administration's proposal limits the profits of any fleet receiving the benefits of Government aid to 10 per cent, in any one year. There is no guarantee of profit. If a ship, after recoiving aid, loses money, that loss is the owner's. It it makes money, all over 10 jier cent, is divided, half going to the Government until all aid advanced to the vessel has been repaid. There can be no possibility of profiteering. . , Tho ships are wearing out, and still America is iipiotent on the seas from a merchant marine point of view, as compared with other nations. The fleet is bringing nothing into the Treasury and is costing large sums annually. If the ships are sold, the proceeds will go into the Treasury to liquidate in some part their war-time cost. Thus the measure proposed bv the Administration should accomplish the liquidation of that ipart of tho fleet serviceable under the American Hag; it will end the drain on the Treasury resultin? from Government' operation; it will end the discouragement to private initiative resulting from that and, will stimulate Americans to take their/ proper place ls in the ocean-carrying tyM* : » ne*7tion of the world ; it will ensure.'the building of types of ships necessary not only to Americans prosperity but to her preservation in time of need, and it will keep alive the art of shipbuilding in America, now threatened with extinction." ' ' ' •-''',.■.■-.'