GREAT NEWS SERVICE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20495, 21 February 1930, Page 10

GREAT NEWS SERVICE.

THE PRESS ASSOCIATION* EXPANSION OF OPERATIONS* GROWTH IN FIFTY YEARS. *• AN INSATIABLE DEMANDS [BT TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION.] TIMAJRU, Thursday. An interesting review of the history, and growth of the United Press Association was given by the chairmm, Mr. A.G. Henderson, at the jubilee meeting of the association at Tima.ru f.o-day. Mr.> Henderson also reviewed the gi'jwth of the Dominion's telegraph and telephone services, which had had an important/ bearing on the scope of the association's operations. The death of Sir George Fenwick, which prevented the fulfilment of the intention that he should be president in the jubilee year, was first referred to by thef chairman. Sir George had been the lasti link with the very early days of the association. Ho and his colleagues wera outstanding men, who would have made their mark in any country. They had vision, as well as great vitality, enormous energy and wonderful industry. The chairman also referred to the death of Mr. F. H. Kilgour, manager of -th<* " Greymouth Star, of Mr. W. H. Smith, of Marlon, and of Mr. James Mitchell, veteran journalist, who had been an agent of the association for many years. Start of the Association. > Mr. Henderson said that when the association was established in 1879 for the* pupose of providing the subscribing newspapers with'a comprehensive and prompt domestic news service and with as- good a foreign news service as it could afford* the telegraph service was still in its infancy. Wellington and Auckland had been connected in 1872, and cable communication with Australia had i bee ft opened in 1876. In 1879 there were? 3543 miles of pole line, but only 195 telegraph offices, and the total staff of telegraph branch numbered only 80004 Transmission was entirely manual. There was no telephone service. 1879 the telephone was being exhibited in New Zealand as a scientific novelty* The first exchange in the colony, that a# Christchurcli, was opened at the end of} 1881.

Last year there were 2098 telephony bureau and toll stations. There wer& now 62,992 miles of telegraph and telephone lines, of which 9567 -miles wer® exclusively for telegraphic traffic, 48,916 miles for telegraph and telephone, ans 4509 exclusively for telephone toll traffic., Vast Expansion of Business. In 1879 all press messages numbered 87,593, of approximately 3,000,000 words, valued afc £6190. Last year the press messages numbered 577,327, aggregating 98,000,000 words and bringing the department a revenue of £74,141, the increases in the 50 years being 559 per cent, in messages, 3166 per cent, in words, and 1097 per cent, in value. The community was being well served by the telegraph branch of the Post and Telegraph Department. There were now over 2000 telegraph offices in this little country, and 10 years ago, before the vast .expansion of the telephone branch, there had been more. Since 1894, when separate records were commenced, toll calls by telephone had grown from 76,406 to 10,655,450, and theiTevenue from £IBOO to £442,896. Technically, too; the department had made consistent progress. Referring' to this in more detail, Mr. Henderson said that for something like ten years now the department had had machine printing, and it was of interest to mention that the transmitter i& use was the invention of a New Zealand, Mr. Donald Murray. The Press Association started work- in 1879 with a manager and one assistant and eight paid correspondents. It ndw; had a manager, four assistants and a typiste, and 72 paid correspondents. In 1879 there were 48 subscribing newsi papers; last year there were 65. Buti the volume of business had expanded irt a measure out of . all relation to ths staff of the association. Development of Cable Service. The cable business alone had grown in 40 years from 355,000 words to nearly; 1,000,000 words. In the 50 years the revenue had grown! from £1486 to £19,715 a year, and the} expenditure in like proportion. So far as cable news was concerned, th» association had been working in con-i junction with the principal Australian! newspapers since 1887. Changes had been made from time to time, and in 1926 the association entered into a joint arrangement with the Australian Press Association and the Sydney Sun.;. The development of the- service sincs, the keeping of records had commenced injj 1891 was shown in the following table:—d Words. Cost. £ 1891 .. 155,000 5,22rt 1900 „ y 333,835 4,923 1910 ~ .. 520,981 S.OIB 1920 ... .. 731,596 7,364 1929 . . . . 979,086 13,51 V The growth of the association's general work was also -indicated in the following figures:—lßßl. revenue £1486. expenditure, £1344; 1890, £8468, £8217; 1900, £7944, £7963; 1910. £9272, £9338; 1920, £13,603, £11,855; 1930, £1&,715, £19,403, News Must be Supplied.

[ It might be taken that the expenditure |of individual newspapers on telegraphic and cable news service had grown in like or greater proportion, and llie-pre-sident saw no prospect of curtailment. "The demand for news in our country; is insatiable," Mr. Henderson cqptinued.' "The public want all the news,«3'and tha newspapers must, supply it. Every year sees the opening up of fresh news sources. Recent years have seen, for instance, a remarkable development of commercial news. Sports and sporting are making constantly increasing demands on the space of newspapers and on the staff of the association. Never, in my recollection, have economic and social problems been more eagerly or more widely discussed. Scientific developments have a growing interest for all classes of readers. Thqse tendencies become more marked every year, and the newspapers, in consequence, must cover an §vevwidening field," The association must progress if it was to exist, and even now they were at a point where they should be considering very seriously the development of the organisation to meet the new conditions. The demand for news and the cost of news gathering could not be regulated according to the variation of industrial or financial conditions. There might be depressions and- slumps, there might be waves of prosperity, but the cost of newspaper production was likely to in* crease persistently. -