THE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20905, 20 December 1929, Page 10

THE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION.

The fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the United Press Association of New Zealand is necessarily an occasion of interest to those who arc engaged in newspaper enterprise in the Dominion, but it should also, in considerable measure, be of interest to the general public. The establishment of the Association oO rears provided thr machinery by' which it became possible for the community to enjoy (he benefit of an nr^itmsp'rl collection and di=rribntiou of news

such as no single newspaper proprietary could provide in those days. In 1878 a movement was originated in the Otago Daily Times office, at the instance of Mr (as he then was) George Fenwick, for the creation of an organisation of this character, and the New Zealand Herald and the Lyttelton Times associated themselves with this movement. There was another news agency, privately conducted, with which it came into competition, but in December, 1879, the whole business of the distribution of nows throughont New Zealand was brought under the control of one organisation, which became known, and is still known, as the United Press Association. The effect of the establishment of this association was that the public was provided with a service of New Zealand news that was comprehensive, reliable, and adequate. As successive developments occurred in the improvement of the facilities for the circulation of news, mainly in consequence of the extension of telegraphic and cable services, the scope of the activities of the Association was enlarged from time to time. Notably the Association entered into agreements with news agencies in Australia and elsewhere that admitted of the acquisition by it of news obtained by them. The result is to be seen in the service of news from all parts of the world that is provided in the press of Now Zealand at the present time. The readers of the newspapers in the Dominion have become so accustomed to this service that it is probable that it does not occur to them that it really represents an achievement of remarkable merit. It may seem an extraordinary claim to make, but it is a claim that may be made with a great deal of confidence, that there is no country in the world that is provided frith a compendium of news' superior to that which is every day contained in the newspapers of the Dominion. And for this the public is indebted to the United Press Association and particularly, as we may be pardoned for observing, to the foresight and enterprise of Sir George Fenwick, of whose progressiveness and faith in the future of his adopted country -the steps which he proposed and guided for the establishment of the organisation that subsequently broadened into the United Press Association furnished a signal illustration. In no small degree the United Press Association stands as an enduring memorial of his sagacity and initiative.