WAR AND NEWSPAPERS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14196, 13 January 1917, Page 7

WAR AND NEWSPAPERS.

EXPERIENCES OF THE~ TIMES. Another "Sign of the. Times" In addition to the very heavy increase m the prices of everything; to eatj drink, use or abuse m the Old Country — the purchasing power of a sovereign to-day is, judged, by pie- Avar standard, not much more than 12s 6d where domestic expendituro is concerned-- we are now face to face with the prospect of a substantial raise m the amount of our newspaper bills, on a considerable reduction m the size of our daily and weekly newspapers. , . • ■ , The London Times has reluctantly led the way, arid for the first time,' since September, 1815 — the year of Waterloo — haa increased its price. Then the limes cost 6£d, and another £d waa added ; to-day ithe paper can be had for a, modest penny, but a couple of days hence the price will be l£d— a 60 pea' cent, rise. There can ba no question that the existing conditions; and the outlook as regard? coat of .newspaper produotion warrant either a drastio cutting ■ down of the size of the paper or an increase of price, and it is certain that most of our leading journals, . and especially .those with circulations running into seven figures, will have to follow the Times lead, or materially reduce their size. The Times is not able to boast of having "the largest circulation" ; indeed, its proprietors only claim a nob sale ot something over ' 200,000 copies daily, which is small compared to the salflft lof several of its contemporaries. Yet ' the increase m the cost of production, especially m the cost of paper, has brought about a loss on the circulation of about £1000 a week. The increase ever since the beginning of the war m tha price of raw material, the paper' oh which the Times is printed is costing 1 it an additional £70,000 per annum. The management is, therefore, faced ' with a position m which it must either reduce the size of the Times, eliminating some of the regular features of the journal, or maintain the Times as it is ' and increase the price. The latter step has been decided upon, 1 and will undoubtedly be followed m the 1 near future by its contemporaries. _lt ', is, indeed, quite probable that the increase to l^d will not .be the final change m the price of the Times during ' the war, for the announcement of this half-penny rise contains* a iatrong hint 1 that it is only the percusor of a further advance. • . '■ A change m the price of the Times 1 is something of a national event. 'Che ; following table shows its price at sue- ■ cessive s,tages of its career : January 1, ► 1785, 3d; April 21, 1749., 4£d; January ' 1. 1799, 6d; May 22, 1809, 6£d; Septan- ' her 1, 1815, 7d; September 15, 1836, l sd; July 1, 1855, 4d; October 1, 1861, r 3d : May 5, 1913, 2d ; March 16, 1914, * W. " ■ . ) ■ ——————^—» ■