The Putaruru Press PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY OFFICE: OXFORD PLACE. Telephone 28. Post Office Box 44. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1947. CONCERNING THIS NEWSPAPER

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1231, 22 May 1947, Page 4

The Putaruru Press PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY OFFICE: OXFORD PLACE. Telephone 28. Post Office Box 44. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1947. CONCERNING THIS NEWSPAPER

WE have no apologies for reprinting the following from the Putaruru Press of August 29, 1946: “With everything going so splendidly in the Putaruru district arid with a wisl) that it may continue to do so, we feel that it is due to ourselves and people who may not be thoroughly conversant with the progess of the Putaruru district that the story of its newspaper might at this juncture 'be told with advantage to all. “It was away back thirty years ago when the late Mr. W. Clement Cargill placed the present manager otf the company at Matamata as a sort of roving representative for the Morrinsville Star. Mr. Cargill was a man of vaslt newspaper experience who came from Wairarapn at a time when Matamata was definitely moving, but when the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland, frowned upon the Putatruru district. Many of the old residents know that Mr. H. M. Skeet would have nothing to do with it. However, Mr. Cargill saw the potentialities of the district right through to Tokoroa. The first ittep to consolidate it and to give it additional publicity was taken in 1917 when the Matamata Record first saw the light and was published with Yardiey and 00, as proprietors. The township of Matamata at that time had a population of 700. 'By 1923 the company, which had then been formed, realised' that a separate organ was needed if Putaruru was to progress at the same rate as the neighbouring town, so thait the Putaruru Press was born.

“We do not fear contradiction when we say that the -Publishing Company anticipated a loss in publishing a paper in such a young and then backward district. It did sustain losses by this move. For years despite this the Putaruru business served the district well, in addition to giving publicity, by the help of its staff. The paper was a link in a £hain which has come to be recognised through New Zealand as unique. It has only been through the creation of the chain that the publication of eight page, papers in Morrinsville, Matamata and Putaruru has been possible. We know of no place in the world with a population such as Putaruru where an eight-paged paper such as the Press is published, and during the last few years been made to pay. “During the twenty-three years we are pleasd to say that we have had the goodwill and support of the district. Our company has grown up with it and, with most of the hag a profound faith in its stall great possibilities. We recognise that as Putaruru grows',' so the pewspaper will grow, if .to. That is a point, and perhaps the major point at the moment, of this article. The cost of newspaper production has risen by something like 33 per cent since 1938 and there is not iikely to 'be any major reduction. The cost of newsprint alone' is in the vicinity of £SO per ton landed in the works, as against less 'than £l3 in 1938. So that we have difficulties apart from outside elements. If we encounter the latter the chain system referred to above will allow us to dio so successfully, but no sustained guarantee could l be given that we could maintain such a newspaper for Putaruru as is presented to-day. “We therefore conclude this article by asking business men, farmers and the general public to continue to render the goodwill extended in the past and to recognise in times to come the services that the Putaruru Press has endeavoured to give to the district. When we commenced publication Putaruru was a village. To-day it is a thriving township and to-morrow it will foe a borough. Of course, we do molt claim the credit for this splendid growth, but we do claim that we assisted and will continue to do so.” We might add to the above at this juncture that this company has owned its own premises at Putaruru for approximately 20 years, and a Putaruru- man has been, appointed to the directorate. The only thing that has held up -the company’® expansion in its buildings, the provision of works and the appointment of other employees, has been the shortage of labour. Directly a permit can be acquired for building, and labour is obtainable, the directors intend to expand the business. To indicate the shortage of labour, as recently as the week before last we advertised for an additional reporter and only received one reply, the applicant being almost without qualifications.