STRIKE EDITION

Southland Times, Issue 22474, 9 November 1934, Page 8

STRIKE EDITION

THE IRISH TIMES.

TEN WEEKS’ INTERMISSION.

“When is a daily paper not a daily paper?” an Irish exile asked a Southland Times reporter yesterday. “When it ceases publication, I suppose,” was the reply. “Wrong. When there’s a newspaper strike,” said the man from Dublin, producing a copy of The Irish Times dated “July 27 to October 2, 1934.” It was certainly a most interesting publication. On the front page there was a list of births, deaths and marriages which showed that while the newspapermen might have been idle for ten weeks, the stork, the reaper and Hymen had been extremely busy. Two full pages were devoted to “What has been happening: ten weeks’ news,” the principal events of each day being summarized in pithy paragraphs. The first leading article was, of course, on the strike. “We resume publication to-day after an interval of more than nine weeks, during which period all the Dublin newspapers were closed as a result of a labour dispute (wrote the editor). Happily the differences that were responsible for the stoppage have been resolved now and we may look towards the future in the confident hope that the newspapers will never again cease to appear. The main lesson of this prolonged stoppage is the lesson that is taught by every industrial dispute—namely, that the interests of capital and labour are identical. Both are the trustees of the public welfare. Dublin, which already had an unenviable reputation in regard to labour troubles, has established what must be a record in the duration of the newspaper stoppage. For nearly ten weeks the capital city of a European State has been without its newspapers; and probably for the first time the people have begun to realize the part that the newspapers play in their daily lives.” . Another leader, entitled A Lying Jade,” has reference to the many rumours which were current during the intermission. This topic is enlarged upon in the principal news page. The introduction to the special article is worth reproducing. It reads:— “One day in early August of this year a great battle was fought on the plains of Austria and thousands of soldiers lay dead and wounded. A horde of German Nazis, sent by Herr Hitler, had clashed with Mussolmis Black Shirts, and that signalled the beginning of another European War. Such was the news announced by a raucousvoiced man who was seated on the top of an outgoing service tram car.. Apparently he had seen service in the Great War; for after spreading his information, his mind relapsed mto reminiscences of the days he had spen in the trenches. ■ . “Of course the information was not true It was merely one of the many rumours, some highly improbable and some rather convincing, that flew over the city in the early days of the newspaper stoppage. Hundreds of people telephoned to the newspapers to seek verification of all classes of stories that were current. • , t. j “Was it true that a young girl had been murdered by French sailors m the Phoenix Park? Had President de Valera been in negotiation with the British Government on the question of the land annuities and the economic war? Had shiploads of machine-guns and ammunition been intercepted by the authorities off the Kerry coast? Those were some of the hares that were started—and they were impossible to catch. Then came the reaction. In a day or two few people would believe anything they heard.” There are many, other interesting features of this unique edition. Perhaps the most interesting to the literary staff of a newspaper and the one which most definitely proclaims that the Irish Times is not published in Scotland is the following inset in large type: “Owing to heavy pressure on space niany columns of advertising have been held over.” _____