The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1874.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1696, 10 June 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1874.

for the Government is frequently crop^ ,;;ping.ttp£ hut iit is Ihever settled* Klfewsj- > papers_give publicity to announcements from Gov'ern'mient Gazettes," anft. by this means advertisements which would never reach the • eyes of one in a thousand if left to readers of the Gezette become notorious. Each writer who goes into this matter is of opinion that a combination "wduld-effecfc this change^ but the unanimity amongst proprietors never prevails, and each one goes "on in the old style of extracting from Gazettes such notifications as he may think interesting to his -readers. The Gazette system is certainly an abuse. Many notifications appear in thesa exclusive sheets which nevor meet the '"eye of'thosg for.whom they are intended, or to' whom they could be of interest. Advertising once or twice in the Gazette Complies with certain legal provisionsj and the advertisers are glad to get off i with 1 such a small amount of publicity. If 1 they were occasionally compelled to advertise in'the local prints theywoul^ fee\ the effect at^ onco Dissolnt ons of^' partnership,, would 'not always '^TBe^so^ easily effected, as under the present system they can he without anyone but ' Gazette ' readers ' knowing/ it. There can be no question that Gazette advertising is- ar myth, ard wire it noMhat the newspapers of the colony are generous in giving publicity to extracts from the Gazette, the evil would have been amended lpng since. The „ question Jias been again raised — this time by the West Coast Times, which asks—"\Why we should give the gratuitous that the will be closed on the 25th inst! we have ever failed to fully comprehend, beyond the knowledge that custom has determined ,a circumstance peculiar to that department, that it is ever prepared to hold itself an 'exception to all other public' "Offices, and requests" newspapers only under the,category of the gratuitous." The^JSTew Zealand Jlerald then remarks: —" We can only echo the question. Why should newspapers give tho departures ofjLlio mails or the closing of

the post-offices on certain days gratuitously ? Steamboat companies tind ship* owners advertise the day of the departtue* of^lneir. vessels.- Theatrical- lessees adV vertisje what they are going to allow tho public to witness., The authorities haying \contrjil over the tunning of railway trains advertise" the hour the railway trains will start. Bank managers advertise when* they will be closed. Every public establishment gives publicity to what it is going to do or not to do; and why then, _we.^ask, are .po«t-offices. to. be.. exempt, froiii paying the" public journals what' it is desired the public should be made fully acquainted with ? | And in the above remarks we cordially j concur. The newspapers of the colony give notoriety to what would, but for their columns, remain a sealed book to 'the' public generally, 'who never soe $, Gazette, and know, literally nothing of its contents. It rests entirely with newspaperiprgprietors;J^etklcjr this] state ojf things shall continue. Every paper", should be a'Gazette' for the publication of 7 maj;j;ers. having relation to sjich jdis--trict, and by this means those most inj--terested would'bds-benefitted^ sWherea£ undeivthft present system f notices appear °in J tli'6 GazafteV complying 5 with certam . legal requnemcnte»;wh,^ch;are I ,neyer-,. ; se^?i by those who arc likely to be influenced iby such notices. 1 The^remedy^ lies with proprietors.oo r : n.sw,s. papers., Let then} agree to ignore notices appearing in th£ Colonial andrtProvinciaWxazettes wit ti cinfe consent, and the evil will soon wort it* 6Wn xiure;,'"" W6~fear that ho' such understanding;! will;-ever. be ■ come-;tb, bviilb there ia nothing simpler than the means at handy especially as the system at prdi sent in vogue of,makjng abstracts of the contents of Gazettes is a simple injustice to local advertisers, and calculated tojperr petuate a bad system, inimical to thp interests of newspaper proprietors and the public generally. * !