THE "WAIPA POST."

Waipa Post, Volume I, Issue 41, 5 September 1911, Page 3

THE "WAIPA POST."

CHILDREN'S COMPOSITION

The children of Standards V. and VI. of the Te Awamutu State School visited the works of the WAIPA POST on August 25th. The management offered a prize for the best composition written by the children of the Senior and Junior Divisions. The schoolmaster, after careful consideration, has awarded the prize for the Senior Division to Miss Winifred B. Stewart, who, with 95 points, heads the list. The compositions throughout were of a very creditable nature, and showed that the children not only observed but remembered all they saw. -The following is the winning composition :

It is not so very long ago that more than one person rather scoffed at the idea of Te Awamutu possessing a printing office.and ruinning a paper. ' Last Tuesday we were allowed to pay a visit to the WAIPA POST printing works, and on entering, the first thing that we noticed, at least the most conspicuous object, was the machine in which the POST is printed.. This piece of mechanism, the Wharfedaie, seemed to be a mass, of rollers, cogged-wheels, and stagings. It was worked by a small engine, driven by benzine-gas, leather straps connecting the engine, with the end 01 the Wharfedaie. These leathern bands not only profit the publisher by driving his machinery, but they also prove beneficial to insurance companies, for in factories or offices or any places where The machinery is driven by belts the employers insure their employees against accidents or death. At the top end of the Wharfedaie was a table on which the blank sheets of paper were placed prior to the prjntmg of them. When ail was ready, and the type placed in its right position, a small lever was pusned aside on the engine, a handle turned in the machine, and we knew that the works had started. The printer, standing on the left hand side of the tablelike end, had merely to place the blank sheets against the cylinder, which carried it past with the full revolution. In this cylinder were clips, which held the paper firmly in its place, but when a complete revolution had taken place the clips relaxed their hold, and the paper came out on what is known as Dawson's Patent Flier. Until just lately boys were employed to pass the paper from the cylinder to a rack beyond, but since the flier was invented these boys have not been employed for this especial duty. Catching the paper with great accuracy, the rlier throws it over to a stand beyond, laying each sheet on top of the others in neat order. The part of the machine on which the type is placed seemed to be a movable stage, for it moved backwards and lorwards on cogged wheels, meeting the paper on the under side of the cylinder. Over the type revolved ink-laden rollers, which first paased over a smooth suriace seemingly for the purpose of smoothing tne ink. This printer's ink resembled rather thick tar, su it needed thinning before being passed over the type. Only one side of the paper was printed, the other side being completed when the type for it was finished, and . placed in the position formerly occupied by that of the first page.

Passing from trie Wharfedale we came to the Platen, Mr Warburton's former machine. This, though by no means antiquated in its appearance, seemed simple when compared with the Wharfedale. It was formerly worked by the treadle system, but now a strap passes from the engine connecting with the platen's wheel. It has not a large enough place for type to enable the publisher to print papers in it, but cards, posters, and programmes are printed in it, these publications being too small to be done in the Wharfedale. Next came the stitching machine, threaded with wire, and used for stitching books. It was worked by a handle, the pressure of the printer's hand causing the wire to pierce the book, and to be cut and bent by two little incisors. From this we passed to the

guillotine, that machine with a knife, able to cut through inches of papers, with astonishing rapidity and evenness. The paper was first cramped, so that it would be kept in a proper place, and then a handle to which the knife was attached was brought down, by the pressure of the printer's arm. . Perhaps the most important place came next, for it was the type stand where the compositors took their place. Each armed with a ''.Stick," an instrument for holding the type in, while composing, they worked on, making ready the type for the second half of the paper. After the columns had been arranged they were placed side by side in a frame ready to be placed in the Wharfedaie. It was interesting to note how the separate letters were so handily arranged in separate recesses, the more commonly used being placed nearest the compositor's hand. Besides the letters there were spaces of various sizes, the " pica" or recognised " em" measure being the most common. Each column was placed between two bevelled iron sticks, the space between each being thirteen ems, which is a standard width for news-paper columns.

On Friday we will publish the composition of Master W. Groves who, with 80 points, wins the prize for the Junior Division.