The Foundation of the "Tablet"

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 17, 3 May 1923, Page 17

The Foundation of the "Tablet"

Now that the jubilee of the paper is at hand anything connected with the early days of its existence will naturally lie of absorbing interest to its readers, and I have no doubt that a recital of the incidents directly connected with the events leading up to the actual decision to establish the paper should form a. welcome addition to the story. In the early days of the Church in Otago a good deal of unreasonable opposition was encountered and this became so drastic that pronouncements by the Bishop —the lionhearted Dr. Moran — excluded by the press of Dunedin. Nothing discomfited, the Bishop arranged with Mr. J. J. Connor — was at once a leading Catholic and a master printerto publish his announcements in leaflet form, and to distribute these leaflets widely. This idea was given effect to, and the great success of the Bishop’s plan must still bo fresh in the minds of surviving Catholics of the time. However, the method in its very nature forbade the wide publicity so much desired, and Mr. Connor, who ably seconded every effort of the good Bishop, devoted a lot of thought to the necessities and the possibilities of the position. He was in the habit of conferring almost daily with the Bishop, and on one of these occasions when the question of the results being obtained by the publication of the leaflets was being considered, he turned to the Bishop and said, “My Lord, your efforts will never be truly successful until we have a paper of our own.” “Mr. Connor,” said the Bishop, “do you mean it? Could it be done?” To which Mr. Connor replied, “My Lord, give your consent and your unqualified approval and assistance and I will undertake to establish the paper.” To this the Bishop unhesitatingly agreed, and further promised that all the weight and power of his position would be cast on the side of the project, and thus the basis was laid for great events. Many weeks of anxious thought did Mr. Connor devote to the question, and then followed months of arduous organisation and the making of the thousand and one detailed arrangements incidental to the establishment of a newspaper. Canvassing had to be undertaken on a wide field, and this was a great task under the difficult conditions of the ’seventies. The work carried the organiser right through the back-block districts, even as far as Skippers, and other goldfield centres. On many a night was he obliged to camp out and boil the billy, and many a river was he forced to negotiate on horseback in order that the good work might go on. By this time the undertaking had become the dream of his life, and he was determined, God willing, to make the dream come true. At length the wearying task was completed, and almost one year from the time of the first discussion with the Bishop, who had proved an ardent champion, Mr. Connor handed the first number of the N.Z. Tablet to his Lordship. This, briefly, is a resume of the incidents surrounding

the establishment of the paper. I have no doubt but that the editor and his staff will relate in a very graphic manner the later events in the paper’s history, but the facts I have related have been hitherto unrecorded, and should prove of interest at such a. time as the present. Although the foundations of the paper were laid in a time of difficulty and innumerable obstacles had to be overcome, those engaged were actuated by a high sense of the greatness of the cause. They did not think or act in a little manner, but were men of wide vision and, being undeterred by any difficulty carried the work forward, thinking little of self but all of the object. Dr. Moran has long since gone to receive his reward, but Mr. Connor still survives, and his most comforting memory in the long evening of his life is his association with the splendid work of the foundation of the paper. — J. J. Connor, Jun., Wellington.