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I become manager of a
newspaper—Australian journalism—Editors in the Antipodes—Characteristics of
the Australian Press—General high tone of the same—The Sydney Morning
Herald—Literary-talent plentiful but ill-remunerated—The Australian
Magazine— Sydney Punch—Illustrated Sydney News—Newspaper correspondents—The
Miner's Advocate—General estimate of the Colonial Press.
My next Antipodean experience
was to be in a line hitherto unattempted by me, but for which a good friend
imagined I had some aptitude. This was neither more nor less than to take
over the management of what was then the second daily morning newspaper in
the colony of New South "Wales. The proposal at first staggered me. Here was
a change with a vengeance, from tiger-slaying, jungle-clearing,
coolie-counting, and pig-sticking in India.
The state of my health,
however, precluded all idea of returning to India in my old capacity, and I
could not for ever subsist on the liberality of my brother's administration
of what he was good enough to call " my credit account." I was fast getting
to the end of my slender means, and the future seemed doubtful and very
gloomy at times. My letters to the Pioneer could not always last, and beyond
the payment I got for these, I was earning nothing else. I did write a few
articles for the Sydney Mail and Echo, and was glad to get the anything but
princely remuneration which these earned when they were accepted, which was
not always the case. In fact the colonies do not present a very tempting
field to the professional literary man, and up till then my pen had been
rather that of an amateur. I had, however, no objection to try and earn my
spurs honourably. Rather than stick fast, I was willing to work at anything
honest, for even thirty shillings a week; for I had no desire to be a burden
to my friends, and I had long ago found the truth of the old adage that "God
helps those who help themselves."
I only give this little
morsel of personal experience to illustrate what I have often seen since in
colonial life, namely, that there is a groove for every willing man in the
colonies, if only he will try to suit himself to it. No man need remain idle
in Australia. There is work for all, and, although the work that first
presents itself may not be the most congenial, yet if the intending colonist
be not a fool, or worse—a lazy good-for-naught, he will wisely accept what
comes, buckle to with a will, try his best to do what falls to his lot, and
never fear but he will soon find friends and opportunities, and if he is
wise willing and steady, he may take advantage of both, and probably very
soon find the groove that fits him best.
At all events such has been
my experience. My friend fancied I was fit to do the work that he wanted to
have done. It was not my place to say him nay. I had plenty of will and no
little self-confidence; and accordingly I received my instructions, and set
out for Newcastle, the great emporium of the Australian coal trade, to take
temporary management of the Newcastle Morning Herald. The proprietor had
been at the point of death from rheumatic fever. Things were drifting into
confusion. The concern wanted management for the time, and I was sent to do
my best to assist the scarcely convalescent printer, collect accounts,
arrange financial matters, and generally to do my best in the interests of
my employers. My salary was to be at the rate of 200Z. a year. It was rather
a difference from 600 rupees a month, with manager's allowances, and
twenty-five per cent, commission on profits, but I was content to begin at
that.
Perhaps the reader will not
expect a long disquisition on the Australian Press from me. If so he will be
disappointed. I was first manager, then editor, of the Newcastle leading
daily paper for more than a year. I worked hard, took an active intelligent
interest in my work, slaved at it night after night, till far on into the
small hours. I was reporter, book-keeper, canvasser, special correspondent,
publisher, sub-editor and editor by turns, and all together, and I well know
how hard it is to satisfy the insatiable requirements of the friends whose
pabulum is "Copy," and whose appetite is that of the horse-leech. I have
been through the mill, and can speak with a little authority, but my remarks
will be very brief.
At first, to make myself
familiar as far as I could with the details of a printing-office, I used to
get up in the middle of the night, and wend my way from the hotel, over to
the machine-room, where in an atmosphere reeking of oil, smoke, damp paper,
and kindred smells, I watched the operations connected with the getting out
of the paper. I tried to familiarize myself with the mysteries of the
composing-room; and by degrees, the suspicion with which I was at first
regarded gave place to a feeling of much friendliness on the part of the
men, and I think I fairly won my way into the esteem of every one connected
with the establishment. I had disagreeables. Being a quick writer, and
thinking well over my subject before I began to write, I composed quickly,
and the proprietor, who was not a man of much reading, or large order of
intellect, sometimes fancied I earned my enormous salary of four pounds per
week too easily.
Gradually my managerial
duties merged into those of the editor, and I had the satisfaction, at the
end of a probationary period of six months or thereabouts, of knowing that
the paper was extending its circulation, reducing its pecuniary liabilities,
and gaining influence. This may sound like self-praise. Much was due, I
think, to the cordial co-operation I got from the hands. A practical enough
proof of my success was vouchsafed me in the increase of my salary.
Beyond the limit of 3001, or
400Z. per annum few country newspapers can afford to pay their editors. As a
class the editors of our newspapers in New South Wales are clever versatile
educated men. With a few ignoble exceptions, measures rather than men are
what they write about, and for intelligence, breadth of treatment,
dispassionate logical argument, clear incisive writing, and indeed graces of
style, the country press of New South Wales will compare favourably with the
average run of provincial journalism, even in the old country. The
abominable personalities, which too frequently disgrace American journalism,
are very seldom resorted to. There is a healthy freedom from the
sensationalism of the Yankee editor, and no pains are spared to make the
news furnished to their readers possess that first virtue in journalism,
trustworthiness.
The metropolitan daily
papers, have a very extended circulation over the length and breadth of the
land, consequently the weekly and bi-weekly journals confine themselves
principally to local items, and "the advocacy of local interests. Foreign
news are supplied almost wholly by Reuter, and Greville's Telegraphic.
Agency in Sydney supply general and intercolonial news. The service of the
latter it would be hard to beat anywhere. Its condensed epitomes of news are
niodels of copiousness, clearness, and accuracy. Most~ country
journals,-too, contain a weekly letter from a Sydney correspondent. This is
written in many cases by a young civilian in some government office, by a
schoolmaster, or, maybe in some very few cases, by a reporter on one of the
Sydney papers. 'The professed' journalist is elbowed out of the crowd by
this outside competition, and the remuneration is hardly regal. One pound
per week is about the average. I was fortunate in having friends in
Queensland, and in Melbourne, both gifted men, who for the love they bore me
sent me weekly a letter of- news from their respective capitals. I would
have wished to employ professional talent, but the concern would not stand
it.
A miserable attempt has been
made lately by a few of the colonial papers, to magnify themselves and
increase their ignoble earnings, by pandering to the passions of the mob and
trying to rouse class antagonisms. Mistaking invective for argument, and
declamatory phraseology for really strong writing, they have appealed to
passion' rather than to judgment, and have, in attempting to adopt an
American sensational style, proved simply abominable copies of a bad model.
Still, I repeat that the tone of the colonial press generally is thoroughly'
sound. It is calmly critical of questions of public policy, and nearly all
its utterances are characterized by moderate judgment and good taste. I
might better illustrate what I wish to convey, by telling a few of its
negative qualities. You seldom hear, for instance (always with a few
well-known exceptions and notable sinners), of a journal being prosecuted
for libel, or for contempt of court. You seldom hear of an exposure of
untruthful or misleading statements or intelligence. You seldom hear of a
colonial editor being kicked, cow-hided, pistolled, becudgelled, or
personally maltreated. I might add that you seldom hear of his being
over-paid. You seldom see colonial newspapers defiled with certain
disgraceful advertisements, such as may be seen in provincial prints in
countries not so far away from London as Australia. You seldom see in a
colonial newspaper prurient cases, that no man would like to put before his
women-kind; or sickening details of sensuality and cruelty; or harrowing
revelations of crime. The colonial newspaper, in short, is written for
intelligent, self-respecting men; and not for debased and unwholesome minds,
who delight in spicy tittle-tattle or pot-house double entendre.
Surely this says a great deal
for the tone of public taste and morality in these colonies. I doubt not if
there was a demand for this unclean literature, a supply would be
forthcoming. To the honour of Australia, and of much-maligned Sydney in
particular, s be it said, that every attempt to foist a publication that
tried to tickle the palates of its readers with police-office experiences,
and night-house disclosures, has been an unqualified failure.
Honestly I believe too, that
much of this is due to the leading paper of the colony, the Sydney Morning
Herald. That newspaper has long held virtually a monopoly in the metropolis,
which, however, is now being threatened by a vigorous young rival in the
Daily Telegraph, whose opening career gives promise of a useful and
successful future.
The Herald has been accused
by its detractors of dulness, of a trimming hesitancy to speak out boldly on
public matters, of following rather than guiding public opinion on questions
of moment, of giving undue prominence to parochial matters, at the expense
of news of more general interest. "Whatever may be laid to its charge, it
has certainly advocated, in my opinion, on all the great questions that have
agitated men's minds, during my stay here, the course considered wisest and
best by the ablest men in the colony: has been calm, courteous,
dispassionate, ably edited and conducted, possessed of the latest, best, and
most reliable intelligence from all parts of the world, and whatever side of
a question it may have taken up, it has at least carried with it the
universal respect of all good men and true, whether they agreed with its
politics or no. It must I think be conceded that it has used its enormous
influence, honestly to uphold the credit and honour of the colony, and
advance its best interests.
Of other literature,
Australia can already boast of no mean array. There is no lack of literary
talent in the colonies, but it is wofully ill-remunerated. Publishers are
not famed as a rule for generosity, and until population much increases I
fear me that Antipodean authorship will not amass many princely fortunes for
its followers. One capital monthly, the Australian Magazine, is now
published in Sydney, and promises to become an established and deservedly
favourite periodical. The Sydney Punch, too, is a vigorous sapling for so
young a community, and proves pleasingly enough, that Momus can shake his
sides with genuine merriment, in the land of the Emu and the Kangaroo.
We can boast of a capital
illustrated monthly, the Illustrated Sydney News, which in form and general
excellence is no discredit to the oldest English colony, and, indeed, is in
most respects superior to the American illustrated weeklies, those of New
York for instance. Castner's Rural Australasian is conducted after the model
of the American Agriculturist, and is a little gem of its kind. It is
devoted exclusively to farming and gardening, and merits the utmost success.
As a general newspaper,
however, give me the Queenslander; taking it all round, I consider it the
best weekly newspaper for its class of readers, of any south of the line.
Some of the Melbourne and South Australian newspapers have a world-wide
reputation, and I need not refer to them, as I have not yet visited these
colonies on this trip.
To return to my own paper. I
very soon found that the editorial chair, even by the wildest confusion of
metaphors, cannot be looked on as a bed of roses. My greatest difficulty in
finding daily pabulum for my readers, was not where to get material or how;
but rather what to exclude. The mass of stuff I had to wade through daily,
nearly all of it utterly inadmissible into a respectable journal, astonished
me at first. I soon got used to it, and my waste-paper basket would have
supplied wrappings for all the buttermen in Dorsetshire.
The miners had been indulged
to an inordinate extent by the former management, and the editor's box was
deluged daily with reams of twaddle, for the most part badly written, badly
spelt, badly perfumed effusions. on every conceivable subject; I had great
difficulty at first in getting this cacoethes scribendi restrained within
reasonable limits.' Nearly all the letters were very personal. Very few were
of the slightest earthly' interest to any but the writer, and possibly a
dozen of his own intimate friends; yet they would "write as if the
constitution was in danger and the capital in flames, when perhaps the
question at issue would be what Owen Jones said to Morgan Phillips on some
occasion that nobody remembered, and about something in which no one felt
interested. My correspondents in the- mining townships little knew the worry
and trouble that their rambling epistles gave me; I had to cater for the
varying tastes of nearly 3000 readers daily, when every column of the paper,
advertising space included, would have been all insufficient to contain half
the letters that were daily showered on my editorial table. And then if the
letters were not inserted, who shall tell of the innuendoes, the abuse, the
fiery indignation, that were showered on my devoted head.
Our paper was specially
devoted to the interests of the mining population around Newcastle, and was
looked upon as their champion, and the recognized exponent of their views.
Its advocacy was in fact of the thorough-going order, and often partook a
good deal of the special pleader character. I did not meddle with the coal
question or purely mining matters. These were manipulated by experts, and
there was a good deal of wire-pulling and puppet-dancing.
The miners of Newcastle, I
must honestly say, are on the whole orderly, intelligent men, albeit
self-opinionated and narrow-minded on some points. Their estimate of their
own importance was often amusingly manifested. Here is an extract from one
of their lodge meetings in illustration of this.
"Mr. T. Jones moved the
following resolution:— "In the opinion of this meeting, the attack made by
Mr. Craig, on the character of our local Sec., was unwarrantable and
uncalled for.' He had full confidence in Mr. ISTewburn and he felt strongly
that Mr. Craig should have cast such a slur on him. It was a pity that any
man should stur up strife [sic] at so critical a time as the present, when
the world was looking at them."
The last sentence is
thoroughly characteristic.
I tried to infuse a more
catholic spirit into the journal under my temporary direction. I preached up
sanitary and local reforms of various kinds, drew attention to foreign
politics, to the commercial interests of the port, to intercolonial
questions affecting trade, to broad questions of national policy such as law
reform, railway extension, direct shipments from the port to foreign and
intercolonial parts, and similar questions. I was fairly successful, and I
have reason to believe my efforts were appreciated.
I have, I think, said enough
to convince the reader, that in that first and foremost bulwark of a
people's liberties, a pure independent and intelligent press, the Australian
colonies stand second to none among all the bright jewels that cluster round
the diadem of Imperial Britain, and that so long as the colonial press
maintains its present high prestige, the cause of progress and freedom will
find a faithful exponent, and a chivalrous champion. |
