BOWLED OUT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2250, 11 October 1889, Page 3

BOWLED OUT.

A very amutlng case of a neweptper being "bowled out" In pirating oable mesasgei paid for by a contemporary ht»s teotntly occurred In Melbourne and the txpoante should serve as a wsrntng to other papers which are In tbe habit of Indulging In similar depredations. The proprietor! of tbe <( Age" have had reason for iome time past to inspect ttat its European cable messages were being ftrantferred ia slightly altered phraseology sod under lensatlonal headings to the eolomns of the " Evening Herald," and publtihed as " apeolal" to that p»per.' The "Age" proprletorr, getting tired of these piratical proceedings determined to put a ■fop to them, so they set a trap for their contemporary, and were ecccesßful in catching him at ihe first attempt. At* bis depredations were mainly confined to the second editions of the " Age," they adopted the simple device of printing off a d- aen ot two ooptes In which wore published two manufactured oable m- (cages, one rec rdfng the comm inlon of an Atrocious murder In the Jack the Ripper style at Portsmouth, and lha othtr describing an imaginary accident which had happened to tbe boxer Slavln. Care was taken that theso early copies should fall Into the enemy's hands. The bait took, and tbe same evening the j •• Herald " appeared with both fiotitlous oable messages beautifully elaborated. The " Age," la its Issue of the 20th | Inptaot, publishes side by side, tbe bogus messages as they appeared in its own eolomni, and the elaborated versions of them as they appeared In tbe * 'Herald" remarking on theeubjeot :— ." Wbat reparation the proprietors of tbe " Herald " may make to their readors for passing off bogus telegrams on them for genuine and authentic does not concern us, but we ihonld certainly like to know how they reconcile their appropriation of other people's property with the ordinary ethlov of trade, a c»b!e service such as that of tbe (> Age" is a very oostly item, and what would be said of a drapery firm, foe In•Unee,whloh would enrich its own shelves at the expense of Its neighbors to tbe tune of some thousands a yen ?"