IN THE BEGINNING

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19268, 24 March 1928, Page 13

IN THE BEGINNING

CANTERBURY IN THE 'FIFTIES. ;wbitte;; toe the thess.) [By A. Wolseley Rvssell.] lII.—SHOPS AND ADVERTISING

Then* is a progress traceable during this decado in advertising just as in all other activities of the community, it proves quite an interesting sidelight on the times. In the first year or so,, advertisements were merely a catalogue, by the importers, of the cargo of tho latest arrivals in port, often just one cargo at a time. Before long tlieso importers begin to have large "tid varied stocks on their hands, and they be* come less specific about the ships it comes from: from the advertisements, it seems that tho only sort of shop was an extremely general store, 01 which there were several, vying witii each other in the catholicity of selection of their wares. A marked change is that from tno essentials imported in the early days to the addition of more and more elaborate things as the 'fifties merged into the 'sixties, and into permanence. True, even at the beginning a curious mixture of luxury is found with the necessity so that the home of a pioneer must at first have presented some strangely incongruous features. A case containing "cotton, umbrellas, medals, and table bells" appears_ quite early, between "69 pairs Moleskin Trowsers, "ten casks of ironware," and "strychnine and suporior mangles." Every cargo seems to contain liquor, 'ood, ironware, etc., and clothes; we find also such significant entries as 'SO whale lines." The little 17-ton cutter Sea Belle from Otago brings "1 Prboots, 1 painting, I case gr°g> * scythe, and 1 saw" amongst a handful of other things. But before long life became more complicated, and we see an increasing catalogue of luxuries. One advertisement mentions a magic lantern, real ermine, French dress shoes, lace, "best enamelled side spring golosh boots, and ladies' bronze slippers. In 1856 a storekeeper tells of musical instruments, nutcrackers, gold pens, and thermometors; another has "traps and bats, battledores, andl shuttlecocks ; another "First quality silk hats', on cork bodies." Some of the entries are exceedingly cryptic. Apart from the quaint measures, such as four earoteels currants, 8 catty boxes of tea, 1 pocket hops; 1 Tearce beef, and such entries as "dried apples, very fresh," what is Pampanga? or PangasianP or TailP or yet Zebu P ■ What can you make of a "Raddle or Tiver"P And what on earth does the repeated entry W tons Gls., Gls." stand for? Yet this apparently needed no explanation in those days! There seems to have been little differentiation or specialisation between tfie stores till about 1850, though professional cards are numerous and the shops other than importers soon sift out. But advertisements of all the stores continue to be long catalogues of wares, the longer the catalogue apparently the more important the store. • One gentleman, as he became prosperous, took to having upwards of 16 inches of a column, taken up with nothing more inspiring than a ba?ld list of the commodities lie had for sale, without price, illustration, or any at tempt at selling! Whether the settlers really waded through such a dreary list it is hard to say: as they appeared unchanged for weeks on ena, it seems highly doubtful. The first enterprising (or "spirited," as they would have had it) rr)an in this direction seems to have been somebody who ran a Clothing Hall in Lyttelton. Here suddenly we see the precursor of the modern commercial artist—in three engravings, of a coat, vest and trousersy which served his advertisements many a month, though he was probably dubbed a revolutionary at first. Here, too, is a first glimmering qf the "copy-writer" in this part of the world: for the advertiser exercised considerable skill in constructing lqng parodies pf popular songs, etc., all in praise of the clothes he sells, and goes so far as to attempt "salesmanship" by prefixing the word "Try . . to each enumerated article and actually giving the price of each!

After this pioneer, who marks, top, the first specialised store, many engravings appear'in the advertisements, and the old catalogue method, though it fights very hard for survival, has become obsolete by the middle of the 'sixties. I shall deal later with the advertisements of "quacks and nostrums."