PRESS CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3014, 27 February 1917, Page 6

PRESS CONFERENCE

DELEGATES WELCOMED BY THE MAYOR Mr. P. Selig (president) was in thtf chair last evening at the opening ses J sion of the annual conference of the Newspaper Proprietors' Association rheld m the Chamber of Commerce. lit the name of the delegates, Mr. Selig; said that they , were all pleased to hear the honour of the presence of His Worship the Mayor. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) said that next to a_gathering of engineeT? he was pleaseS to be amongst a gathering of newspaper proprietors' representatives, of the Press Association, andi the master printers of New Zealand,, and gratified that they had selected" Wellington as the locality ■of their meeting. He believed that for some tiine past they had , met in the different pleasure resorts of the Dominion, and' that it was the first , occasion for Borno time that they had met in Wellington.He hoped that it would be to their interest and profit, and that their social recreation would be advanced. Atpresent interest was centred in ■ thei great war, and he believed that the* papers were interested in the progress, and happiness of the people, and that they-, thought, with himself, that their first; aim should be to bring about the highest efficiency consistent with economy, as was the case in tlie Oitt, Country at the present time. "It was? no time for slackness at such a critical! time. He felt that all present mustf have "felt the effect in their and. it was to their credit that they were doing their share to help the nation in the great war. All ranks hadi enlisted—editorial, reporting, and! those on , the business sides ■ of fh& papers. They had lost some, of their comrades and some were doing their duty now, and they should honour them for' the sacrifices they were making*, And they should let it go forth to : the Dominion what a great stay thftwomenfolk had", been,' how they --had faced tho exacting conditions, and had. not been second in the work of ecpiipment. In that they had played , .an honourable part', and were continuing to do so at the present time. Whilst it was the duty of the .papers to re* fleet the news of the war, he thought; that they might conserve that interest; and still'bring about a reduction in size and space in carrying that out. A good deal could be left put as far as the community in general was concerned without feeling it. In his municipal capacity he had cut down the material used in his office by about 60 per cent.,, and had effected a saving in ,tha« respect. Speaking of the newspapers as ' a faotor in education., he said that tho Press of New Zealand ranked very high. Tlie papers could be' taken to. their homes and there was much profit in them. A.re-< flection of their powers as , educators existed in tho fact that in 1874.8 percent; of the people could not read, kovthere were only .8 per. cent, of . thepeople who could not read. If.there were representatives of the Press Association present he extended to them tjie hearty thanks of the citizens m .receiving and supplying tho news that was read by the people of the Dominion. (Applause.) . ' Tlie chairman said ho' Jhought.it waS the first time that the A T ew Zealand Newspaper Proprietors' Association had been honoured by anything m the form of a civic reception. In Australia it was customary at newspaper ences to have the Prime Minister, and sometimes a Governor, presentto address the members. Reports just t<l. hand from the Press organisation Jrt Sydney reported tho presence of Gov-' crnor Strickland, Mr. Holman, anrt another member of the Ministry. Ifi they could not have the.honour to be addressed by such great personages, ta have the Chief Magistrate of the City , : was very gratifying. This civic recep-' tion was- especially gratifying to him, as it was in this citv he had first landed: 54 years ago. At that time it was not as it is now. . He had _. recently thepleasure of reading an interesting historical sketch, told by Mr. Haybittle. whoso relatives he knew well. Tlie fact that Mr. Haybittle was 93 years of ase and still well, spoko for the health properties of the place. In those old days, Wilkinson's tea gardens was the only place on the other side of the harbour. Wellington had always been governed by a progressive council, ?nd none had beeu more progressive, than, the one presided over by His Worship the Mayor. He claimed that the news-i papers .of the Dominion had played a part in the war. Members- of their staffs had been taken, and employers had induced them to enlist by offeringthem half, and in some cases, full, salaries, and keeping their places open for them, which! he only thought was -the proper attitude for them , to adopt. They had to study expense. For some; of them paper had advanced 200 or more per cent, in price, and everything Iα connection with the production of a. newspaper had advanced in consequence, of the war. On behalf of .the Newspaper Proprietors' Association. ■ the Press Association, and the Master Printers' he STanked the Mayor for his courtesy. . . In acknowledging' the tribute the Mayor said that he hoped they would all enjoy themselves in Wellington. Ob-i servation cars would be placed at their disposal for the delegates to have a run> Tound Wellington, and see its beauties; from the Hfll-tops. • ■' ■'/■■ Late in the evening Captain Neisigh, official organiser for the New SoutK' Wales Government of the World's. Press Congress, to he held at Sydney in March, 1918, explained to the members of the conference the nature and extent of this great gathering of newspaper representatives. It was expected that the Press of the world would he well represented in spite of the war, and he issued a hearty invitation to , the Press of New Zealand to participator Captain Neisigh was 'thanked, for his interesting address and invitation. .