PRESS ASSOCIATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 138, 28 February 1918, Page 3

PRESS ASSOCIATION

—0 ANNUAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS'. The annual meeting of shareholders of the Press Association was held this afternoon. Mr. F. Pirani, chairman, presided, and thirty-four members were present. The annual report mentioned tho deaths of Messrs. Gothard and Gardner, proprietors of the Westport "Tnnes" and Rotorua "Chronicle" respectively, and of Messrs. Cocks and Marshall, members of the staff. The latter was recently killed at tho front. During the year 654,054 words of original cablegrams had been supplied to subscribers. Those were drawn from the two great cable services now forward-) ing news to this side of the world, heiico it liad been frequently remarked by visitors that New Zealand papers gave a better cable service than any paper in Australia. The Press Association is able to do this by subscribing to both services. The removal of the Eastern Extension Company from Wakanuaka to had not brought tho improvement in transmission exnectod, for reasons outside New Zealand. The discovery and removal of these obstacles had taken Kom« searching, but a great improvement hnd been effected, though there was still more delay at times than was desirable. A further alteration was likely to be made in the system of landing messages bv the Pacific cable in New Zealand, which would improve deliverv anil save time. _ v Allusion was made to the possibility of the Tole?rar>h s Department h'nvina; to curtail the hours of attendance _ at night in consequence of the reduction of staff, which would have the effect of reducing the amount of New Zealand news that could be transmitted, but would not affect the cablegrams. The Department, however,-had assured the directors that nothing would he dono till it was positively forced unon_ it. In consequence of the conditions brought about by the war, several papers had had to suspend -publication, and the number now on the books of the association was seventy-one. Messrs. L. Blnndell (Wellington} and P. Selig (Christchurch) were re-elected directors unopposed, and Mr. F. Shaw auditor.^ The report and balance-sheet were adonted without discuss-on. The chairman's address was ordered to lie nrinted and circulated. Wellington was selected for the next place of meeting.